My theory is that the Federal Government at its core is a representation of the aspiration for the title "American" too be more then just a social construct that anyone can subscribe too. It is after all why it was created in the first place. Too not be Virginia, New York or South Carolina. But too be America.
And now there is a President who asserts that the American People are a real thing that exist, and that it is not some sort of shared inheritance anyone in the world can claim. I wonder if Trump even truly appreciated what he was doing, or if he just Mister Magooed his way into it as he seems too do.
Trumps demand of Americanism in the face of rebellious local officials seeking to deny the patrimony of the American Nation is LITERALLY the Union Cause of the civil war. Tens of Thousands of Americans died for the feds in the 1860s because they believed Virginia, Georgia, South Carolina etc had no right to take away that which belonged too a unified nation and recreate the discord of Europe in North America.
That was the Federal Cause, and by accident or machiavellian plan Trump has managed too tap hard into it.