Trump v. American Exceptionalism

Aaron Blake reports at The Washington Post:

The same day that Donald Trump travels to Mexico to meet with President Enrique Peña Nieto, Hillary Clinton will attack him for his opposition to the idea of American exceptionalism.

Assisting her in that effort: Donald Trump himself.

And it's not just Trump's campaign slogan to "Make America Great Again" — a formulation that suggests America is no longer great. Trump, in fact, has said at multiple points in recent years that he doesn't much like the idea of American exceptionalism. And he has explained this position in detail.

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Appearing on Fox News with Greta van Susteren at the time [2013], Trump said he agreed with Putin:

And when he criticizes the president for using the term "American exceptionalism," if you're in Russia, you don't want to hear that America is exceptional. And if you're in many other countries, whether it's Germany or other places, you don't want to hear about American exceptionalism, because you think you're exceptional. So I can see that being very insulting to the world.

And that's basically what Putin was saying — is that, you know, you use a term like "American exceptionalism," and frankly, the way our country is being treated right now by Russia and Syria and lots of other places and with all the mistakes we've made over the years — like Iraq and so many others — it's sort of a hard term to use.

But other nations and other countries don't want hear about American exceptionalism. They're insulted by it. And that's what Putin was saying

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