During Trump’s long dark acceptance speech last night he said at one point :
The most important difference between our plan and that of our opponents, is that our plan will put America First. Americanism, not globalism, will be our credo.
Now, being a bit of a history buff, that phrase clanged a bit on my ear and rang a vague bell somewhere way back in my head ,so I did a bit of Googling. Sure enough I HAD heard the Phrase “Americanism” before, Most notably in a 1926 article by one Hiram Wesely Evans. And just who was Mr. Hiram Wesley Evans you ask? Well at the time he was the “Imperial Wizard and Emperor of the Knights of the Klu Klux Klan” and the article is entitled “The Klan’s Struggle for Americanism”
See if any of this sounds a wee bit familiar: His Wizardliness Mr. Evans:
Our Greatest Achievement so far has been to formulate, focus and gain recognition for an idea-the idea of preserving and devolving America first and Chiefly for the benefit of the pioneers who made America, and only definitely along the lines of the purpose and spirit of those pioneers
Donald Trump last night:
The most important difference between our plan and that of our opponents, is that our plan will put America First. Americanism, not globalism, will be our credo. As long as we are led by politicians who will not put America First, then we can be assured that other nations will not treat America with respect. This will all change in 2017.
The American People will come first once again.
and while we’re at; it let’s compare Evans and Trump on immigration
When the Klan first came along the nation was in confusion awakening from the lovely dream of the “melting pot” disorganized and helpless before the invasion of the alien and alien ideas ...Except for the a few voices almost drowned out by the alien and alien minded “liberal” the Klan stood alone
We are going to build a great border wall to stop illegal immigration, to stop the gangs and the violence, and to stop the drugs from pouring into our communities.
Nearly 180,000 illegal immigrants with criminal records, ordered deported from our country, are tonight roaming free to threaten peaceful citizens.
The number of new illegal immigrant families who have crossed the border so far this year already exceeds the entire total from 2015. They are being released by the tens of thousands into our communities with no regard for the impact on public safety or resources.
in fact take away the racial code words and tell me if this following passage from Mr. Evans doesn’t basically perfectly encapsulate the overarching message of all of the RNC speakers this week:
n spite of it, however, these Nordic Americans for the last generation have found themselves increasingly uncomfortable, and finally deeply distressed. There appeared first confusion in thought and opinion, a groping and hesitancy about national affairs and private life alike, in sharp contrast to the clear, straightforward purposes of our earlier years. There was futility in religion, too, which was in many ways even more distressing. Presently we began to find that we were dealing with strange ideas; policies that always sounded well, but somehow always made us still more uncomfortable.
Finally came the moral breakdown that has been going on for two decades. One by one all our traditional moral standards went by the boards, or were so disregarded that they ceased to be binding. The sacredness of our Sabbath, of our homes, of chastity, and finally even of our right to teach our own children in our own schools fundamental facts and truths were torn away from us. Those who maintained the old standards did so only in the face of constant ridicule.
Along with this went economic distress. The assurance for the future of our children dwindled. We found our great cities and the control of much of our industry and commerce taken over by strangers, who stacked the cards of success and prosperity against us. Shortly they came to dominate our government. The bloc[1] system by which this was done is now familiar to all. Every kind of inhabitant except the Americans gathered in groups which operated as units in politics, under orders of corrupt, self-seeking and un-American leaders, who both by purchase and threat enforced their demands on politicians. Thus it came about that the interests of Americans were always the last to be considered by either national or city governments, and that the native Americans[2] were constantly discriminated against, in business, in legislation and in administrative government.
So the Nordic American today is a stranger in large parts of the land his fathers gave him. Moreover, he is a most unwelcome stranger, one much spit upon, and one to whom even the right to have his own opinions and to work for his own interests is now denied with jeers and revilings. “We must Americanize the Americans,” a distinguished immigrant said recently. Can anything more clearly show the state to which the real American has fallen in this country which was once his own?
It is important to note that When Mr. Evans wrote these words, the Klan was not the shadowy fringe organization it is today, but a major player in American politics, on that openly endorsed politicians, and whose endorsement in many states was necessary to gain office. This was about two years after their infamous march on Washington with 10,000 + participants. (and perhaps completely coincidentally, about a year before Fred Trump was arrested at a KKK riot).
Now to be utterly fair to MR. Trump, Wikipedia does list other definitions for the term “Americanism”. But given his selection of Mike Pence as VP I think we can safely exclude the ideas on the separation of Church and State that Pope Leo XIII denounced as the Americanist heresy in 1864
And Of Course the American Legion often uses the slogan “100% Americanism” but given the Legion’s fascist origins, and long history of violence against immigrant fueled organized labor movements, I am not sure the there Americanism is really all that different from Mr. Evans:
When I started to write this I checked myself. I mean SURELY the nominee of major party COULD NOT be trying to dog-whistle a musty old piece of racist ideology as the centerpiece of his campaign...right? But there have been just too many “accidents’ in that direction lately: Laura Ingraham’s “accidental” sieg-heil which “inadvertent” or not , THRILLED white Supremacists, . And then there is The Tweet from hate group VDARE being flashed on the big screens at he RNC, or The anti-Hillary Meme Trump tweeted being sourced to a virulent anti-Semite and white supremacist. Or even the Donald’s disturbingly extensive ties to white Supremacists via social media.It all adds up and it all points in one direction. At some point he’s really no longer entitled to the benefit of the doubt, on this stuff, and honestly, I think we have now passed that point.