WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE A PATRIOT IN A TIME OF PERIL? 📱@thepettypolitic

Added: 2026-06-02

[00:00:33]Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. This is HQ back in the house now.

[00:00:40]What does it mean to be a patriot when the country is in peril? You all see the uh moniker. What does it mean to be a patriot in the time of peril? Let's not make the mistake of thinking we're not in that time.

[00:00:56]We are not okay.

[00:01:01]Let me show you something.

[00:01:05]Let me play this video here.

[00:01:34]So today is Memorial Day, right? It got me to thinking how Memorial Day used to feel, right?

[00:01:42]More reflection. We used to have more reflection, less performative people, less political theater, less people screaming at each other online while wrapping themselves in the flag like patriotism, some kind of team sport, right? It used to feel like a moment where Americans stopped and remembered that real people died for this country, right? Young people, old people, scared people, poor people, broken people, people who probably didn't fully understand the wars in which they had uh contributed to. But they went anyway, right? And now we are here in 2026.

[00:02:23]A country is exhausted. This country is exhausted.

[00:02:26]Right? This country is exhausted.

[00:02:40]So this country is exhausted, divided, angry, financially strained, politically radicalized.

[00:02:51]People don't trust the media. People don't trust the politicians. People don't trust the institutions.

[00:02:58]People barely trust each other. We barely trust each other.

[00:03:03]What does it mean to love your country?

[00:03:08]Families breaking apart over politics.

[00:03:11]Friendships ending over ideology.

[00:03:14]Everybody is screaming and nobody is listening. And somewhere in the middle of all this noise, we keep throwing around the word patriot. What makes you more of a patriot than anybody else? What have you done as a person who was born here to say that you're a patriot compared to someone else?

[00:03:37]Everybody's a patriot now. The billionaires are patriots now. The politicians are patriots now. The grifters are patriots now. The influencers are patriots now.

[00:03:49]The people selling fear every day are patriots. And the people manipulating America for profit are patriots.

[00:03:58]Everybody wrapping themselves in the flag. But tonight, I got to ask the question straight up. What does it actually mean to be a patriot?

[00:04:08]What does it mean to say you love your country in a time of peril? In a time of trial and tribulation that we got right now? Because I think patriotism means what people think it mean. It don't mean what people think it means anymore. And honestly, what scares me more than almost anything happening in this country right now is that everybody wants to drape themselves in a flag tighter than any other person, tighter than a person that don't look like you, practice religion like you, have sex like you, or have the same skin color as you. What makes you think that you're a patriot com more of a patriot compared to somebody else?

[00:04:53]Do y'all really know what it means to be an American? Cuz I I really think a lot of y'all don't know what that means. And I think a lot of y'all think because you're white or you're rich or you or you were just born here or your contribution uh means more than your neighbor does, that makes you more of an American than somebody else, including me sometimes. I think not. Right.

[00:05:19]>> I think not.

[00:05:38]See these people died for a country that was supposed to keep improving itself.

[00:05:45]You know, you know what bothers me though? I think somewhere along the line we stopped believing America was supposed to improve itself.

[00:05:53]A country can improve itself. You do know that, right?

[00:05:58]Be better, do better. That's But that's not patriot. That But that's patriotism.

[00:06:06]Patriotism and obedience are not the same thing.

[00:06:10]Because if you really love something, really love something, you protect it, you challenge it, you try to improve it, you try to protect it from corruption, you try to protect it from greed, and you try to protect it from extreme mechanisms. You protect it from people trying to hijack it. And I'll give you a real example of it, right? People like Martin Luther King and John Lewis and the Freedom Fighters were constantly being accused of of being anti-American because they challenged segregation, racism, and governmental abuse.

[00:06:52]But they weren't trying to destroy America. They were trying to force America to live up to its promises.

[00:06:59]That's the distinction.

[00:07:02]When black Americans marched for civil rights, they were called agitators, troublemakers, unpatriotic. But demanding America live up to the freedom and equality wasn't hatred on about for this country. It was the love of this country strong enough to confront. You have to have love enough for this country to confront its hypocrisy because pretending that everything is fine is not patriotism. That's obedience. Somebody asked me the other day, Renee, uh HQ, why are you con why are you um why are you criticizing the war? Why are you saying Donald Trump shouldn't be in the war? Why are you against this war?

[00:07:50]you you act like you're unAmerican.

[00:07:53]And I said, I'm gonna I'm gonna criticize this country until this country does better. When this country starts to do better, and it can do better, then I'll ease up on my criticism.

[00:08:10]But you love this country. You have criticism for this country because you wanted to do better.

[00:08:17]That's real love for your country.

[00:08:20]letting the government and people in charge of your country do whatever they want to do without criticism is not patriotic.

[00:08:30]It's obedience. It's in a cult.

[00:08:34]And I think people get that mixed up in their head. They let Donald Trump and his whole administration just do anything.

[00:08:41]No, you deserve criticism. You're supposed to be criticized for it.

[00:08:48]Okay? You're supposed to be held to task. You're supposed to be held accountable. You're supposed to be held Your feet are supposed to be held to the fire.

[00:08:57]Okay? America can be better. It could be fairer. It could be stronger. It could be more equal. And let's be honest about something else tonight. The story of patriotism in America has never belonged to just white people.

[00:09:13]Black Americans, Hispanic Americans, Asian-Americans fought for this country while being denied full citizenship.

[00:09:23]Japanese Americans fought their while their family sat in internment camps.

[00:09:30]Latino Americans served with the war and were treated like outsiders in their own community.

[00:09:37]Native Americans fought for a nation built on land that was taken away from them. Muslim Americans served this country after spending years being viewed with suspicion after 9/11 and they still continue to be viewed and demonized that way.

[00:09:54]LGBQ Americans as well. This matters because patriotism for marginalized people carries a different kind of weight. There's something powerful about loving a country enough to keep fighting for the promise of what it's supposed to be even when that promise has not fully included you.

[00:10:17]That is patriotism. And if America is going to move forward in any way, shape, or form, white America especially has to stop treating conversations about inequality and marginalization like personal attacks against them.

[00:10:36]Acknowledging history and racism and the and the the the ill treatment is not hatred.

[00:10:44]Acknowledging systematic inequality is not anti-white.

[00:10:49]And recognizing barriers minority groups still face do not weaken America.

[00:10:56]Ignoring those problems weaken America because you cannot heal a country by pretending wounds don't exist.

[00:11:08]A stronger America requires honesty. It just does, not denial. And somewhere along the line, people started to get angry anytime the country was being criticized at all.

[00:11:20]Since when? I don't know. Since when did accountability become anti-American?

[00:11:25]When did criticizing this administration become anti-American?

[00:11:32]Since when did questioning power become betrayal?

[00:11:38]The founding fathers questioned that power?

[00:11:41]Civil rights leaders questioned that power. Veterans questioned that power.

[00:11:48]Journalists should be questioning that power.

[00:11:53]Whistleblowers question that power. That is a part of patriotism because real patriots understand something. Blind loyalty destroys countries.

[00:12:09]Blind loyalty will destroy your country.

[00:12:13]I'll give you another example.

[00:12:16]Many veterans themselves came home and protested the war because they believed leaders had lied to the American people.

[00:12:24]That wasn't hatred for America. That was questioning power.

[00:12:30]Some of the some of the people most critical of the Vietnam War were the very soldiers who were in that war. They understood something powerful. Loving your country does not mean blindly agreeing with its leaders.

[00:12:49]So I question everybody's patriotism tonight. Are you going to start questioning your leaders? Are you going to start speaking up when you see something that's wrong? Even if it's your side of the aisle, even if you're a Republican or Democrat, Republicans are in charge now. Are you are you mo are you enough of a patriot that you would speak up against what's going on in the government today?

[00:13:14]Okay, that's the whole point. Okay, the the thing is a better example. Let me give you another example.

[00:13:28]When Republicans and Democrats eventually accepted that Richard Nixon had abused his power, they felt like those Americans, those Republicans said the Constitution mattered more than the person.

[00:13:47]Accountability mattered more than loyalty.

[00:13:51]What the hell happened to you people that are supposed to be patriots?

[00:13:56]Okay.

[00:13:59]What the hell happened to you people who are supposed to be patriots when you allow what's going on in our country to continue to to happen and not have a word to say about it?

[00:14:12]History supports these examples over and over again. Okay? Countries collapse when citizens become emotionally addicted to leaders to their leaders instead of the principles instead of the principles and the constitution.

[00:14:29]That's very dangerous. That's too dangerous. That's how democracies die.

[00:14:36]Let me play this clip.

[00:15:05]Wow. So, we're living through a time of national exhaustion.

[00:15:11]I think Americans are tired in ways we don't fully understand or get the gest of. Mentally exhausted, financially exhausted for real, emotionally exhaust, spiritually exhausted. Everybody feels like they're surviving instead of living. And that creates danger. That's a dangerous place we are in. We are in a perilous environment now. Everybody feels like they're surviving instead of living.

[00:15:39]Just think about that.

[00:15:42]Because exhausted populations become easier to manipulate.

[00:15:48]Fear works better on exhausted people.

[00:15:53]This administration is very good at stroking up people's fear. The immigrants going to get y'all. The immigrants is going to get the immigrants is going to come to y'all house. The immigrants is raping and and pillaging and and burning and raping and all it is.

[00:16:13]Exhausted populations become easier to manipulate.

[00:16:19]Most of y'all got manipulated into this environment.

[00:16:23]Fear works better on exhausted people.

[00:16:26]Propaganda works better on exhausted people. Division works better on exhausted people. And they don't just want people to be angry. They want people to be helpless and homeless and hopeless and and hope they stop participating.

[00:16:42]Hopeless people stop organizing.

[00:16:45]Hopeless people stop believing change is possible, start isolating themselves, becoming scared of their neighbor, scared of everybody, and and the cynicism starts sounding intelligent.

[00:16:57]After a while, that goofy [ __ ] starts to be intelligent or or sound like it makes sense to y'all.

[00:17:05]Sometimes cynicism is is just surrendering.

[00:17:09]Come in sophisticated clothes. Come in rich people clothes. That's dangerous.

[00:17:13]And look around. Everybody's angry.

[00:17:17]Everybody thinks the other side is evil.

[00:17:19]That is not a healthy country. This is not a healthy country. And social media made this worse because outrage became profitable to people. It's like all y'all angry all the time. I don't understand. Humiliation becomes profitable. Fear profitable. Division profitable. Every day somebody wakes up asking, "How do I make Americans hate each other more?

[00:17:44]How do I turn this American against this American?"

[00:17:48]I posit that you ain't no more patriotic than anybody else.

[00:17:53]because we wouldn't be having what's happening in this country if we were as patriotic as we say we are.

[00:18:01]This is poisonous. This atmosphere is poison. And some of the the loudest patriots people, oh, I'm a patriot. I'm more of an American than you. I I'm white and I'm rich, so I'm more of an American than you. Oh, I'm I'm Asian and I'm rich. Or I'm this and that and I'm rich. I'm more American than you.

[00:18:21]This is disturbing to everybody.

[00:18:23]Republican, Democrat, black, white, Christian, you name it. If somebody profits from making Americans hate each other, you should question what the [ __ ] they're saying.

[00:18:34]You should question what the [ __ ] they're saying.

[00:19:05]See, patriotim patriotism is not worshiping politicians.

[00:19:13]That part may upset a lot of people. And these days we got a lot of people who are is wor who are worshiping Donald Trump. I'm sorry. No.

[00:19:25]This is our constitution. We the people.

[00:19:28]This is our constitution.

[00:19:31]This is what we are supposed to uphold above any man, any party, anything.

[00:19:39]But it this will upset a lot of people.

[00:19:42]What needs to be said though, the a politician is not America. A party is not America. A movement is not America.

[00:19:50]And no man should ever become bigger than the country itself. Never.

[00:19:55]Because those young soldiers didn't die believing kings should rule America. No soldier. They died believing citizens should rule America.

[00:20:08]Okay? Our soldiers shouldn't be dying for a king or whatever. They died for a system where no leader is supposed to become untouchable.

[00:20:19]Americans did in Vietnam. And when citizens stop questioning the power, when citizens stop questioning power, when loyalty becomes more important than truth, we insult the very liberty those people sacrifice to protect. And honestly, I I think we're we're entering an era where people are becoming emotionally consumed by political identities, not policy, identity. Politics has become religion for some people. And once politics becomes religion, people stop thinking critically. Everything becomes tribal. Everything becomes us versus them. And suddenly people excuse behavior they never would have tolerated before. Corruption, cruelty, hypocrisy, abuse of power.

[00:21:06]because their side is doing it.

[00:21:09]That's not patriotism. That's cult like behavior. Real patriots hold everybody accountable. Everybody, including Donald Trump. I would love to see a true I would love to see a a real Republican hold Donald Trump accountable. Even the people that voted for him, especially the people who voted for him, because citizens require responsibility, not worship. And Memorial Day, this Memorial Day should remind Americans that this country belongs to the goddamn people.

[00:21:38]Not dynasties, not billionaires, not political celebrities. The people.

[00:21:45]This is crazy.

[00:22:10]See, this is the part. Well, what are we actually fighting for now? What are we trying to fight for now?

[00:22:19]And this is the part that's going to hurt because I think a lot of Americans secretly feel disconnected from this country right now. Very much disconnected from this country.

[00:22:29]Not because we hate America. We don't hate America. Okay? We don't hate America, but because we feel forgotten by America.

[00:22:41]And we're And if we're honest about it, if you honest about it, there are Americans hurting everywhere.

[00:22:48]Veterans struggling, single mothers struggling, young men struggling, young women, seniors, communities collapsing.

[00:22:55]People working full-time, still can't afford rent, can't afford car, loneliness exploding, mental health exploding, and every election cycle, every election cycle, we get more outrage, more culture war, more distin more distractions while ordinary people keep sinking into the dirt. If patriotism means loving Americans, why does it feel like Americans are being abandoned and villainized and sidelineed?

[00:23:25]That's not anti that's not anti-American talk.

[00:23:29]That might be one of the most patriotic questions I'm going to ask tonight.

[00:23:34]Why does it feel like Americans are being abandoned, marginalized?

[00:23:40]Because patriotism should involve caring whether the people inside this country are surviving and thriving. Not just the image of the country. The people.

[00:23:52]The people.

[00:23:59]It's wild.

[00:24:03]Hold on. Let me play this last clip now. Let me play this last clip. Put this on the stage. Hold on.

[00:24:24]Heat.

[00:24:44]Thank you.

[00:24:56]So a country can die spiritually before it dies physically.

[00:25:07]Our country can do that. Countries don't always collapse with explosions and war.

[00:25:13]Sometimes they collapse emotionally first, spiritually first, morally first.

[00:25:18]People stop trusting each other. Stop uh uh believing truth matters.

[00:25:22]Stop believing the country itself can improve. Is this where we at right now?

[00:25:28]This is when nations become vulnerable.

[00:25:31]Is this where we are right now? And honestly, I think America's in a dangerous emotional period right now because cynicism is everywhere.

[00:25:38]Hopelessness is everywhere. People withdrawing, disconnecting, numbing themselves. And meanwhile, the powerful people keep getting richer. The divisions keep growing. And Americans keep being pushed against each other like gladiators in a in an arena. This is peril that we are seeing in our country. Not just foreign enemies, internal decay. And history shows this over and over again. No empire collapses from one thing. It collapses from the rot, the greed, the division, the corruption, the arrogance of their leaders and citizens losing faith in one another. This is how nations collapse.

[00:26:21]Heat. Heat.

[00:26:57]See, nations rot from within.

[00:27:00]But here's the thing, and this might be the most important thing I say tonight, right? The people tearing this country apart, they're not the majority. They are not the majority. The majority of us love our country. The majority of us are patriots. The majority of us want this country to be well to to do great.

[00:27:26]They just happen to be the loudest ones.

[00:27:28]And I think somewhere along the line we started confusing noise with reality.

[00:27:34]Because if you turn off social media for a minute, for a minute, and remember something important, there are still millions of decent people in this country. Millions. And those people come from every background. Black, white, Hispanic, Asian, you name it.

[00:27:52]Immigrant families, too. I hate to say immigrant, but immigrant family.

[00:27:56]Workingass Americans trying to survive another week.

[00:28:01]That diversity is not America's weakness. I don't understand why we got that in our head. This is America.

[00:28:14]The problem is not that we are different. The problem is that too many powerful people powerful people profit from teaching Americans to fear each other instead of understand each other.

[00:28:27]And maybe goodness has become too quiet because real patriotism usually doesn't look this dramatic. It doesn't scream online. It doesn't humiliate people.

[00:28:38]Real patriotism is quieter than that.

[00:28:41]It's the teacher staying late to help a struggling student.

[00:28:46]It's the volunteer at the food bank.

[00:28:49]It's the neighbor checking on the elderly neighbor. It's a nurse working another ex exhausting shift. It's the grandmother raising kids because her family fell apart. The social worker, the firefighter. That's America, too.

[00:29:06]And honestly, I think that America is more real than the chaos we keep seeing on on the internet all the time. Because the soul of our country is not found in its loudest people. is found in the millions of invisible people and decisions that ordinary people make every day to help, to forgive, to sacrifice, to keep going.

[00:29:28]That's our covenant to this country.

[00:29:31]That's the agreement we make with each other whether politicians deserve it or not. And maybe the real danger is this is that is that exhaust is that part of the exhausted Americans being manipulated into forgetting about each other's humanity because hopeless people are easier to control. I get that. But if Americans ever remember they have more in common than they have indifferences and let these people stop exploiting us, everything can change. That's why this country is still worth fighting for. Not because America's perfect, but because ordinary Americans still carry pieces of goodness within them. All of us do. And maybe patriotism, too. Real patriotism is refusing to let those pieces die or get sidelined.

[00:30:24]Let me play this last clip.

[00:30:45]Heat.

[00:30:53]Heat.

[00:31:12]So tonight, so tonight on Memorial Day, the question is bigger than politics for me, bigger than Republican and Democrat. The real question is this. Do we still love this country enough to save it from its worst instincts? Do we love this country enough to try to save it? Because patriotism is not screaming louder than everybody else.

[00:31:39]Patriotism is not blind obedience. Blind obedience to Donald Trump, blind obedience to the Republicans, blind obedience to the Democrats. That's not patriotism.

[00:31:52]Patriotism is not worshiping our politicians. Patriotism is not accepting everything this president says with a blind eye.

[00:32:03]Criticizing our government is the most patriotic thing I can do at this time cuz I want this country to be better. I want this the democ the the uh politicians to be better, our government to be better.

[00:32:19]And if I let you just do anything as my as my lead uh uh commander-in-chief, I just let you do anything as my congressperson. I just let you do anything. That means I I I can't criticize you when you do something egregiously wrong.

[00:32:37]That's unpatriotic.

[00:32:39]Patriotism is loving a country enough to confront what's hurting it, what is doing the worst to it, even if it's uncomfortable, even if it's not something that you want to do. And maybe and maybe maybe the greatest way to honor the people who sacrificed for this country is not pretend America is great.

[00:33:01]America is not perfect. It's not great.

[00:33:03]It's not any of those things. Not today.

[00:33:06]Maybe it's fighting to make sure America doesn't lose its soul. I don't know. And America cannot find its soul again if parts of this country are still being erased, ignored, marginalized, or treated like they are somehow less than Americans.

[00:33:23]That's not patriotism. There's no version of patriotism that belongs to one race.

[00:33:29]None. One religion, one culture, one political movement. Not one.

[00:33:36]America is all of us.

[00:33:40]America is all of us.

[00:33:42]Okay? America is all of us. And if we are serious about saving this country, if we serious about saving this country, then every group inside this country has to matter. Every group inside of this country has to matter. If we are serious about saving this country, not just politically, humanly as a human being.

[00:34:07]Because a country in peril does not just need soldiers.

[00:34:12]It needs its citizens to stand up for it and make it better, to make it greater.

[00:34:20]Okay.

[00:34:23]So, yes, if you like my commentary, please put a like. Hit that like button, please. And thank you. Uh we are here Monday through Thursday uh at 10 o'clock uh with a new video. I'll be back tomorrow. I appreciate if you guys hit the like, share, and subscribe. I appreciate that.

[00:34:46]Uh and uh I will see you guys tomorrow.

[00:34:51]I will definitely see you guys tomorrow.

[00:34:53]And uh happy Memorial Day to all Americans.

[00:34:57]All Americans.

[00:35:00]All Americans.

[00:35:15]So, if I could get at least 100 of you guys, that'd be amazing.