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{"id":18503,"date":"2016-11-10T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-11-10T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leithart.level2d.com\/?p=253"},"modified":"2016-11-10T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2016-11-10T00:00:00","slug":"america-being-america","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2016\/11\/america-being-america\/","title":{"rendered":"America Being America"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

I<\/span>nternational observers have looked with dismay on the 2016 Presidential election, often for good reason. But David Goldman offers a rebuttal. He observes<\/a> that Trump\u2019s victory \u201cis not strictly speaking a Republican victory. The self-appointed guardians of Republican ideology for the most part supported Clinton or sat the race out. George Bush, father and son, reportedly left their presidential ballots blank.\u201d<\/p>\n

He thinks it\u2019s a victory for the American spirit, \u201ca triumph for America\u2019s risk-friendliness and willingness to adapt, experiment and tinker.\u201d He doesn\u2019t think it any \u201creason for America\u2019s partners or competitors to panic. America, after all, is just being America.\u201d<\/p>\n

America was being America in its relative indifference to the world outside: America \u201chas very little interest in what happens an ocean away from its coasts, and under a Trump presidency will be less inclined to meddle overseas. I expect that Trump will throw more resources into a rebuilt military and (especially) military technology, something that Moscow and Beijing might not like but which does not by itself portend any sort of confrontation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those traits have their upsides and their downsides, but Goldman is right: We\u2019ve always been a bumptious presence in the world. It\u2019s America being America.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"