**I have two answers to this. One political and one sociological. The political answer would be, a “real” American is the opposite of whatever it is you hate. Do you hate gay people? Then “real” Americans are beefy heterosexuals. Do you hate Muslims? Then “real” Americans are Christian. True Muslims and Christians are not “opposites” per se but you wouldn’t know that from watching Fox News, would you? To politicians and other people who feel motivated to label others as "not real" (most notably conservatives) a “real” American only exists in opposition to something and has no true identity of their own. Which is kind of sad, really. In 20 years, a “real” American will be one who hates the Chinese with every fiber of their being. You see how this works?

The sociological one is a little messier. We, as a country, do not have a long history behind us. Two hundred plus may SEEM like a lot but compared to the millennia most of Europe and Asia has under its belt, we’re a newborn. What makes it so interesting is that we were not founded on a race, religion or geographic boundary. We were based on a purely intellectual foundation. Therefore, we are (mostly) free from all of the baggage most of the older cultures of the world labor under. We do not need to maintain or “unique cultural identity” because we do not have one. We can be as flexible as we need to be to adapt to the new which is part of our ability to succeed. Anyone can come here and be whoever they want. You cannot “become” Chinese or French but ANYONE can be an American no matter where they came from. It’s our greatest strength.

So, from this angle, there is no such thing as a “real” American because there is no such thing as a “false” one.**