Since nationalism is a form of collectivism, it is not surprising that its vulgate plays so much on “together” themes. Vladimir Putin just declared in a public speech in fromt of a “jubilant crowd, amid a sea of Russian flags” (“Putin’s Wartime Russia: Propaganda, Payouts and Jail,” Wall Street Journal, February 22, 2022):
“When we are together, no one can match us,” he said, before singing the national anthem along with the crowd and greeting servicemen who were there.
The crowd responded with chants of “Russia, Russia” and “Putin, Putin.”
We could compare this with former president Donald Trump’s declarations, with his fans’ idolatry, or with the “USA, USA” chanted by the crowd at his meetings. We can also find something similar in the nationalism of Joe Biden, who is in many ways Trump 2.0 or, if you prefer, Trump with a human face. In his recent State of the Union speech, Biden said:
We are the United States of America and there is nothing, nothing beyond our capacity if we do it together.
There may be some exceptions, and nuances have their importance as do hopefully constitutional constraints, but when a political ruler says “let’s do that together,” what he really means is “do what I say.”
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