President Donald Trump’s address in Warsaw, Poland last week was largely based a around the resilience, perseverance, and bravery of the Polish people through centuries of invasion, oppression, and occupation. The courage displayed during the Warsaw Uprising, the ascendance of Pope John Paul II, and the Three Seas Initiative were all mentioned. Three Seas simply refers to the building of a close socioeconomic partnership between the U.S. and the former soviet republics of Eastern Europe. Poland and Croatia are quarterbacking the agreement across the Atlantic. So, how could this be described as a “White America” speech? That’s what CNN’s Jeff Zeleny gleaned from this address.
On CNN’s Inside Politics, Zeleny told host John King, “This is not a speech he could have given really any place else. This is a white America, America First kind of speech. He was offering a very stark view actually about migration, about immigration, about other things,” he said. “He probably couldn’t have given that speech here in America.”
What? Really? Well, given what we’ve seen and heard from the American Left, these are probably the so-called controversial excerpts from the Warsaw address:
Finally, on both sides of the Atlantic, our citizens are confronted by yet another danger -- one firmly within our control. This danger is invisible to some but familiar to the Poles: the steady creep of government bureaucracy that drains the vitality and wealth of the people. The West became great not because of paperwork and regulations but because people were allowed to chase their dreams and pursue their destinies.
Americans, Poles, and the nations of Europe value individual freedom and sovereignty. We must work together to confront forces, whether they come from inside or out, from the South or the East, that threaten over time to undermine these values and to erase the bonds of culture, faith and tradition that make us who we are. (Applause.) If left unchecked, these forces will undermine our courage, sap our spirit, and weaken our will to defend ourselves and our societies.
But just as our adversaries and enemies of the past learned here in Poland, we know that these forces, too, are doomed to fail if we want them to fail. And we do, indeed, want them to fail. (Applause.) They are doomed not only because our alliance is strong, our countries are resilient, and our power is unmatched. Through all of that, you have to say everything is true. Our adversaries, however, are doomed because we will never forget who we are. And if we don’t forget who are, we just can't be beaten. Americans will never forget. The nations of Europe will never forget. We are the fastest and the greatest community. There is nothing like our community of nations. The world has never known anything like our community of nations.
We write symphonies. We pursue innovation. We celebrate our ancient heroes, embrace our timeless traditions and customs, and always seek to explore and discover brand-new frontiers.
We reward brilliance. We strive for excellence, and cherish inspiring works of art that honor God. We treasure the rule of law and protect the right to free speech and free expression. (Applause.)
We empower women as pillars of our society and of our success. We put faith and family, not government and bureaucracy, at the center of our lives. And we debate everything. We challenge everything. We seek to know everything so that we can better know ourselves. (Applause.)
And above all, we value the dignity of every human life, protect the rights of every person, and share the hope of every soul to live in freedom. That is who we are. Those are the priceless ties that bind us together as nations, as allies, and as a civilization.
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We have to remember that our defense is not just a commitment of money, it is a commitment of will. Because as the Polish experience reminds us, the defense of the West ultimately rests not only on means but also on the will of its people to prevail and be successful and get what you have to have. The fundamental question of our time is whether the West has the will to survive. Do we have the confidence in our values to defend them at any cost? Do we have enough respect for our citizens to protect our borders? Do we have the desire and the courage to preserve our civilization in the face of those who would subvert and destroy it? (Applause.)
We can have the largest economies and the most lethal weapons anywhere on Earth, but if we do not have strong families and strong values, then we will be weak and we will not survive. (Applause.) If anyone forgets the critical importance of these things, let them come to one country that never has. Let them come to Poland. (Applause.) And let them come here, to Warsaw, and learn the story of the Warsaw Uprising.
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Our own fight for the West does not begin on the battlefield -- it begins with our minds, our wills, and our souls. Today, the ties that unite our civilization are no less vital, and demand no less defense, than that bare shred of land on which the hope of Poland once totally rested. Our freedom, our civilization, and our survival depend on these bonds of history, culture, and memory.
And today as ever, Poland is in our heart, and its people are in that fight. (Applause.) Just as Poland could not be broken, I declare today for the world to hear that the West will never, ever be broken. Our values will prevail. Our people will thrive. And our civilization will triumph. (Applause.)
I don’t see anything controversial in these passages. We’re talking about fighting for and defending individual freedom, human life, and liberal democratic values (i.e. freedom of speech, the press, the right to assembly, etc.). How does that make it an “America First” speech? Heck, even South Korea, which is in Asia, had adopted some of these Western values concerning governance, save for some aspects of peaceful assembly. At times, the government has abused the National Security Act of 1948, where you can be jailed for any civil activity that could be construed as destabilizing to the safety of the state.
The point is that these ideals are exportable—and that anyone can join, thrive in, and prosper in a Western society. As a result, they may also become soldiers for its defense. Apparently, defending the values we cherish at home is apparently the makings of an alt-right manifesto, or it could be that it was Donald Trump making these remarks and not Hillary Clinton, which still irritates the Left and the news media to no end.
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