Democratic National Conventions are tough to watch. It's hard to endure hours of seeing thousands of Democrats collectively embrace radicalism and be consumed by hatred. This year's was particularly frustrating in that it was a desperate attempt to not only redefine Kamala Harris but also the entire Democratic Party.
For sure, this was hardly the first convention when Democrats tried to position themselves as moderates. That's fairly standard. What really got to me was the way the convention attempted to rebrand the Democratic Party as a patriotic party.
Many who watched the convention took notice of the fact that there weren't many American flags. Why would there be? Democrats are notoriously unpatriotic. They'd rather burn the American flag and wrap themselves in an LGBTQ pride flag than profess any sort of love for this country. Heck, you see more Palestinian flags at a left-wing rally than American flags.
PolitiFact hilariously fact-checked conservatives' claims that the American flag had been missing from the convention. Though hilariously concluded, "Images show there were at least six flags onstage the first day of the Democratic National Convention."
Wow. Six.
We've been calling them out for their lack of patriotism for years, and this year, the party decided it was politically expedient to portray a love of country they haven't displayed in the longest time. But, you know, only toward the end. On the fourth and final day of the convention, delegates were given "USA" posters and American flags. There was even a coordinated effort to have delegates wear patriotic attire. And, perhaps for the first time in their lives, chanted "U-S-A!" and boy, did the media fall for it.
"At the DNC, Harris and Democrats took back the American flag," insisted a report from Business Insider.
They weren't the only ones trying to push the "Democrats are patriotic" narrative.
"Two decades after 9/11, Harris and Democrats have reclaimed patriotism," read the headline at The Independent.
"At convention, Democrats claim patriotism, American flag as their own," declared the Washington Post.
"Republicans have often claimed the American flag as their own and argued that it represents conservative America, or signals alignment with conservative beliefs," the paper claimed. "But as they rally for the Democratic presidential ticket of Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Democratic speakers and delegates are donning Old Glory and other national symbols in what they say is a display of their patriotism and values — and a counterweight to former president Donald Trump’s use of the flag as a partisan symbol."
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The article did make the following concession, though.
In 2023, a Gallup poll found that although 60 percent of Republicans expressed extreme pride in being American, only 29 percent of Democrats did. An April poll from Ipsos found that 92 percent of Republicans had a favorable opinion on the American flag, while 77 percent of Democrats did.
It seems like there's nothing genuine about the Democrats. Aside from their unabashed love of abortion, when elections roll around, they actively try to appear more like Republicans: tough on crime, border hawks, supporting tax cuts, and now patriotic.
If Democrats only demonstrated a love of country all the time, and not only as a cheap political stunt, this country would be better off.
