Being a patriot used to be an unequivocally good thing. You were someone who was proud of your country and what it stood for and were willing to sacrifice for it.

But then Trump came along, cozying up to dictators, disparaging American leaders while abroad, trash talking people who’d served, taking the word of dictators over multiple established American agencies, attacking the press, lying, and in general doing numerous other things that would have gotten any one of us fired from our jobs.

And he started calling his supporters “patriots” thus sullying the word for all other possible uses.

So now “patriot” unfortunately connotes someone who carries an assault rifle, drives a truck with a big American flag, supports (or supported) Trump, and who swears they’ll take to the hills and live in bunkers for the USA but they won’t wear a mask. So yeah, call me about anything else but “patriot” has kinda been ruined.