Editor’s notebook: There’s no patriotism in calling the U.S. a “failing country.”

A visit to the National Mall in Washington, DC represents what is good about the U.S. and draws visitors who envy the nation's democracy. (Photo: J. Holly McCall)

Last week’s presidential debate has unleashed a veritable tsunami of introspection and public teeth gnashing after President Joe Biden turned in a disastrously befuddled performance and former President Donald Trump managed to get through the 90-minute event apparently without ever telling the truth.

Many, many journalists and pundits have for a week taken apart the debate and performances by the two principals, but no one has yet focused on a Biden line near the end that stuck with me. 

After Biden answered CNN moderator Jake Tapper’s question about handling the job of president as an octogenarian, he pivoted.

“The idea that somehow we are this failing country, I never heard a president talk like this before. We – we’re the envy of the world,” said Biden. “Name me a single major country president who wouldn’t trade places with the United States of America.”

 “For all our problems and all our opportunities, we’re the most progressive country in the world in getting things done. We’re the strongest country in the world,” he said. “We’re a country in the world who keeps our word, and everybody trusts us, all of our allies.”

Biden was addressing Trump’s statement — one he made not for the first time — that “We’re a failing nation right now. We’re a seriously failing nation. And we’re a failing nation because of Biden.”

During the debate, Trump also said “All over the world we were respected, and then he comes in, and we’re now laughed at. We’re like a bunch of stupid people.”

It would be disingenuous to suggest that Biden had a good debate, but on this point, he was right. 

Get out of here: For a a former president who wants to be president again to talk about the U.S. as a “failing nation” shows a disgraceful lack of patriotism.

This is one thing about Trump and his “Make America Great Again” slogan, which has bugged me ever since he launched his first campaign in 2015. He and his supporters call themselves patriots and talk about patriotism while at the same time showing enormous disrespect for the U.S. by calling it a “failing nation.” 

Get out of here with that noise. 

It’s one thing to protest or dissent in order to improve flaws. Protest is a key part of the First Amendment, and the U.S. is by no means flawless. For Americans to protest peacefully — by which I mean not attacking the Capitol with weapons and assaulting law enforcement officers — no matter the issue, is one thing. 

But to have a former chief executive of the nation who runs on the idea that the country is a failure is as disrespectful as anything I can think of. For a one-time (and possibly future) president to say he supports veterans while calling them “suckers and losers,” as has clearly been documented, is incredibly unpatriotic. 

The topic of “Make America Great Again” and what absolute bull it is was already on my mind prior to the recent debate. 

A few weeks ago, I wrapped up a work conference in Washington, D.C., and had a few hours to kill before my flight home, so I hopped the subway to National Mall, the grassy park that sports the Capitol at one end and the Lincoln Memorial at the other. 

I meandered past the Washington Monument, smiling to myself as sweating parents tried to corral their unruly kids into posing for photos with the monument in the background. As I approached the World War II Memorial, I saw a chaperone lecturing a group of restive 8th graders about decorum, before I made my way to the Pacific Theater side of the monument to check out the pavers marking the islands on which my dad fought.

When I arrived at the Lincoln Memorial, I sat on the steps overlooking the Mall and people-watched. There were families of Asian descent eating ice cream on the steps next to me, and families speaking African languages. Some were U.S. citizens, I’m sure, but some had brought their families to Washington to see what so many people around the world view as an ideal: a jewel. Our nation’s capital represents democracy and freedom to so many. 

As I sat there, I reflected that no, the U.S. isn’t perfect. But it’s still pretty damn good. And a politician who doesn’t recognize that, who calls it a “failing nation” —  that’s just not patriotic at all.

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