Opinion - Trump and Putin are making the same error about patriotism
Their rhetoric is replete with references to nation and country, but the one thing among many that Presidents Trump and Vladimir Putin don't understand at all is the actual power of nationalism and patriotism. And it's perfectly clear why.
Both are empire builders who believe they have a sacred duty to expand the borders of their realms — regardless of what anybody might say, do or think.
Putin aspires to revive the Soviet Russian empire, including all 14 non-Russian republics and as many of the East European countries as he can gather in. Trump, meanwhile, hopes to annex Canada, Greenland, the Panama Canal and even the Gaza Strip.
As Putin saw it, Moldova, Georgia, Belarus and Ukraine appeared ripe for the taking. After all, the Belarusians and Ukrainians are really Russians, as Putin and his subalterns have repeatedly claimed, while Moldova and Georgia were too small to resist.
Trump's logic is similar. The Canadians are really Americans. And Greenland, Denmark, Panama and Gaza are too weak to say no to the American behemoth.
Putin expected his invasion of Ukraine and his hegemony over Belarus to be a cakewalk. Instead, the war against Ukraine has been a disaster for Russia's army, economy and people. Even Alexander Lukashenko, Belarus's wily leader, has cleverly managed to retain more breathing room than Putin would have wished.
Trump appears to have similar expectations regarding his imperial targets. Like Putin, he will discover that empire building in the age of nationalism and patriotism is no easy task.
Moldova has resisted total annexation by Russia for three decades, as has Georgia. Belarus retains a surprising level of semi-sovereignty, most clearly shown by Lukashenko's refusal to get directly involved in Putin's genocidal war against Ukraine.
And Ukraine, which was supposed to have been captured in a few weeks, has successfully resisted Russian imperial aggression for many reasons, the most important being that Ukrainians have responded to his invasion by becoming full-fledged nationalists and patriots. They believe that their nation deserves to have its own sovereign state and they have come to love their country.
Canadians, Greenlanders, Danes, Panamanians and Palestinians in Gaza have reacted in precisely the same way. Canadians and Greeenlanders in particular have almost universally rallied around their flag and country and are determined to resist Trump's aggression. They too have become ardent nationalists and patriots.
Putin and Trump don't 'get' nationalism. They don't understand that the desire for independent nation-statehood has defined modernity since at least the American and French Revolutions.
Nor do they get nation, country and patriotism. Nations have arguably existed since ancient times (the Israelites were surely a nation by any definition), whereas country and love of country are at least as old as the Latin word 'patria' and the Biblical Promised Land.
Like it or not, the world is divided into nations, most of which aspire to independent statehood, and into countries, which always manage to elicit the emotional support of their countrymen and women. Like it or not, nationalism and patriotism rule the day.
As imperialists with imagined divine mandates, Putin and Trump don't see any value in the existence of other nations and countries; only their own matter. As a result, they regard resistance to their imperial schemes as temporary aberrations that need not be heeded.
Such a dismissive attitude may have worked during the age of European imperialism in the 19th century, but it is doomed to failure in the 21st. For one thing, just about everybody is a nationalist and patriot today, usually without even being aware of it. Persuading the world that it's wrong, or forcing it to acquiesce to the sword, won't work anymore.
For another, resistance is so much easier. Most of the world is educated, has its own elites and access to material resources. People have become aware of their power, especially in the age of the internet. Technology has also contributed to leveling the military playing field, as the Russians killed by swarms of Ukrainian drones have unhappily learned.
Finally, today's resistance movements generally have the support of large popular constituencies and are firmly rooted in their cultures. For better or for worse, cities can be demolished and their residents deported or placed in concentration camps, but the spirit of resistance cannot so easily be destroyed.
It's thus no surprise that the age of empires ended in the 20th century, during the age of nationalism and patriotism.
Putin and Trump will both learn the same bitter lesson as did the Europeans before them: You can kill nationalists and patriots, but you can't kill nationalism and patriotism. They will inevitably prevail and serve as the gravediggers of both imperialist misadventures.
Alexander J. Motyl is a professor of political science at Rutgers University-Newark. A specialist on Ukraine, Russia and the USSR, and on nationalism, revolutions, empires and theory, he is the author of 10 books of nonfiction, as well as 'Imperial Ends: The Decay, Collapse, and Revival of Empires' and 'Why Empires Reemerge: Imperial Collapse and Imperial Revival in Comparative Perspective.'
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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