Tammy Duckworth: Tucker Carlson Doesn't Know What Patriotism Is (NYT)
New York Times
By Tammy Duckworth
Ms. Duckworth is a Democratic senator from Illinois.
July 9, 2020
Neither does President Trump.
A little over 240 years ago, two of my ancestors put on the uniform of George Washingtons Continental Army and marched into battle, willing to die if it meant bringing their fledgling nation inches closer to independence. Centuries later, in 1992, I followed in their footsteps and joined the Army.
Even knowing how my tour in Iraq would turn out, even knowing that Id lose both my legs in a battlefield just north of Baghdad in late 2004, I would do it all over again. Because if theres anything that my ancestors service taught me, its the importance of protecting our founding values, including every Americans right to speak out. In a nation born out of an act of protest, there is nothing more patriotic than standing up for what you believe in, even if it goes against those in power.
Our founders refusal to blindly follow their leader was what I was reflecting on this Fourth of July weekend, when some on the far right started attacking me for suggesting that all Americans should be heard, even those whose opinions differ from our own. Led by the Fox News host Tucker Carlson and egged on by President Trump, they began questioning my love for the country I went to war to protect, using words I never actually said and ascribing a position to me that I do not actually hold.
Mr. Carlson disingenuously claimed that because I expressed an openness to a national dialogue about our founders complex legacies, people like me actually hate America. One night later, he claimed that I called George Washington a traitor even though I had unambiguously answered no when asked whether anyone could justify saying that he was. Then he argued that changes to monuments of our founders deserve a debate, which, somehow, was different and more acceptable to him than the national dialogue that led him to question my patriotism just 24 hours earlier.
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https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/09/opinion/tammy-duckworth-tucker-carlson.html