Trump wants to be called a 'nationalist,' but by which meaning?
Knowing President Donald Trump's fondness for needless provocations, I actually felt somewhat relieved when he made news by declaring that he wants to be called a "nationalist."
At least he didn't insert a troubling adjective to call himself something like "ethno-nationalist," "economic nationalist," "cultural nationalist" or -- heaven help us -- "white nationalist."
That last label, you may recall, applied to those white supremacists whom Trump called "fine people" when he declared "both sides" were to blame for violence in Charlottesville, Va., last year that left one woman on the anti-racist side dead.
Nationalism by its various ominous labels has been so inflammatory in recent European politics, particularly around such issues as trade, immigration and international treaties, that most leaders have been cautious in using it. Not Trump.
He's called himself a nationalist before, but not with the determined gusto that he displayed at a political rally Monday night in Houston.
"Really, we're not supposed to use that word," he told the crowd. "You know what I am? I'm a nationalist, OK? I'm a nationalist. Nationalist! Use that word! Use that word!"
I'd rather not, partly because I don't believe him. Trump is a salesman, real estate developer and reality TV star. He's not really an ideologue, beyond his hyperinflated belief in his own wonderfulness and his own interests. E pluribus Trump.
Back in February of last year, he mused in the White House, "You know, somebody said, 'Oh, maybe he's a total nationalist,' which I am in a true sense."
Two months later, he told The Wall Street Journal. "Hey, I'm a nationalist and a globalist. I'm both."
On the other hand, at events like this year's World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, which is to economic globalists what Lollapalooza is to music fans, the anti-globalist Trump tries to reassure our overseas neighbors and trading partners. " 'America first' does not mean America alone," he said at Davos. "When the United States grows, so does the world."
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