There’s a propagandized version of a “nation” as “a country with functional and supportive social systems,”

Or, more generically, a set of borders that define the reach of a national bureaucracy, sure. I don't think anyone can argue that the US has borders. And I certainly don't think it can be argued that we lack a bureaucracy.

A lot of the argument boils down to whether or not you like what the current bureaucracy is doing within and around those borders. Which, hey, don't get me wrong. Death to America. But it's one thing to say the country should die and quite another to suggest it's already dead.

As soon as the election churns some of our legislative and state-exec bureaucrats, you're going to see a liberal renaissance in patriotic nationalism coming up against a sudden Neo-Confederate fervor in the Usual Suspect territories. Expect the streets to be full of parading chuds screaming "We want our country back!" the week after the polls close. This happens damned near every election cycle. But it's little more than a social release valve. Half the people screaming about succession and civil war and Revolution 2: Electric Boogaloo are going to be penthouse neocons in bright blue cities and Silicon Valley soar sports.