Washington Post blogger Michael Tesler offered a perspective on patriotism Friday that is typical of the left's obsession with racial division: “To many Americans, being patriotic means being white.”

According to Tesler, “American patriotism has always been racialized,” and there “is more new evidence that whiteness and American patriotism are deeply linked.” The blogger references Mike Pence’s recent exit from an NFL game due to players refusing to stand for the National Anthem, regarding which Donald Trump had tweeted, “The issue of kneeling has nothing to do with race.  It is about respect for our Country, Flag, and National Anthem. NFL must respect this!” Tesler argues that “Most Americans…see it differently.”

“Are the protests about race or patriotism—or both?” This is the question he poses, citing a survey which reported on people’s perception that players "taking a knee" during the anthem are doing so for racial reasons. But it's not that the American people don't know that the protest is based on the (statistically insignificant) racist shootings of minorities by white police officers; it's that they don't believe that those injustices are reason to disrespect the flag, the anthem, or those who died for our liberty.

In any case, Tesler is out to prove that patriotism itself is based on racism. He quotes a theory of social dominance which denotes that “nationality and ethnicity are complementary because their power has enabled whites to successfully define the prototypical American in their own image.”

Furthermore, “whites who feel a sense of solidarity with other whites have historically felt more strongly attached to such symbols of patriotism as the National Anthem and the American flag... Nearly 90 percent of whites who have strong attachments to their racial group said that seeing the flag made them feel ‘extremely good,’ compared with only about a quarter those who score low in white racial solidarity."

Then Tesler lobs this beauty: "Politically dominant groups — like whites in the United States — effectively claim 'ownership of the nation.'”

So the takeaway is that patriotism is racist and whites feel that they own the country. He affirms that “To be American is implicitly synonymous with being white.” Of course, he fails to note that America still largely is white—whites (including Hispanics who identify as white) comprise 77% of the population as of 2014.  

Quoting a study which revealed that “28 percent of [whites] thought that the word 'patriotic' described most blacks well, compared to 51 percent who thought most whites are patriots,” Tesler claims the study “fits well with modern theories of prejudice.” Those “modern theories of prejudice” are essentially the Left’s notion that whites are inherently racist oppressors and that "people of color," by virtue of their oppression, cannot be racist.

Tesler then links this racism, of course, to Trump supporters:

“Racial resentment is also characterized by beliefs that African Americans are insufficiently industrious, obedient and deserving--prevalent themes that Trump and his supporters tap into when they describe black players protesting racial injustices in America as disrespectful, spoiled and ungrateful.”

It's not racist to point out that black NFL multi-millionaires disprove their own argument that America oppresses "people of color" — it's common sense.

And then Tesler raises this irrelevant point: "[It isn’t] surprising that white racial resentment was strongly linked to groundless speculation about whether President Barack Obama was really born in the United States.”

Tesler’s support for this claim is a hyperlink to a book written by…wait for it…Michael Tesler!

Tesler and his leftist ilk are always going to promote racial conspiracy theories because their ideology is unsupportable by facts. That strategy used to work for them, but Americans aren't buying it anymore.