Jonah Goldberg: American Nationalists Are Awfully Quiet about Russia

Source: National Review | February 16, 2018 | Jonah Goldberg

Its government attempted to meddle in our elections and is planning on doing so again in this year. Where is the outrage?

I’m confused.

These days, “nationalism” is all the rage on the right. I put it in quotes because there are a lot of different ideas of what nationalism means. Some of it is just rah-rah “U.S.A. No. 1” sloganeering. For others, nationalism is basically code for white-identity politics.

And for the so-called alt-right, it’s not even code.

…….

So here’s what I’m confused about. It seems to me that virtually every understanding of nationalism is rooted in the idea that the nation should be jealously defended from foreign interference, aggression, and insult. Even purely symbolic disrespect should quicken the blood of every true nationalist.

…….

Meanwhile, it is now an accepted fact that the Russian government attempted to meddle in our elections and is planning on doing so again in 2018 and beyond. Members of the Trump administration, with the notable exception of the president himself, are unequivocally blunt about this. But where is the outrage from the nationalist caucus?

To be fair, National Review has issued stern editorials. But most of the rah-rah nationalists on cable, talk radio, and social media have been remarkably blasé about it, more interested in Hillary Clinton’s misdeeds than those of a contemptuous foreign power. For some of the alt-right, the silence is understandable; many of them are simply fanboys (or clients) of Vladimir Putin.

But at least part of this outrage lacuna must be attributable to the distorting effects of partisanship. The Russians didn’t win the 2016 election for Trump, but the whole topic remains politically charged for him, and his refusal to squarely address this issue sends a powerful signal to his own party. So it gets downgraded to a mere technical challenge for the Deep State to handle. And maybe that’s the right course.

But it does pose an interesting question: How powerful can nationalism be if it cannot overpower partisan loyalty?

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