by digby
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| American Nazi rally Madison Square Garden 1939 |
Trump held a rally last night and he meandered as usual onto talking about himself and his glories and hatreds. But in the midst of all that he also had a prepared speech which he delivered in dribs and drabs. With the exception of the very last bit, it was obviously written by Steve Bannon.
This was the message:
For too long, Washington has tried to put us in boxes. The separate us by race, by age, by income, by place of birth, and by geography. They spend too much time focusing on what divides us.
Now is the time to embrace the one thing that truly unites us. You know what that is? America.
Because when America is unified, nothing is beyond our reach. I mean that. You will see…
We’re going to have a country that is so great, in so many different ways.
We hear a lot of talk about how we are becoming a “globalized world.” But the relationships that people value in this country are local. Family, state, country. They are local.
We wil compete in the world. We will compete in the world where is a two-way road — not the one way around. The advantages will come back to our country, and they haven’t for many years.
There is no global anthem. No global currency. No certificate of global citizenship. We pledge allegiance to one flag and that flag is the American flag.
[cheering]
From now on it is going to be: America First. Okay? America first. We’re going to put ourselves first.
We seek peace and harmony with the nations of the world, but that means recognizing the right of every country –including our own– to look after its citizens. We would put other countries first, we had people running our country that truly did not know what the hell they we’re doing.
[cheers and applause]
We will defend the American worker… look what has happened right here. They forgot the American worker. They forgot that it was the American worker who truly built our country. We will not forget.
One of the reasons we are so divided today is because our government has failed to protect the interests of the American workers, and their families, making it too easy for us to see ourselves as distinct groups, and not unified as a whole. We’re not unified. We’re going to be.
Washington politicians have spent so long appealing to particular interests, that they have forgotten how to appeal to to the national interests. How to muster the skills and the talents of our people in common cause. And we have unbelievable talent. But that is all about to change.
Our goal is to strengthen the bonds of trust between citizens, to restore the sense of membership in our shared national community.
Global is wonderful, but right now we want to focus on our national community.
Never anyone again will any other interests come before the interest of the American people. It is not going to happen again.
[applause]
Over the last two weeks since the victory, I have spoken to many foreign leaders. And I will tell you they have such respect for us. They all tell me how this was amazing, how they sat in their magnificent rooms –the leaders, the prime ministers, the presidents, all of them. How they sat in their magnificent rooms, watching in wonderment, hearing how people came to vote that had not voted in 20 years, people came to vote how have never voted before. And they had Trump shirts on, and ‘Make America Great Again’ hats, and they thought it was amazing.
[applause]
And honestly, one of them told me: I truly respect the United States again because of what happened.
You will come together. We are going to be united. No more dissent. Circle the wagons. The Homeland comes before all. That’s white nationalism.
I suppose that might sound like a return to isolationism to some of you. But that’s not what it sounds like to me. It sounds like this:
Remember the first America First campaign:
I realize that Hitler comparisons are somewhat overwrought. Nothing ever happens exactly the same way. But the old George Santayana quote is worth remembering at times like this as well:
Progress, far from consisting in change, depends on retentiveness. When change is absolute there remains no being to improve and no direction is set for possible improvement: and when experience is not retained, as among savages, infancy is perpetual. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.
I don’t know why you would want to watch it, but Trump’s Nuremberg Victory rally can be seen here.
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