And our current snake — President Donald Trump — presents fruit infused with two concepts: Patriotism and communism. Within this simple MAGA binary, Republicans are the patriots and Democrats are the communists. Patriotism: The American God termIn The Ethics of Rhetoric, Richard Weaver dubs patriotism the “penultimate God term.” The problem, of course, is Trump defining patriotism in superficial, performative ways according to his own reading. “It is the greatest threat to our country, including World War I, World War II, Pearl Harbor or even 9/11.”