Thread by @bryanbehar

I am a latte-drinking, Prius-driving, liberal Jew writer who works in Hollywood & supports universal healthcare, marriage equality, DACA and women’s reproductive rights.

That may make me a cultural stereotype.

But it doesn’t make me any less of an American. 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

I also love Texas bbq, college football, rock and roll, and the Constituon.

My point: there is no one definition of being an American.

And I’m deathly tired of the Right thinking only they can define who loves this country.

My likes also include the rule of law, democratic norms, free speech, a free unfettered press, checks and balances, an independent judiciary, the right to assemble and the right to dissent

Last I checked those were American Values. Not just yelling racist slogan in red ball caps

This divide and conquer culture war is cynical bullshit. The days of someone else deciding who loves this country the most, based on their biased criteria, is over. It’s done. This is just as much our country as it is theirs. Never forget that.

I pay taxes. I vote. And I bet, like most of you, I care more about preserving the underpinnings of our democracy than that orange, despot-abetting, wannabe oligarch.

The GOP has been replaying the 1968 for the past 50 years. If you support civil rights, if you support women’s rights, if you peacefully protest government policies, you are somehow suspect and less-than. It was and is a sham.

I’ve heard every canard. If you live on the coasts, you’re not a Real American. Same with the college-educated.

You can’t be a real American if you are a Muslim or a Jew, an immigrant or a Person of Color. Or young. Or female. Or LGBT.

According to who? Guys in MAGA hats?

Real Americans are outraged by elections being interfered with by foreign adversaries

Real Americans want justice for dissident journalists butchered with bone saws

Real Americans can’t believe travelers are banned by religion & children put in cages

Real Americans don’t scapegoat immigrants when they lose jobs to automation.

Real Americans don’t ban people by religion because of phony terror scares

Real Americans don’t make up tales of rampant urban crime to justify walls and immigrant bans

Real Americans acknowledge a free press is the cornerstone of democracy

Real Americans accept that dissent is a vital piece of the democratic system

Real Americans stand up against autocrats attempting single person or single party rule

Real Americans don’t strip 9 million fellow citizens of their legally-granted health coverage to fund tax cuts for billionaires and corporations

Real Americans believe the American Dream applies to all. Not just older angry white men.

Real Americans expect their President to be a bastion of decency, not crass vulgarity.

Real Americans want a leader who looks out for the downtrodden, not one who picks on society’s weakest and most vulnerable elements.

Real Americans don’t want a president who uses his office to enrich himself and his family.

Real Americans don’t believe in a president who uses the levers of government to punish political rivals.

Real Americans wants leaders who preserve our most valuable alliances

Real Americans don’t want leaders who cozy up to pernicious dictators, possibly for their own economic gain.

Real Americans want a president that defends liberty and freedom, that promotes tolerance and civil rights and human rights, that preserves our democratic norms and institutions.

Anyone who says otherwise is bastardizing what it means to be a Real Americans.

I love this country and what it stands for.

But I loathe what it’s seemingly become.

This is our country just as much as it is theirs.

In the midterms and beyond, let us never forget that. 🇺🇸