TNR: Poles’ Love of Poland Is Based on "Atavistic Loyalties to Territory and Shared Kinship"

07/06/2017

From The New Republic:

An International Brotherhood of White Grievance
Trump’s alt-right speech in Poland redefined the West in nativist terms, eschewing democratic idealism in favor of “blood and soil” nationalism.

BY JEET HEER

July 6, 2017

In his address Thursday in Warsaw, Donald Trump returned to the stark, polarizing rhetoric of his campaign speeches and inaugural address, portraying America and its culturally similar allies as under siege by subversive forces both within and without. … “The fundamental question of our time is whether the West has the will to survive,” he said. “Do we have the confidence in our values to defend them at any cost? Do we have enough respect for our citizens to protect our borders?” …

Later, he evoked Poland’s wartime resistance to Nazism and Soviet communism. …

Such rhetoric is meant to conjure blood-and-soil nationalism. Here, Trump is defining the West not based on ideals like democracy and liberty, but atavistic loyalties to territory and shared kinship.

You know, when you stop and think about it, in his lack of deference toward Poland’s “territory” — lines on a map that were justified via atavistic loyalties to territory and shared kinship — Hitler was really kind of ahead of his time.

From the perspective of the Current Year, who were the real Nazis in 1939? Those who wanted Europe united under the leadership of a forward-thinking German Chancellor? Or the bigoted xenophobic Borats who wanted to be left alone in their own country?

Sure, Hitler did some bad things, but at least he didn’t respect Polish borders.

[Comment at Unz.com]

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