Republican Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska understands neither history nor the present mood of the Republican electorate.
Sunday on X, formerly Twitter, Bacon made a historically ignorant and politically foolish comment dismissing the America First movement.
If he bothers to read his replies, then surely by now Bacon has observed the gargantuan chasm between his own establishment views and those of the Republican base.
In response to another X user, Bacon described America First as a failed relic of a bygone era.
“Right out of the 1930s! Didn’t work out Bruh,” the Nebraska congressman posted. Here Bacon referred to the Depression-era movement concerned with keeping the U.S. out of another European war.
Right out of the 1930s! Didn’t work out Bruh.
— Rep. Don Bacon 🇺🇸 (@RepDonBacon) October 23, 2023
Bacon’s comment, punctuated by a cringe-worthy “Bruh,” called forth a healthy mix of indignation and mockery.
“You ought to be removed from Congress…bruh,” one user posted.
You ought to be removed from Congress…bruh.posted
— TheDeplorableVeteran🇺🇸 (@DeplorableVet84) October 23, 2023
“Right out of the RINO handbook! Your days in office are numbered, bruh,” another wrote.
Right out of the RINO handbook! Your days in office are numbered, bruh.
— TryloTheCreator (@TryloTheCreator) October 23, 2023
Others echoed the threat to evict Bacon from office by supporting a primary challenger in 2024.
“Can’t wait for you to get Liz Chaneyd bruh lol,” one user posted in reference to former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, the establishment warmonger who persecuted former President Donald Trump and then suffered a landslide defeat in the 2022 Republican primary against Trump-backed Harriet Hageman.
Can’t wait for you to get Liz Chaneyd bruh lol
— GG 🇺🇸 (@GGUSA12677) October 23, 2023
Indeed, many anti-Bacon comments included both a primary threat and a well-earned mocking.
“What old gooby grandpa uses the term ‘bruh’? Cringe. Primary this establishment POS, Nebraska,” another user wrote.
What old gooby grandpa uses the term “bruh”? Cringe. Primary this establishment POS, Nebraska.
— Amy Moreno (@VivaLaAmes11) October 23, 2023
Midwest Mom, whose followers on X include conservative commentator Dinesh D’Souza and Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, looked past the cringe part and challenged Bacon on substance.
“I’m going to act like you didn’t just say ‘bruh’ as a sitting US Congressman and get to the real question: Putting America first is ‘right out of the 1930’s’ and ‘didn’t work out’? I would love to hear more about how you believe America shouldn’t be first,” Midwest Mom wrote.
I’m going to act like you didn’t just say “bruh” as a sitting US Congressman and get to the real question:
Putting America first is “right out of the 1930’s” and “didn’t work out”?
I would love to hear more about how you believe America shouldn’t be first.
— Midwest Mom (@badlibtakes) October 23, 2023
In recent weeks, Bacon has alienated many Republican voters.
For instance, in late September he threatened to break with Republicans and support a stopgap funding bill to avert a government shutdown. Even then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy, whom many Republican voters associate with the establishment, opposed that bill.
Then, last week, Bacon three times voted against Republican Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, many Republican voters’ preferred speaker candidate.
Midwest Mom, however, summarized the two strongest objections to Bacon’s comment: historical ignorance and his determination to put America last.
Should Rep. Bacon resign?
Yes: 100% (3 Votes)
No: 0% (0 Votes)
Bacon’s reference to the 1930s America First movement failed on so many levels that one hardly knows where to begin.
Consider the state of things in that era. Europeans spent four years (1914-1918) fighting “the war to end all wars.” They slaughtered one another for reasons no one remembers. Americans joined them in 1917.
Then the Europeans, with the help of U.S. President Woodrow Wilson, botched the peace. Communists overran Russia. Fascists took power elsewhere, most ominously in Nazi Germany.
In the U.S. in 1933, the unemployment rate hit nearly 25 percent. By 1938 — the sixth year of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s ballyhooed “New Deal” — nearly one in five Americans still could not find work. Nothing like that period of prolonged economic stagnation and widespread suffering had ever hit the U.S.
Meanwhile, having already fought the so-called “war to end all wars,” Europe in the 1930s lurched toward yet another war.
Thus, Depression-era Americans could be forgiven for not trusting the warmongering interventionists of their day.
Of course, the Patriot Act did not exist in the 1930s — neither did the CIA or even its forerunner, the Office of Strategic Services. The defense budget and the national debt were comparatively miniscule.
In short, the America First movement of the 1930s had good reason for objecting to foreign interventions. And today’s America First movement has all those same reasons, plus the accumulated experiences of decades.
Finally, at some point Bacon must address Midwest Mom’s second point: “I would love to hear more about how you believe America shouldn’t be first.”
Can any American, let alone a sitting congressman, make a serious case for putting Americans’ interests last? If not, why do they denigrate America First?
One suspects that people like Bacon grew up consuming military-industrial-complex propaganda.
Before World War II, nearly every American statesman knew that wars bankrupt nations and demobilization must follow war. The Cold War, however, placed the U.S. on a permanent war footing that it has, for the most part, never abandoned.
To justify this permanent war footing, it was necessary to reduce America First to a kind of parochial caricature. Maybe even cast a few elitist aspersions for good measure. After all, only a xenophobic rube would object to a war for someone else’s “democracy.”
But the Republican base has caught on to the game. The vast majority of Republican voters now reject the shopworn narrative pushed by Bacon and other establishment types. Those voters know who benefits from foreign intervention and focusing on other nations’ interests.
Thus, perhaps only one question remains: Why does Bacon still call himself a Republican?
