Commentary: How the GOP gave up on American exceptionalism

Is this a great country, or what?

That’s been a 50-year refrain of Republicans, who have made “American exceptionalism” into a kind of emblem for their party. America is a unique force in world history, they insist, a beacon of hope and liberty for the entire globe.

That’s over and done. Republicans still mouth the pieties of American exceptionalism, of course, especially around election time. For all practical purposes, however, they have rejected it. To the Grand Old Party,