So this is the right’s newest howl in the wilderness, conveniently provided here in on the pages of the house organ (the Wall Street Journal) by none other than Liz Cheney:

Obama HATEZZ AMERICA!! becuase he refused to give the entirety of the credit for the demise of the Soviet Union to the good old U.S. of A.:

America was an unmatched force for good in the world during the Cold War. The Soviets were not. The Cold War ended not because the Soviets decided it should but because they were no match for the forces of freedom and the commitment of free nations to defend liberty and defeat Communism.

YOU ESS AAY! YOU ESS AYY!

There’s jingoism and then there’s lose-your-mind jingoism, and the GOP is deciding to go down that road. As has been pointed out elsewhere, to give the entirety of the credit for the fall of the Soviet Union to Wonderful Us is to minimize the role that, say, Lech Walesa played. It’s to completely ignore the fall of Ceaucescu; it’s to completely minimize the million little cracks in the glass that occurred in part because of the United States’ resolve, but in part because of what the people living beneat the iron fist said, did and believed.

This is patriotism as the last refuge of a party of scoundrels, who would have it that if you dare to suggest the United States is anything less than the greatest most awesome nation ever in the annals of recorded history, you officially hate America.

Humility? Not much. That’s a pretty endearing approach to the rest of the world, ain’t it? KNEEL BEFORE YOUR MASTER.

As Ta-Nehisi Coates points out here - in response to previous Liz Cheney blatherings designed for the Hannity right:

The best nation that ever existed in history. No conservative skepticism. No Niebuhrian humility. Now consider the resonance between that statement and this one from George Wallace which I flagged a few weeks ago:

In the name of the greatest people that have ever trod this earth, I draw the line in the dust and toss the gauntlet before the feet of tyranny, and I say segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever.

Now, per the bold type, the equation isn’t with the racism, but with the unbridled nationalism. The worst part of Wallace’s statement isn’t the segregation part, it’s the myth, the candy that he’s feeding his audience–the greatest people that have ever trod this earth. (One could wrap the arrogance of the Lost Cause in here too, if you were so inclined.)

What you have, in both cases, is a hustle, a bait and switch, in which one claims to be hawking patriotism, but in fact, is selling jingoism. If patriotism is love of country, then much of the unquestioning GOP rhetoric fails on the rudiments. Is love of kin, love of siblings, love of spouse, telling your beloved, that they are the best person that’s ever existed in history? Or is that  sycophancy, fast talk proffered by loose friends, who in your darkest hours, appeal to your worst self.

This wing of the GOP panders to America’s worst self, represents it - and thus, perpetuates it.