The Brion McClanahan Show

Joe Biden's anti-MAGA speech has been either panned or praised. But no one has focused on the purely Lincolnian nature of the speech. In fact, any neoconservative or Straussian could have written it. Poor optics aside, Biden's speech is the result of the dangerous Lincoln myth and the recreation of America by the Radical Republicans. https://mcclanahanacademy.com https://brionmcclanahan.com/suppor...

Victor Davis Hanson's strange interpretation of American political history leads him to believe that modern progressives and Old South Democrats are siblings. You see, the modern left are simply "neo-Confederates" in disguise. This is because Hanson has no self-awareness. https://mcclanahanacademy.com https://brionmcclanahan.com/support

Victor Davis Hanson has a strange fascination with the Old South, at least it appears to be strange. In fact, Hanson's arguments about the Old South echo another group of Republicans from the 19th century. This makes Hanson they very thing he rails against: a leftist.   https://mcclanahanacademy.com  https://brionmcclanahan.com/support

The 1850s-1870s Radical Republicans are the most important group of people in American political history. Why? Because they changed the way Americans think about the United States, both historically and into the present day. Their vision of America has become the accepted narrative of American history. This is why I dedicated an entire class to some of the more prominent members of this group at M...

Two Ivy League law professors argue in the New York Times that the Constitution is "broken" and cannot be fixed. Their solution? Forget and ignore the document. They are saying out loud what they have been doing for years. I explain on this episode of The Brion McClanahan Show. https://mcclanahanacademy.com https://brionmcclanahan.com/support

A red wave should be coming in November 2022, but prospects for a Republican takeover of the House and Senate appear to be dwindling. Why? Could it be due to "clown candidates"? Perhaps.   https://mcclanahanacademy.com  https://brionmcclanahan.com/support

In another "I told you so" moment, the young dopes who run the UVA student newspaper want to cancel Thomas Jefferson. At his own university. This is the problem with the presentism James Sweet discussed in his now canceled essay. The response should be simple: "No. Shut up." https://mcclanahanacademy.com https://brionmcclanahan.com/support http://learntruehistory.com

The woke history mob that targeted AHA president James Sweet is nothing new. In fact, these Twitter tough guys (and gals) jump on anyone who does not toe the establishment orthodoxy on race, class, and gender. Sweet committed the mortal sin of questioning their motives. As Phil Magness points out in a great essay, this is the death of history and the "suicide" of the AHA. https://mcclanahanacademy...

AHA President James Sweet stepped in it. He had the audacity to suggest that the 1619 Project isn't history, by the way the same claim it's creator has made several times. He also warned against presentism in historical scholarship. For this, he has been publicly attacked and there are calls for his resignation. The radical historical establishment cannot have heretics among them. You must assimil...

"Foreign" money has become quite a problem in American elections, and by "foreign", I mean out of State. Why should New Yorkers be able to contribute to a campaign in Florida or vice-versa? A good piece at The American Thinker highlights the problem. This is a think locally, act locally episode. https://mcclanahanacademy.com https://brionmcclanahan.com/support http://learntruehistory.com

She thinks so. Fox News went nuts over the comparison. Who dare she? I think she is more accurate than any of the talking heads realize. This isn't a compliment, by the way. https://mcclanahanacademy.com https://brionmcclanahan.com/support http://learntruehistory.com

Yoram Hazony's new book on "Conservatism" is a solid intellectual history, but it's also deeply flawed on the historical origins of American conservatism. In fact, I'm not sure Hazony really understands American government or American history. https://mcclanahanacademy.com https://brionmcclanahan.com/support http://learntruehistory.com

A recent New York Times expose on the Claremont Institute makes the claim that the West Coast Straussians now control the intellectual arm of American conservatism. Is this good for the "conservative movement"? No. https://mcclanahanacademy.com https://brionmcclanahan.com/support http://learntruehistory.com

I've discussed this before, but a recent piece in Chronicles by the great legal scholar Bill Watkins led me to cover the Dobbs decision and substantive due process. He does a nice job explaining why the left loves it--and why you should be insistent on getting rid of it. https://mcclanahanacademy.com https://brionmcclanahan.com/support http://learntruehistory.com

The raid at Mar-A-Lago has focused attention on the preservation of records from elected officials. Ostensibly to preserve national security and prevent "corruption," the real aim is much more politically motivated and is almost laughable based on the historical record. https://mcclanahanacademy.com https://brionmcclanahan.com/support http://learntruehistory.com

In 2015, I warned that Confederate monuments and symbols were the low hanging fruit. The revolutionaries wanted all traditional American symbols. The anti-Southern "right" got on board with taking down Confederate symbols and laughed at suggestions they would be next. The next is here. You know what else is racist? Massachusetts.  https://mcclanahanacademy.com  https://brionmcclanahan.co...

In 2012, Barack Obama signed the NDAA, a bill that allowed for indefinite detention of American citizens through the suspension of habeas corpus. The suspension has been renewed every year for the past decade. Obama offered a "signing statement" saying he disagreed with the legislation but signed it anyway. Yet, behind the curtain, Obama wanted GREATER powers for indefinite detention based on "sus...

This is exactly what the left wants you to do, particularly if your ancestors are traditional American heroes, i.e. the founding generation or have any Confederate blood. These self-righteous fools desire the destruction of every vestige of traditional America, save their own "righteous cause myth" of the United States. This is the antithesis of real "democracy" and "republicanism." https://mcclan...

Democrats are worried that an incoming Republican administration will re-institute the spoils system. They are showing their hand. The "Deep State" is about power, and more importantly, progressive power. This is why they are trying so hard to protect it.  https://mcclanahanacademy.com https://brionmcclanahan.com/support http://learntruehistory.com

Business Insider made a remarkable discovery based on the work of a leftist "watchdog" group. Conservatives want to legally amend the Constitution! The horror! And you know what, some progressives want to do the same thing! Without the input of Congress or the President! Who do these people think they are that the States somehow can just ignore the national monarchy? This is dangerous. https://mcc...

The "Copperheads," or Lincoln's opponents during the War, are the key to understanding the history of secession, the War, and the Reconstruction era, including the present. But Americans are typically given only a cartoon version of these brave men. That is a travesty. https://mcclanahanacademy.com https://brionmcclanahan.com/support http://learntruehistory.com

Democrats want to cancel Robert E. Lee from his own home. You can't make up this kind of vindictiveness, but it's par for the course for the cancel culture warriors. They want to rid America of anything they find objectionable, and their "history" is nothing more than the 1860s Republican version of the story. https://mcclanahanacademy.com https://brionmcclanahan.com/support http://learntruehistor...

Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin appointed Ann McLean to the Historic Resources Board. The Left has gone nuts. Her crime? She said nice things about the Confederacy and bad things about Robert E. Lee. This would have been a resume booster just a couple of decades ago, but not today. The dopes on the left want her canceled. Youngkin has not complied, but this should be a teachable moment. He should...

File this piece under dopes writing history, but a professor at the University at Buffalo--Carole Emberton--argues that the Civil War happened because the South refused to compromise, right after she said that the South offered to compromise but the North rejected compromise. Got it? Oh, and she thinks compromise would have been bad so she's glad the North didn't want to compromise, again, after s...

Elena Kagan is worried about the future of the Supreme Court. Why? Because she fears it has become too political and has started to enact policy. You read that right. Kagan thinks conservatives are the only justices who enact policy from the bench. You can't make up this kind of stupid, but it makes for great podcast fodder. https://mcclanahanacademy.com https://brionmcclanahan.com/support http://...