“American Pride Slips to New Low,” a Gallup poll released on Monday headlined. Major media outlets led with similar headlines: “National pride in the U.S. has declined sharply, Gallup survey finds” (Washington Post) and “Americans’ pride in their country is declining, new Gallup poll shows” (Fox News).

The devil is in the details, of course, as our Douglas Andrews ably outlined on Tuesday. Democrats are responsible for the slide in patriotism, clocking in at just 36% patriotic. Republicans are as patriotic as ever at 92%.

My point in bringing that back up is that, as we enter the Independence Day holiday weekend, it’s worth noting that the Armed Forces are reaping the benefits of increased patriotism among their core recruiting base. That’s great news on the 250th anniversaries of the U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, and U.S. Marine Corps.

As I wrote in February, the Army saw a drastic increase in recruiting following Donald Trump’s election. A month ago, the Army announced it had surpassed its entire fiscal year 2025 recruiting goal four months ahead of schedule. Through May 31, the Army added 61,000 recruits, and its goal was 10% higher than last year’s 55,000. According to Fox News, “The Army has not reached its recruiting goals this early in the year since 2014.”

In mid-June, the Navy announced that it had met its FY25 recruiting goals more than three months early, reaching 40,600 recruits. “More qualified and motivated Americans than ever are stepping forward and answering the call to serve their country,” said Secretary of the Navy John Phelan. “Since November, Navy recruiting has skyrocketed.”

On Monday, the Air Force and Space Force both announced that they had reached their FY25 recruiting goals three months early. In 2023, the USAF missed its recruiting goal for the first time in decades. Now, as Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Allvin put it, “When you have a winning team, people want to join!”

The Marine Corps has not yet released its recruitment numbers, but it’s aiming for 32,000. Its recently released ad — Striking Fear in Our Enemies — should help.

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, while an unconventional pick for the post, may deserve even more credit for the recruitment surge than Trump does. He’s a warrior, and he’s not taking any crap from the woke DEI crowd. “He’s one of us,” military grunts understand.

Appropriately, Hegseth gives credit to the commander-in-chief. “It’s historic,” he said of recruitment numbers last month. “Of course, it’s a morale shift. It shifts back to the day President Trump was elected and then inaugurated.”

Moreover, Hegseth said, it’s setting the right policies at the Pentagon: “Across the board, the spirit of our country, [there’s a] willingness and desire to serve because they see leadership that believes in the country that’s going to have their back, that says, ‘We want you to be warriors.’ We’re not doing this politically correct garbage anymore. We’re doing war fighting. We’re training, we’re preparing, we’re focused on [getting] back to basics, and … the young people of America have responded, and they’ll continue to respond.”

Despite assertions from the administrations of Barack Obama and Joe Biden, “diversity” is not what inspires people to enlist in the U.S. Armed Forces. Neither is the celebration of gender pathology. Only a deeply patriotic love of country can cause a person to sign up to do something that could potentially cost them their lives.

By and large, Democrats demonstrably do not possess this quality. In fact, they spend most of their time and energy degrading, undermining, and criticizing our nation.

We now have an administration with slogans such as America First and Make America Great Again. Those are far from just slogans, however; they are the guiding light and foundation for policy decisions. You may not agree with every choice or method, but there is no question that Trump and his team love America.

That’s inspiring for young people who are considering their life choices.

Follow Nate Jackson on X/Twitter.

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