To me, the word “isolationist” means to totally cut off one’s self or one’s country from everything and everyone. That’s not what going on. We still have trade with many countries, including those who we have tense relations with. We can never be “isolationist” as McConnell likes to put it. He’s being disingenuous.
Yes, and this is why that word was specifically deployed in the run up to World War II. “Storm clouds gathering”.
Everyone knew what was going on in Europe in the 1930s. And any sane person in America wanted no part of that. I’m not passing judgment, simply pointing out the reality as it was.
Our governments “Special” relationship with Great Britain, and also particularly a common language, I guess, meant we were allied with the “English speaking peoples” etc.
“Isolationist” was a method of dividing Americans. One of the classic methods of formal rhetoric is to impose a kind of binary duality to any contentious issue. The con is to get people thinking there are two, and ONLY two, possible courses of action to any given situation. You wouldn’t want to be on the wrong side of history do you? Or - “Why do you want to Kill Grandma!?”
It is insidious, and once you know what to look for, you can’t un-see it. A modern or contemporary example would be how anyone who expresses even the slightest reservations about engaging in a major war with Russia (a nuclear weapons power, if it needs to be said) or even slightly skeptical of claims that they are “fighting for democracy” in the Ukraine is branded as “Rootin’ for Putin’ “ What’s really weird, to me - all those 60s “anti war” hippies seem to be the biggest cheerleaders here. I had great fun needling my Uncle on this. I told him “What If they Gave a War And Nobody Came” and I thought he was going to have a stroke.
“Here are your two choices. Pick one”. Jeb! Or Hillary! Nice, huh? Bush v. Clinton 3.0. THAT’s how you got Donny Two Scoops. He’s the symptom, not the cause. And that’s why “his kind must not be allowed to rise again” etc etc.
“America First” is another one from way back at that time.
I groaned when I heard it used recently, because i knew exactly how this would be portrayed in the major print and television Media outlets. See Also “Xenophobic” and they have ratcheted this up to the “Worse Than Hitler” etc etc etc; if anyone suggests that, you know, perhaps millions and millions of illegal aliens pouring across the border year after year, driving down wages (among other things) is “Racist” or whatever passive-aggressive guilt trip they are trying to hypnotize the masses with.
Another good ‘un - the word “Populist”. As every Schoolboy knows, Populism is Bad. But then, what is Democracy? Isn’t our Precious Democracy populism writ large? None of our ruling class is ever asked what these words mean. They don’t know either, because they are simply thought ending cliches, designed to end debate.
What they mean by “We’re Losing Our Democracy!”; they define “Democracy” as those myriad *institutions* that are unaccountable, unelected, and purportedly the result of “Democracy”, or something like that. They mean rule by Democrats. The public be damned.
The last thing any Democrat wants is Majority rule, with the proviso or unless and until they can get 51%, by hook or by crook. Bunch of snakes, they are.