Are You Proud to be an American?
Answer that question and ask me anything. It's time for subscriber questions!
Are you proud to be an American?
A record-low percentage of Americans — 58% — say they are "extremely" or "very" proud to be an American, according to new Gallup polling.
The pride number is down from 87% in 2001 and 75% as recently as 2017.
The new low is largely driven by a decline in national pride among Democrats and Independents in the first six months of President Trump’s second term. Republicans’ national pride is steadier, registering at 92% this year, up from 85% in 2024 when Joe Biden was president.
So it’s a partisan thing, like almost everything.
It’s also an age thing. “There are clear generational differences in American pride,” Gallup reports, “with each new generation significantly less likely than the previous one to say they are extremely or very proud to be an American.”
My take: I’m proud to be a citizen of the greatest country on earth, largely because I still have the right to say America is far from perfect and getting worse fast.
How about you?
Now that I’ve asked you a question, let’s get to the point of this column: Your questions for me.
Seven days a week in the “Morning Read-In” I hear from paid subscribers — their viewpoints and questions on the day’s most compelling stories on politics, communications, culture, and life. What about the rest of you? Ask me about anything.
President Trump’s war on Iran.
His war on Democrats.
Robert F. Kennedy’s war against candy manufacturers and the Left’s relative silence.
Trump’s political winning streak and the raft of positive social data revealed here in
’s “Age of Disruption” Substack.The corruption, the dysfunction, and the hate-baiting tactics of America’s political class. (Yes, I know one party is far worse than the other, but no there are no excuses or “whataboutism” in a health democracy.)
Ask me about country music, U.S. history, parenting, grandparenting, marrying well, living a good life, and growing old. These are some of my obsessions.
Ask me about covering the White House, chasing presidential candidates, writing books, running companies, and consulting for corporations, non-profits, and governmental agencies that need to tell their stories better. These are some of the things I did or do for a living.
Ask me about these convulsive times, when an unprecedented confluence of economic, demographic, and technological changes are complicating our lives and livelihoods — and every institution designed to help us adapt is flailing.
Ask me, please.
I’ll answer in the next “My Reply” column.
“Fournier Flurries” is a semi-regular feature where I catch you up on columns you may have missed:
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When retribution is a policy, we all pay.
On My Favorites Presidents, Zohran Mamdani, and Willie Nelson
MY REPLY: Where I answered your questions and tried not to sound too stupid.
Why the End of the Flint Water Crisis Reminds Me of President Trump
A brief history of government incompetence.
Media Training 101 (A video)
The Declaration of Independence echoes amid the Imperial Trump Presidency.
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Maybe the question should be about embarrassment, rather than pride. I still love the concept of American pride, but I have become so very embarrassed to be an American since the tRump Regime came to power.
Pride is a complicated sentiment. We take pride in our kids - one, because they are our offspring, two, their successes redound to us. We project our desires onto them. We take pride in our work — we feed our families, put our children through school, serve a greater purpose. We take pride in our communities when they rally in the face of unimaginable disaster or when the home team shows grit and determination.
But what does it take to have pride in a nation? A nation is its history, and its people, and its leaders. I am certainly not proud of our leaders. In fact, I’m ashamed of them. I’m not proud of half the voting public who gave us these leaders. Our history is darkened by the original sin of slavery and racism and the horrors visited upon native people. And, while tempted, like you, to take pride in our freedom to express ourselves and speak truth to power, I’m quickly reminded of the shameful deal cut by Paramount, throwing its flagship news program under the bus.
But I still fly the flag from my stoop every day. Why? Because I will not yield to the MAGA world view embraced by cruel, ignorant, racist, haters who cheer the kidnapping of immigrants by masked security forces, who ignore the climate and fiscal threats we are leaving to the next generation, who shrug at our most vulnerable while enriching our most fortunate.
So, I fly that flag in sorrow, not pride. I fly it in defiance of those who want to claim it as an emblem of their own dystopia. I fly it out of faith that this era will end. Pride? A nation must earn it.