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Yesterday I asked the world of historian twitter if anyone's written a history of Trump's new favorite catch phrase "America: Love it or leave it." The answer is "no," but @sarahchurchwell generously dug into her research notes and came up with this fascinating timeline.
@sarahchurchwell The genealogy of the term, at this point, seems to include the American Legion, KKK, John Birch Society, the anti-anti-Vietnam War folks of the 60s...and then the phrase became an object of ridicule...as in, "remember when people said stupid things like love it or leave it?"
@sarahchurchwell All of these sources resonate with the general illiberalism of Trump's base..the conspiracy theories, the racialized vision of nationalism, the pro-military dimensions, and the anti-protester thread as well.
@sarahchurchwell The hard hat riot of 1970 feels relevant here. 200 pro-Nixon & pro-war workers attacked an anti-war demonstration in NYC that was protesting the shootings at Kent State just a few days earlier. These were the sorts of guys who'd say "love it or leave it."
@sarahchurchwell I wonder if we know anything about what Trump thought about the hard hat riot at the time...or if he's mentioned it subsequently. He would have been in his mid-20s at the time.
@sarahchurchwell How did the GOP leaders respond to their supporters beating up protestors and celebrating the murders of 4 peaceful protesters at Kent State at the hands of the national guard? Nixon thanked the hard hats, and even got a commemorative helmet. docsteach.org/documents/docu…
@sarahchurchwell This is bringing back a memory from 1992 when I moved to Chicago for grad school. There was a bar in my neighborhood called "Jarheads." I had a beer there once and noticed that the walls were plastered with bumper stickers, including "America: Love it or Leave it!"
@sarahchurchwell Another bumper sticker at this pro-Vietnam War themed bar (remember, this was 1992) said "Jane Fonda: American Traitor B*tch" (without the asterisk). This was the summer of Pat Buchanan's notorious GOP convention speech, of which that bar felt like the physical instantiation.
FWIW, it appears that Jarheads was shuttered in 2013. dnainfo.com/chicago/201309…
The old Yelp reviews for the place are of note. 
