Obama’s Harsh New Takedown of Trump Points to a World After MAGA
Or, as Obama put it, that vision sees “some groups as more equal than others.” In this sense, Obama’s speech is a rebuttal to this sort of Vance-MAGA nationalism. Along these lines, Obama also gave a shout-out to the people in Minneapolis, who
braved frigid temperatures, risked their own safety, standing shoulder to shoulder to look out for their neighbors, and sometimes look out for strangers, because they knew that was the right thing to do.
Among the “strangers,” of course, are all the immigrants—undocumented and legal—who were targeted by Trump for forced mass removals.
In this understanding, the “strangers” do not become Americans simply via support for the nation’s ideals. But they may well be on the road to becoming Americans, via a social process. Crucially, the ties Obama describes here are not purely cerebral or only rooted in “an idea,” as Vance puts it. These are moral, ethical, communitarian, and even cultural ties that develop over time. And this process is molded by majorities deciding—again, democratically—how to shape their political life together and who can share in it.
