Booker: Saying You’re More Patriotic Than Others Is ‘Shallow Patriotism’ – ‘A Real Patriot’ Finds Ways to Advance the Country

On Tuesday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “All In,” Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) stated that people who say they’re more patriot than others exhibit “a shallow patriotism” and real patriots find ways to advance the US and unite it.

Booker criticized the president for pitching “petty, divisive politics, as opposed to calling us to come together despite differences, to answer the call of our country right now. Which should be focusing on places like Puerto Rico and other places of humanitarian crisis due to hurricanes, or talking about something that’s affecting every American, which is the cost of our health care and the potential lack of access for millions.”

He later stated that “protest is patriotism.” And that the players who are kneeling are doing so to disrespect the flag, but rather to draw attention to issues of racial inequality. Booker also criticized the president for having harsher rhetoric towards peaceful protests than the white supremacists in Charlottesville.

He concluded, “As soon as someone tries to tell an American in this country that ‘I’m more patriotic than you,’ or to look down on your loyalty to this country, please understand that says much more about that person’s patriotism than their’s. Because their patriotism is a shallow patriotism that seeks more to divide, demean, degrade others, and lift themselves up than do what a real patriot should be doing in America, is finding ways to advance our country and unite this nation to greater understanding and a more courageous empathy.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett