The New York Times Wednesday blared – more like feared – Donald Trump’s second election as president, cryptically declaring in a “Trump’s America” headline that his “Victory Changes Nation’s Sense of Itself.”

Well, yes – though not in the ominous way the Times might think.

The truth is, love him or hate him, Donald Trump has made it safe, even cool, for Americans to love their country and express their devotion to the Almighty again – a place where spontaneous prayer and patriotic chant and song just might break out at a political rally, heaven forbid!

Let’s face it: Neither patriotism nor religious faith have been in fashion under Biden-Harris:

• three liberal Supreme Court justices actually voted to approve the firing of a public employee for silent prayer;
• pro-life activists have had SWAT teams descend on them and been sent to prison;
• transgender indoctrination and “America is racist” instruction have been pounded into students’ and teachers’ heads;
• pro-abortion arsonists at churches and pro-life centers run wild and free from prosecution;
• U.S. flags have increasingly triggered revulsion in liberal America;
• Democrat rally-goers who believe Jesus is King have been told “you’re at the wrong rally”;
• and the Biden-Harris Department of Justice considered parents “domestic terrorists” for vocally opposing sexual abuse and indoctrination in their kids’ schools.

That doesn’t even cover the other official policies of Biden-Harris such as:

• dissolving the nation’s borders, leading to growing number of Americans’ deaths at the hands of violent illegals;
• handing out freebies to illegal immigrants that long-suffering citizens never get;
• instituting energy policies that punish domestic production and consumption; 
• enacting wanton federal spending that led to rampant inflation unbearable hardship on working class Americans;
• censoring conservative Americans online, and sending federal agents to some homes to “chat” about their social media posts.

Those are just some of the highlights. So, yeah, if Americans of every stripe have decided they want a country with a different “sense of itself” than that, maybe there are good reasons.

“We are glad to come back to ourselves – the quality of life we had from 2016 to 2020, the growth, prosperity and unity,” says Alex Kon, a legal immigrant in Kansas City who says he emigrated here “to get away from communism.”

I talked with a handful of KC-area Cuban Americans before the election who’ve been absolutely horrified by government policies and cultural trends reminiscent of their communist homeland.

Post-election, though, they seem to like America’s new “sense of itself.”

“It is a good thing for our country to take a pause and return to policies based on conservative and constitutional principles,” says Marisel Walston. “Our country is going the wrong direction under the Biden-Harris administration.

“Many of the policies Harris rolled out as part of her plan, such as giving new homeowners $25,000 toward a new home, are policies rooted in socialist thought – of government taking ‘care’ of people from cradle to grave. Where was this money going to come from? What would be the consequences of such a plan?

“It is a great thing for our country to return to a conservative administration that I hope will set us on the correct path to once again be that ‘shining light on the hill.’”

“We had record voting by blacks, Jews, Latinos, Amish and first-time young voters,” adds Ali McClain. “That should tell you something, when they realized that everyone wanted the American Dream.”

The New York Times story, while taking as many jabs at Trump as it could squeeze in, had to reluctantly acknowledge his victory indicates “populist disenchantment with the nation’s direction and resentment against elites proved to be deeper and more profound than many in both parties had recognized.”

You think? You think maybe that’s a healthy instinct in a self-governed country?

In the epic film Braveheart, a character in 13th Century Scotland tells another, “From top to bottom, this country has got no sense of itself.”

Today, America actually seems to.

And it’s not a bad thing.