There are times when the use of the phrase “in the national interest” has its place. There are issues and moments when it applies.
But far to often in more recent times it has become a “go to” set of words deployed to push emotional buttons and trigger an emotional and patriotic response and a nod of the head when in fact it’s nothing less than a cynical instrument utilised to drive support and gain political points.
Today in a column in the Australian, Tony Abbott used it in relation to Australia helping rebuild Ukraine:-
“..𝐵𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝐴𝑢𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑎’𝑠 𝑟𝑜𝑙𝑒 ℎ𝑎𝑠 𝑎𝑙𝑤𝑎𝑦𝑠 𝑏𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑡𝑜 ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑝 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑢𝑖𝑙𝑑 𝑎 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑙𝑑, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐢𝐭’𝐬 𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐲 𝐢𝐧 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑙𝑑 𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑛 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑜𝑛 𝑟𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑜𝑛 𝑚𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡, 𝐴𝑛𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑛𝑦 𝐴𝑙𝑏𝑎𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑒 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 𝐵𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝐴𝑢𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑎’𝑠 𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑦 ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑝…”
𝐂𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐲 𝐢𝐧 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭? How so? What kind of pretzel logic is that?
It has becoming more and more apparent that “in the national interest” has more often than not become in 2025 what “𝐩𝐚𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐦 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐮𝐠𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐥” was when that phrase was coined in the late 18th century.
It wasn’t meant as a compliment but rather a criticism of the false patriotism of political opponents who used it as a shield for their own motives and to disguise their real intent. A bit like a criminal, once cornered and all of a sudden finding god.
Ditto for “in the national interest”