"President Trump delivered one of the most important speeches of his young presidency on Thursday. Billed as 'Remarks to the people of Poland,' the address was as clear a statement we've heard of Trump's nation-state populism. This philosophy, which differs in emphasis and approach from that of other post-Cold War Republican presidents, is both enduring and undefined. ...
"The most important concept in nation-state populism is the people. These are citizens of the folk community, membership in which crosses ethnic, racial, and sectarian lines. Note, for example, Trump's reference to the Nazis' systematic murder of 'millions of Poland's Jewish citizens, along with countless others, during that brutal occupation.' Or as Trump put it, in a different context, in his Inaugural Address: 'Whether we are black or brown or white, we all bleed the same red blood of patriots, we all enjoy the same glorious freedoms, and we all salute the same great American flag.'
"Together, the people constitute the nation. Borders define the nation's physical extent, but not its nature. Indeed, the nation may exist independent of statehood or political sovereignty. 'While Poland could be invaded and occupied,' Trump said, 'and its borders even erased from the map, it could never be erased from history or from your hearts. In those dark days, you had lost your land but you never lost your pride.' Nor is the nation always represented in the corridors of power. 'Today, we are not merely transferring power from one administration to another,' Trump said at the inaugural, 'or from one party to another -- but we are transferring power from Washington, D.C, and giving it back to you, the American people.' ...
"These are more than remarks to the Poles. They describe a world of sovereign nation-states, governed by peoples proud of their histories and confident in their futures, united in common cause against the enemies of civilization, of freedom and human dignity. And Trump presents a challenge in the form of a question: Are we still made of that stuff that populated a continent, became an industrial powerhouse, went to the moon, and defeated the Kaiser and the Fuhrer and the Emperor and the Politburo? I hope the answer is yes."
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