Politics & Power Quote by Seymour Hersh

A line like this is less a flag-waving boast than a grenade lobbed at the bipartisan priesthood of respectability. Seymour Hersh isn’t auditioning for patriot status; he’s weaponizing the word "American" against the people who claim to own it. The White House is shorthand for an entire culture of executive secrecy, credentialed confidence, and moral insulation. By stacking "better" against "guys", he frames patriotism not as pageantry or party loyalty but as a comparative ethic: who’s actually doing the job democracy requires?

Hersh’s career supplies the context that makes the provocation land. From exposing My Lai to pulling back the curtain on intelligence and military abuses, he built his authority on the premise that real allegiance runs upward to principles, not downward to presidents. The subtext is a familiar Hershian suspicion: the state will lie as a matter of routine, then launder those lies through briefings, talking points, and "national security" incantations.

The 99% is doing rhetorical heavy lifting. It’s deliberately rude math, a scoff at the idea that only insiders understand the world. He’s not claiming sainthood; he’s calling out a professional class that confuses access with accountability. In a media ecosystem that rewards proximity to power, Hersh flips the hierarchy. The "better American" is the one willing to embarrass the country in order to keep it honest.