Michael Cushman writes:
Neo-conservative Max Boot claims in a new Foreign Policy article that the “unspoken assumption that only white Christians are true Americans” is “ugly stuff.” He does so despite the fact that the Naturalization Act of 1790, passed by the same Founding Fathers that Boot praises for creating a propositional nation, limited citizenship to free White people of good character. Boot then quotes a truly awful Ronald Reagan speech calling for a “borderless world” and a “brotherhood of man” and assures us that anyone from anywhere can be an American if they just think the rights thoughts. America is an ideology, not blood and soil, and “fighting changing demographics” that are transforming this into a Third World country is just wrong.
As a prominent neo-conservative, Boot is of course Jewish. The title of Boot’s FP piece is actually “The GOP Is America’s Party of White Nationalism”, and the villains of his piece are Rep. Steve King and the dastardly Steve Bannon:
It is no surprise to learn that Bannon and King have repeatedly praised what the conservative writer Linda Chavez has described as a “shockingly racist” 1973 novel — The Camp of the Saints by the French author Jean Raspail. Its plot concerns an attempt by hundreds of thousands of poor Indians, who are described as “wretched creatures,” to sail to France. The Huffington Pos tsummarizes what happens next: “The French government eventually gives the order to repel the armada by force, but by then the military has lost the will to fight. Troops battle among themselves as the Indians stream on shore, trampling to death the left-wing radicals who came to welcome them. Poor black and brown people literally overrun Western civilization. Chinese people pour into Russia; the queen of England is forced to marry her son to a Pakistani woman; the mayor of New York must house an African-American family at Gracie Mansion. Raspail’s rogue heroes, the defenders of white Christian supremacy, attempt to defend their civilization with guns blazing but are killed in the process.”
This is how the Bannons and Kings view the modern world: The West is threatened by hordes of swarthy outsiders, especially Mexicans and Muslims, and they are lonely defenders of the white Christian race against this insidious threat. There is no evidence that Trump has given this matter as much thought as they have, but, based on his public pronouncements, he has reached similar conclusions. That helps to explain why the administration is building a border wall, expanding deportations, and trying to keep out citizens of as many Muslim countries as possible. This isn’t about fighting terrorism or crime; it’s about fighting changing demographics. And it’s premised on an unspoken assumption that only white Christians are true Americans; all others are “somebody else.”…
The Bannons and Kings appear intent, with Trump’s help, on undoing much of that progress toward a more inclusive society. They are pursuing a vision they share with foreign far-right leaders such as Wilders and Marine Le Pen. They want to turn the Republican Party into a “blood and soil” nationalist party and the United States into a white-supremacist stronghold.
Sadly, their worldview has become so mainstream…
Cue the spooky music!
