- Several headlines about America’s attack on Venezuela;
- Trump’s peculiar animosity against the Kennedys;
- And two ideas about patriotism.
The State of the Union.
Just some headlines. American seems never to overcome its historical sins.
The Guardian, Tiago Togero, 3 Jan 2026: ‘Naked imperialism’: how Trump intervention in Venezuela is a return to form for the US, subitled “Most of the Americas have suffered from interference from their powerful northern neighbour – and are usually the worse off for it”
Washington Post, George F. Will, 3 Jan 2026: Trump goes monster-hunting, untainted by a whiff of legality, subtitled “Colin Powell’s “Pottery Barn rule” comes to mind after U.S.’s seizing of Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro.”
The Atlantic, Michael Sherer, 4 Jan 2026: Trump Threatens Venezuela’s New Leader With a Fate Worse Than Maduro’s, subtitled “The president told The Atlantic that Delcy Rodríguez needs to comply with U.S. wishes—or else.”
Slate, Fred Kaplan, 3 Jan 2026: It’s Painfully Clear What Trump’s Attack on Venezuela Is All About, subtitled “Rarely has an American president been so blatant about his motives.”
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And this.
Salon, Jason Kyle Howard, 4 Jan 2026: Trump has declared war — on the Kennedys, subtitled “From Jack and Jackie to Bobby, Ted and Eunice, Trump is on a rampage against the Kennedy legacy”
Concerning the recent death of Tatiana Schlossberg.
Trump, who is often incapable of showing grace, is fond of hitting people at their lowest point.
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Such a tyrannical take on loving America:
JMG, 4 Jan 2026: Noem: Critics Of Venezuela Attack Don’t Love America
No, I would say: we critics just don’t love Trump, or you. You all pervert American ideals.
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Dovetailing with this piece:
Washington Post, Theodore R. Johnson, 31 Dec 2025: America’s real source of patriotism has been clear for 250 years, subtitled “Critiquing the nation on where and how it has fallen short, but from a place of respect and affection.”
It opens with a story about one Jehu Grant.
Trump’s insistence on uncritical patriotism isn’t an ask for the people to love the country unconditionally and ignore its failures, but rather a means to unbridle the presidency from oversight and constraints. Those who run afoul of him are immediately labeled traitors, ingrates and disloyal — just ask Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia), who had been so targeted and announced in November that she would resign from Congress.
Moral patriotism critiques the nation on where and how it has fallen short but does so from a place of respect and affection for it and the people – the sort of moral patriotism practiced by Abraham Lincoln and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., among scores of others. And there is civic or constitutional patriotism, which is based on loyalty to principles, laws and institutions, emphasizing shared values as the basis for national attachment — the version that compelled Jehu Grant to fight for a nation that sanctioned his enslavement.
With more about Jehu Grant. Then concluding,
Our institutions are not self-correcting — they do not inherently work to close the gap between the nation’s professed ideals and its actions. Instead, they must be compelled to change — transformed by a patriotic people who love the country enough to make it work a quarter-millennium after its creation.
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Americans, or people in general, do not what enlightenment. They want comfort, and reassurance.
