Here’s Trump in Warsaw:

Americans, Poles and nations of Europe value freedom and sovereignty. We must work together to confront forces, whether they come inside or out, from the south or the east, that threaten over time to undermine these values and to erase the bonds of culture, faith and tradition that make us who we are.

If left unchecked, these forces will undermine our courage, sap our spirit and weaken our will to defend ourselves and our societies. [E.A.]

Am I the only who thinks that what Trump’s talking about here — the “forces” he vows to confront — is not just ISIS, or more broadly “radical Islam” — but also globalism? In this Steve-Milleresque reading, it’s international G-20 style pressure for ever more trade and ever more transnational migration that would, over time, “erase” what makes America America. I’d include in the latter the traditional American sense of social equality, though it’s only flicked at in the speech.**

So how about this for a principle of Trumpism:

Social equality, and universal human dignity (including the right to dignified work), is a core aspect of our national identity. We will not accept greater global movement of goods or people if it comes at the expense of this identity, as it arguably often does (e.g. when trade permanently destroys jobs for the less-schooled, when mass immigration drives down unskilled wages to levels incompatible with social equality).

__________

** — Trump: “And above all, we value the dignity of every human life, protect the rights of every person and share the hope of every soul to live in freedom. That is who we are.” Universal “dignity” is not social equality, nor are universal civil rights. But they seem essential ingredients.