At his Houston rally on Oct. 22, U.S. President Donald Trump got one of his loudest cheers when he used the “n-word.” No, not that “n-word,” but another one that respectable public figures are not supposed to use. Teasing his full-throated audience, Trump clucked his tongue: “Really? We're not supposed to use that word?” After a brief pause, he brayed: “You know what I am? I'm a nationalist. OK? I'm a nationalist.”
The crowd, of course, roared while commentators pored over the word's significance. What, precisely, does it mean to be a nationalist? Does it carry the same meaning for those who bawled their approval at Trump or, for that matter, those who bewailed its ascendancy in Western politics? The answer, pretty clearly, is no—but much less clear is whether either side has a clear grasp of what a nation even is.
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