The Post-Nationalist Moment
SCOOP: At a strategy and comms meeting earlier today, Trump aides general consensus was not to squash any riots that may happen tonight b/c it would hurt their chances at coalition building w/ minority communities ahead of the election.— Ryan James Girdusky (@RyanGirdusky) May 29, 2020
if anyone’s expecting to see an LA riot type of response from the federal government. They’re going to be disappointed. A lot of conversation went into all the work they’ve put in to reach out to the black community (on average, Trump’s polling 8% with them)— Ryan James Girdusky (@RyanGirdusky) May 29, 2020
“Shoot the white folks.” pic.twitter.com/i2YO8f2ur2— PoleyThePolarBear (@PoleyBear1350) May 28, 2020
Rioters in Minnesota blast audio from The Purge on a loud speaker: “Any and all crime, including murder, will be legal for 12 continuous hours.”#BlackLivesMatter #antifa #GeorgeFloyd pic.twitter.com/3h8zSLNMTS— Andy Ngô (@MrAndyNgo) May 29, 2020
Current view from Hwy 55 bridge looking down towards 3rd Precinct police hqtrs & Target store on East Lake. Fires seemingly in every direction. #minneapolisriots #GeorgeFloydprotest @FOX9 pic.twitter.com/uj4eADe3fw— Paul Blume (@PaulBlume_FOX9) May 29, 2020
the 3rd precinct apparently just exploded lol. they weren’t lying about the gas pipes pic.twitter.com/dMZMzBBQxP— Fanged Noumenon (@d0meless) May 29, 2020
Protesters storming the Ohio State House pic.twitter.com/BBMdwMEHMu— Kendall Forward (@KendallForward) May 29, 2020
This is the moment when Minneapolis police officers abandoned the 3rd precinct building. Rioters chased them as they left and continued to throw objects at the police vehicles. pic.twitter.com/KoxAAYiUIN— Julio Rosas (@Julio_Rosas11) May 29, 2020
pic.twitter.com/k33ay8ggyT— The Daily Karen (@DailyGrifter) May 29, 2020
Fireworks shooting into the sky as the MPD Third Precinct burns. @kare11 pic.twitter.com/fDHOn70T3A— Danny Spewak (@DannySpewak) May 29, 2020
I’ve always been a nationalist.
I started out as a White Nationalist in 2001. Around 2011, I began to have my doubts about the strength of White identity. Then in 2012, I became a Southern Nationalist because I assumed that Southern identity, which is based on ethnicity, culture and history, must be stronger than an identity based on race.
I’ve never been an American Nationalist. It has always been obvious to me that American identity is too weak and Americans are too diverse to be a nation in any meaningful sense of the word. Now, I doubt that either White identity or Southern identity is a strong enough alternative. We have been deracinated by decades of political correctness and neoliberalism to the point where there is really no form of common identity to appeal to anymore. There is nothing left but an incoherent mass of atomized consumers.
As a nationalist, I have devoted my life to a sense of service to my people, but who are my people these days? Do they even exist anymore? Nathan Bedford Forrest is being ripped from his grave. His monument was torn down and carted off by Memphis. The conservative governor of Tennessee wants to get rid of Nathan Bedford Forrest Day. No one seems to be rising up in outrage these days except to complain about the lockdowns. The bars on Beale Street were closed for a month and to the reopeners it was the worst thing that ever happened in their lives. Mobs are rising up to burn down Minneapolis.
We’re currently in the midst of a national tragedy. 103,000 Americans have lost their lives in an epidemic since the beginning of March. You can count on one hand the number of events that have been deadlier than this in all of American history. And yet, it seems that Americans no longer have the common identity, solidarity or shared narrative of belonging to process and make sense of such a tremendous wave of death sweeping through their country. President Trump solemnly raised the American flag over the White House for three days before resuming his feuds with Jeff Sessions, Joe Scarborough and Twitter.
Truth be told, American Nationalism, White Nationalism and Southern Nationalism were all ultimately based on some form of liberalism. There has never been a viable non-liberal form of nationalism in the United States. Liberalism has rotted away the nation at the heart of all three of these forms of nationalism. American Nationalists appeal to an American nation that doesn’t exist. White Nationalists appeal to White people who lack a common sense of racial identity. Southern Nationalists appeal to Southerners whose idea of the South is watching SEC football, grilling and chilling and being “open for business.”
We’re living in Arthur Fleck’s dystopia now. In Minneapolis, we have seen a fantasy become reality. We still have orphaned nationalists being born without a nation. We still have natural conservatives being born who have the right instincts and who are reacting against our social disintegration. As nationalists though, we should feel liberated from the illusion that there is anything left of a nation here to mobilize, defend or conserve. There is just the ruins of an Arby’s burning in the twilight.