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Americans: I'd like you to remember that our National Anthem is not about triumph - it's about this feeling now. It's about survival.
Let's look at the lyrics.
Americans: I'd like you to remember that our National Anthem is not about triumph - it's about this feeling now. It's about survival.
Let's look at the lyrics.
Francis Scott Key was held as a prisoner in the War of 1812 just before the attack on Baltimore.
"O say can you see, by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming"
You see that flag? We didn't know if it would survive the British attack.
"O say can you see, by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming"
You see that flag? We didn't know if it would survive the British attack.
"Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight, O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?"
Key watched the storm flag and then the larger flag while watching the British try to pound the place to dust overnight.
Key watched the storm flag and then the larger flag while watching the British try to pound the place to dust overnight.
"And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there;"
He couldn't always see our flag, that sign of our independence. Not in the dark.
In fact, he only saw it as the incendiary rounds were fired.
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there;"
He couldn't always see our flag, that sign of our independence. Not in the dark.
In fact, he only saw it as the incendiary rounds were fired.
There are more versus, but the part we sing ends not with sure victory, but with a question mark:
"O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?"
America's national anthem is not about triumph. It's about survival.
"O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?"
America's national anthem is not about triumph. It's about survival.
There has never been a more insane idea for a country than the United States.
Independence wasn't backed by the vast majority of citizens. We faced the world's superpower. We were broke. Our sibling states squabbled. And half the place was stained with slavery.
Independence wasn't backed by the vast majority of citizens. We faced the world's superpower. We were broke. Our sibling states squabbled. And half the place was stained with slavery.
America barely held on in its battles for its own freedom. It only survived by taking help from another empire. One that wanted its territory back eventually.
The British Empire only waited a few years before attacking again.
Civil War awaited.
The British Empire only waited a few years before attacking again.
Civil War awaited.
Americans have fought for the right to exist as a free people, tragically ignored their stated values, fought each other over the unwashable sin of slavery, teetered between capitalistic freedom and abuse of the working class, struggled to respect women...but always forged ahead.
America has never existed as a beacon of the world because it's perfect - it never has been.
America is that beacon because the best among us will fight until the end for what's right. No matter the cost.
At home and abroad.
America is that beacon because the best among us will fight until the end for what's right. No matter the cost.
At home and abroad.
The run-up to and the crucible of the era of Donald Trump has been a searing, torturous experience where agents of evil tried to point a distorted mirror at all of us - to tell us that we aren't that people who will fight for what's right.
That Trump represents us.
He doesn't.
That Trump represents us.
He doesn't.
America's enemies - foreign AND domestic - tried to gaslight us that if our temporary tormentors seemed strong enough, ugly enough, it meant America was dead and that the fight was over.
And I want you to remember this: YOU wouldn't have it. YOU refused.
And I want you to remember this: YOU wouldn't have it. YOU refused.
If you're a woman, you had to watch the face of a rapist every day pretend to lead us. You refused.
If you're a person of color, you watched a sick, gleeful regression to the worst ideas ever to stain this place. Thankfully, you refused - yet again.
If you're a person of color, you watched a sick, gleeful regression to the worst ideas ever to stain this place. Thankfully, you refused - yet again.
If you're an immigrant, you had to watch these wretches tell you that America doesn't want you, will destroy your family, will turn you away in favor of their cartoon hideousness. In our great fortune, you refused to give up on our shared future.
I know you. I'm one of you. If you fought this infamous disgrace, you lost sleep, you lost jobs, you threw up, you cried...
...but then you refused to let it go.
You fought. And you won't stop now.
...but then you refused to let it go.
You fought. And you won't stop now.
Tonight, dearest friends and fellow citizens and allies abroad, it's our enemies' turn to lose sleep, pace, and cry.
Now they know they failed. Now, *they* know they tried to fight Americans. And Americans fight for what's right, all the way to the end.
Now they know they failed. Now, *they* know they tried to fight Americans. And Americans fight for what's right, all the way to the end.
Tonight, our enemies sit on vast piles of stolen money, on reams of pilfered data about our most private habits, on gaggles of public servants who sold their country for nothing.
And while they've been so arrogant, tonight they pace and sweat.
And while they've been so arrogant, tonight they pace and sweat.
No matter what those putrescent botches of nature stole from us, no matter how much they surveilled us with grotesque intent, in their pathetic mediocrity they never realized that they never even knew their targets.
They picked the wrong fight - one that won't be ending soon.
They picked the wrong fight - one that won't be ending soon.
These enemies are small in number, smaller in character, and tinier still in bravery.
They will give up. They will plead for mercy. They will run. Because they do not have the resilience and righteousness that you possess - that which got us this far together.
They will give up. They will plead for mercy. They will run. Because they do not have the resilience and righteousness that you possess - that which got us this far together.
Just one more thought: I want you to try to envision just how many resources they just deployed to break your spirit. How many bribes paid, how many lies propagandized, how many atrocities committed, how many institutions assaulted, all to break you down.
And they failed.
And they failed.
They spied on us, they studied us, all to attack us, but in their paltry, barbarous gestures they failed to understand the first thing about us.
That we would never give the future to them without a fight more resolved than anything they could fearfully imagine.
That we would never give the future to them without a fight more resolved than anything they could fearfully imagine.
Tomorrow, we shall wake, and that flag will be there. And so will you.
Tomorrow, we fight, yet again, for what's right, all the way to the end. And we won't be alone.
God Bless America, and all nations, and every person, not one left out.
</THREAD>
Tomorrow, we fight, yet again, for what's right, all the way to the end. And we won't be alone.
God Bless America, and all nations, and every person, not one left out.
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