When politicians and commentators lecture Americans about how some behavior or idea is “not who we are,” two things are typically certain. First, they are trying to bully you into supporting their political goals. Second, they are grossly distorting history to fit their own preconceived notions.

However, when President Trump Donald John TrumpHR McMaster says president's policy to withdraw troops from Afghanistan is 'unwise' Cast of 'Parks and Rec' reunite for virtual town hall to address Wisconsin voters Biden says Trump should step down over coronavirus response MORE had declared during his third State of the Union that our nation “was carved out of the vast frontier by the toughest, strongest, fiercest, and most determined men and women ever to walk on the face of the earth,” there is no doubt that he is more concerned about who Americans are than who we are not. Again and again throughout his candidacy, and even more throughout his presidency, Democrats have alleged that his policies, statements, or actions are “not who we are.”

They act as though enforcing the law or pursuing popular policies that had indeed been viewed as uncontroversial and bipartisan as recently as the Clinton administration, somehow violates fundamental characteristics of Americans. The “not who we are” crowd is usually short on details to back up their claims, relying instead on platitudes and quotations from famous liberals, such as “yes we can” from the presidential campaign of Barack Obama Barack Hussein ObamaThe Hill's 12:30 Report - Presented by Facebook - Don't expect a government check anytime soon Trump appointees stymie recommendations to boost minority voting: report Obama's first presidential memoir, 'A Promised Land,' set for November release MORE, “we are a nation of immigrants” from the book written by John Kennedy, and “give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses” from that iconic poem affixed to the base of the Statue of Liberty.

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After three years of policies delivering win after win for the people, the president firmly pushed back against those who seek to redefine what it means to be an American and reminded us who we really are. He has not forgotten the inherent truth about our heritage. He said, “Our ancestors braved the unknown, tamed the wilderness, settled the Wild West, lifted millions from poverty, disease, and hunger” and “vanquished tyranny and fascism, ushered the world to new heights of science and medicine, laid down the railroads, dug out the canals, raised up the skyscrapers.”

He continued, “This is our glorious and magnificent inheritance. We are Americans. We are pioneers. We are the pathfinders. We settled the new world, we built the modern world, and we changed history forever by embracing the eternal truth that everyone is made equal by the hand of almighty God.” That is who we are, and no extent of revisionist history or political exploitation of tragedy from the past will make us forget it.

President Trump did not call back to our shared story “from the pilgrims to the Founders, from the soldiers at Valley Forge to the marchers at Selma, and from President Lincoln to the Reverend Martin Luther King” to tell you why you should oppose the Democratic Party platform. He made that case eloquently elsewhere in his address, and he did not need to specify that socialism is “not who we are” to demonstrate that it is a terrible idea.

He did it because he knows our conception of who we are as Americans is more important and enduring than who we elect as president. If we allow politicians or activists to make our children forget that important legacy, or to substitute their own contrived vision of history, we risk losing what makes our nation great. I am tired of hearing that his agenda is “not who we are.” He has made it perfectly clear he knows exactly who we are.

Madison Gesiotto is an attorney who serves with the advisory board of the Donald Trump campaign. You can follow her on Twitter @MadisonGesiotto.