The crowd gathered on the White House lawn. The gathering was there to cheer the Navy Blue Angels and Air Force Thunderbirds on Sunday night. Meanwhile, actor Robert De Niro was strafing his once-beloved country.

In another venue, De Niro’s Committee for the First Amendment staged a resistance concert/rally at a small theater in New York. The anti-Trump Committee calls itself “a large collective of artists, storytellers, and cultural leaders.”

Matthew Hennessey seems not fond of the word “collective.” Don’t use the word “collective.” Be a group, an organization. “Collective” makes one sound like a bunch of communists. Mr. Hennessey also realizes that they probably wouldn’t much mind leaving that impression.

Who comprised this committee? Primarily entertainment-industry types. They say they are “standing together to defend free expression against government repression, industry complicity, and intimidation.”

That’s a serious mandate. You might even call it self-serious.

De Niro’s shindig on Sunday night was “counterprogramming.” What was De Niro’s committee trying to accomplish? To tune in to their evening extravaganza instead of watching the star-spangled UFC spectacle in Washington.

Hennessey explains:

North Vietnamese actress Jane Fonda was the headliner. Julia Roberts led the audience in a breathing exercise: “Just put your hand on your beating heart, and just close your eyes, and just take a really deep breath in, and breathe in all that hope, all that love, and just breathe out all that fear. Just let it all go.”

Also present was YouTuber Ms. Rachel, who has “accidentally” liked antisemitic comments on her social-media posts.

Bourgeois bohemians desperately want to believe they are living through some sort of McCarthy/Nixon/Hitler mash-up flashback. The kids call it cringe.

Who thinks of De Niro as legendary? The crowd gave him a standing ovation before he even said a word. He claimed he can’t handle the phrase “We all love our country.” He said it sticks in his throat. Poor guy.

From De Niro:

Because our country isn’t so lovable right now. I hate to say it, but loving our country is starting to sound like an abused spouse saying they love their abuser. I can’t love a country that starts stupid and inhumane wars, killing thousands of innocents and indirectly causing the deaths and suffering of millions more. I can’t love a country that takes healthcare away from millions of people and uses that money to enrich their pals in the Trump-Epstein class. I can’t love a country that sends out masked militias to shoot citizens in the streets, torture our neighbors, and separate families.

As Matthew Hennesssey admits in the WSJ’s “Free Expressions,” it does sound bad when put that way…

I can’t love a country that’s led by a racist, misogynist, xenophobic tyrant. And let me just say it: I can’t love a country that’s led by Donald Trump and his sycophant Congress. For most of my life of course I did love my country. The United States of America welcomed my immigrant ancestors. It gave me, my family, and my fellow citizens such rich opportunities and extraordinary freedoms. I want to love my country again. I want my country back.

What version of our country is considered the lovable one?

Is it the version in which Mitt Romney was smeared as a tax dodger or the one in which John McCain was cast as a bloodthirsty and mentally unstable monster? Maybe it was the one where George W. Bush was deemed a fascist and Bob Dole was mocked as senile? Is that the lovable country? Is that the one you want back?

Mr. Trump isn’t lovable, Hennessey admits.

Somehow, I don’t think that’s the Fonda-De Niro Committee’s real problem with America. The next Republican who comes along could be as lovable as a Labrador puppy. They’ll call him every name Ms. Rachel can think of, and a few she probably can’t.

De Niro’s collective isn’t interested in a loveable country. What it is interested in is hard to fathom.