Trump's delusional view of America represents the United States as a country single-mindedly dedicated to Goodness and Truth, when he himself is a compulsive liar and persistent thief, cheat, felon (34 time over) as well as a convicted rapist (who was subsequently ordered to pay $5,000,000.00 in damages for defaming the woman he raped).
As happens in all fundamentally fascist regimes, a decisive number of people come to believe in falsehoods that validate them as "extraordinarily good" people, aspiring after impeccably lofty ideals.
In the Tao Te Ching, Chinese sage Lao Tzu (aka Lao Tze Laotsi) observed that "the profoundest truths are paradoxical." 2500 hundred years later, priest-monk Thomas Merton observed that "The best, imposed as the norm, becomes evil."
"The Best, Imposed As A Norm, Becomes Evil," Trappist Monk, Fr. Thomas Merton
The United States Of America: "We're #1" (Ah! The Shame...)
Donald Trump's July 3rd, 2026, Mount Rushmore Address
During the event, Trump connected the phrase to what he described as a "resurgence of the communist menace" in the United States. He claimed that leftist radicals and newcomers were attempting to tear down the "great American character" by pushing the narrative that the country was founded on oppression. [1]
Key excerpts from his remarks:
- "As for those who peddle Marxist lies about our heritage, tell our children that we live on stolen land or that our heroes were oppressors, they're doing something much worse than slandering our past."
- "They are slandering and attacking our future."
- "You can be a communist, or you can be a patriot. You cannot be both." [1, 2, 3, 4]
Native American and Activist Response
Trump's speech at the Mount Rushmore monument drew heavy criticism from Native American leaders. The Black Hills are sacred land to the Lakota people, and the U.S. Supreme Court previously ruled in 1980 that the land was illegally seized from the Sioux Nation. Demonstrators gathered in the area holding signs that read "This Is Stolen Land" and condemned the rally as an insult to Indigenous people. [1, 2, 3] https://share.google/aimode/TS38Gzzm1c1hDKyuv
"Stolen Land" performed by Bruce Cockburn: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEai-k0oeds
Lyrics:
From Tierra del Fuego to Ungava Bay
The history of betrayal continues to today
The spirit of Almighty Voice, the ghost of Anna Mae
Call like thunder from the mountains -- you can hear them say
It's a stolen land
Apartheid in Arizona, slaughter in Brazil
If bullets don't get good PR there's other ways to kill
Kidnap all the children, put 'em in a foreign system
Bring them up in no-man's land where no one really wants them
It's a stolen land
Looking at the ocean -- sail reflected in black eye --
Sail as white as heroin, white like weathered bones --
Rum and guns and smallpox gonna change the face of home
In this stolen land...
If you're like me you'd like to think we've learned from our mistakes
Enough to know we can't play god with others' lives at stake
So now we've all discovered the world wasn't only made for whites
What step are you gonna take to try and set things right
In this stolen land
From Tierra del Fuego to Ungava Bay
The history of betrayal continues to today
The spirit of Almighty Voice, the ghost of Anna Mae
Call like thunder from the mountains -- you can hear them say
It's a stolen land
Apartheid in Arizona, slaughter in Brazil
If bullets don't get good PR there's other ways to kill
Kidnap all the children, put 'em in a foreign system
Bring them up in no-man's land where no one really wants them
It's a stolen land
Stolen land -- but it's all we've gotIn my mind I catch a picture -- big black raven in the sky
Stolen land -- and there's no going back
Stolen land -- and we'll never forget
Stolen land -- and we're not through yet
Looking at the ocean -- sail reflected in black eye --
Sail as white as heroin, white like weathered bones --
Rum and guns and smallpox gonna change the face of home
In this stolen land...
If you're like me you'd like to think we've learned from our mistakes
Enough to know we can't play god with others' lives at stake
So now we've all discovered the world wasn't only made for whites
What step are you gonna take to try and set things right
In this stolen land
Stolen land -- but it's all we've got
Stolen land -- and there's no going back
Stolen land -- and we'll never forget
Stolen land -- and we're not through yet
https://cockburnproject.net/songs&music/sl.html
