Conservative commentators, former Trump officials sign statement against American 'self-doubt'

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Conservative figures including former Trump administration officials, current members of Congress, professors, and media personalities have signed onto a statement lamenting what they call "an age of increasing national self-doubt" in the U.S., blaming leftist ideologies for bringing  down the "national mood" and vowing to "reclaim" and positive attitude about the U.S.

The statement, published by National Review, claims that "[t]he American project … is under assault" via historical revisionism, accusations of systemic racism in various American institutions, and "propagandizing" in the public school system.

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"Our traditional values of fair play, free speech, and religious liberty are trampled by inflamed ideologues determined to impose their will by force and fear," the statement says, likening the current climate to those of the 1930s and 1970s, "when radical critiques of America got considerable traction and our national self-confidence often seemed to hang by a thread."

The signers include former Attorney General Bill Barr, former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, former White House deputy chief of staff Karl Rove, former U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey, current Reps. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, and Michael McCaul, R-Texas, Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey, radio host Hugh Hewitt, National Review editor-in-chief Rich Lowry, and Commentary editor John Podhoretz. According to them, "[e]ven some on the right have become disenchanted with the American project," and that they are looking to "reclaim what once was a consensus view of America that has now become bitterly contested."

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That view is "that America is a fundamentally fair society with bountiful opportunity," that the country's founding "was a world-historical event of the utmost importance," and "that its original sins have been honorably, if belatedly, repudiated," despite claims on the left.

"To the extent that these notions are falling out of favor, it is the responsibility of those who love America to revivify them," the statement says.

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The signers acknowledge in the statement that even they disagree amongst themselves about policies, but that ultimately they "are united as devotees of America."