Donald Trump

• 
• SOURCE: New York Times
  1/14/2023
  

  Why Do "Secret" Documents Keep Showing Up in the Wrong Places?

  by Matthew Connelly

  The near-unilateral authority of presidents to declare material secret in the name of national security is intoxicating and it's nearly impossible for the chief executive to resist abusing it, creating not a "deep state" but a "dark state" of secrecy and impunity. 

• 
• SOURCE: Washington Post
  1/5/2023
  

  Lizabeth Cohen Reviews "Myth America"

  Although it was inspired by the battles over history encouraged by the Trump administration and the MAGA movement, a new book of essays on historical mythmaking actually shows that spinning the past to serve a present agenda is nothing new. For historians, the task isn't just fact-finding, but offering compelling interpretations. 

• 
• SOURCE: Vanity Fair
  1/10/2023
  

  Kruse and Zelizer: History is a Battleground

  Is it reasonable for historians to "stick to the facts" and hope the truth will win out when political partisans are cherry-picking the past for justification of radical agendas in the present?

• 
• SOURCE: Slate
  1/9/2023
  

  New Anthology Mistakes the Roots of the Problem as "Misinformation" Rather than Power

  by Paul M. Renfro and Matthew E. Stanley

  The new "Myth America" offers insight into some recurrent myths about history from some excellent scholars, but it hews too closely to the idea that historical lies are a Trumpian phenomenon, rather than a broader aspect of the pursuit and consolidation of power for MAGA and New Democrats alike. 

• 
• SOURCE: The Nation
  12/21/2022
  

  Will MAGA Be the Last Straw for Conservative Jews' Partnership with the Christian Right?

  by Eric Alterman

  Since the 1970s, an alliance between Christian and Jewish conservatives has been brokered over mutual support for Israel's occupation and settlement of the West Bank. Are changing attitudes toward the occupation among American Jews and the naked antisemitism of the MAGA right breaking the alliance? 

• 
• SOURCE: The Atlantic
  12/20/2022
  

  Law Profs: First Amendment Hurdles to Trump Prosecution Real, Not Insurmountable

  by Alan Z. Rozenshtein and Jed Shugerman

  The defense that Trump's speech about a stolen election, even if deliberately untruthful, constitutes protected political speech is plausible, but prosecutors can situate the remarks in the context of other actions to overturn the election. 

• 
• SOURCE: Made By History at the Washington Post
  12/15/2022
  

  Why It's No Contradiction for Trump to Demand Illegal Actions to Defend "Law and Order"

  by Lawrence B. Glickman

  Since Reconstruction's overthrow, calls for "law and order" have imagined the former as a tool for enforcing a particular vision of the latter, usually in the form of white-dominated racial hierarchy.

• 
• SOURCE: Vox
  12/1/2022
  

  Pamela Nadell: US May be at High Tide of Antisemitism

  Antisemitism is less socially acceptable than in Henry Ford's day, but it's become much more acceptable since the rise of Donald Trump. Has America reached a tipping point where conspiracy theories and collective slanders of Jews are mainstreamed? Also feat. Kathleen Belew and Deborah Lipstadt.

• 
• SOURCE: Washington Post
  11/28/2022
  

  Trump Keeps Boosting White Supremacists

  Post Columnist Greg Sargent discusses Trump's meeting with white supremacist Nick Fuentes as a PR coup for the far right and an affirmation that they are part of Trump's base. 

• 
• SOURCE: The Atlantic
  11/16/2022
  

  Trump is Back In, Officially

  by Tom Nichols

  "Donald Trump wants to return to the White House. His candidacy should be the final test of whether the United States has truly overcome the lure of authoritarianism."

• 
• 10/30/2022
  

  Between January 6 and Ukraine, Macho Men Threaten Democracy

  by Walter G. Moss

  "It would be simplistic to blame the Russian invasion of Ukraine on Putin’s misguided machismo, but it certainly is a factor."

• 
• SOURCE: Current
  10/27/2022
  

  What Does It Mean to Be Baptized for Trump?

  by John Fea

  100 Trump supporters were baptized last week in Pennsylvania, at a rally featuring a who's who of MAGA world. A Christian historian wonders: what do we make of a spiritual commitment to Trumpism, and of the political appropriation of the conversion experience? 

• 
• SOURCE: Washington Post
  10/13/2022
  

  The Presidents and Ex-Presidents who have been Subpoenaed Before Trump

  by Gillian Brockell

  While a Congressional subpoena delivered to a president is unusual, it's not unprecedented. But the past is little guide to how Donald Trump will respond to a call to appear before the January 6th committee.  

• 
• SOURCE: Washington Post
  10/6/2022
  

  Scholars: Election Denial Becoming Official Republican Policy

  Ruth Ben-Ghiat argues that the Big Lie is part of a process of normalizing the rejection of election results. 

• 
• 10/2/2022
  

  Builders or Purgers? Presidents and Parties in American History

  by Michael A. Genovese

  There is no constitutional or statutory definition of the roles of parties in American politics, but almost since the beginning presidents have been the heads of organized factions. Presidencies have been defined by whether the chief executive prized growth or loyalty. 

• 
• SOURCE: NPR
  9/25/2022
  

  How Richard Nixon Alienated Allies after Watergate (and Lessons for Trump)

  "Along the way, when it mattered most, Nixon and his crew found that people who might have been political allies in the past were not especially sympathetic to his case."

• 
• SOURCE: The Atlantic
  9/19/2022
  

  Republicans Were Trumpy Long Before Trump

  by Nicole Hemmer

  Although he ran as an independent, Ross Perot's 1992 presidential campaign raised questions about how the Republican Party would position itself in the post cold-war world. That same year, Pat Buchanan started to provide answers. 

• 
• 9/11/2022
  

  The Authoritarian Personality and the Rising Far Right

  by Sam Ben-Meir

  This moment of peril for American democracy calls for a return to the diagnosis presented in "The Authoritarian Personality," 1950s effort to develop a social-psychological profile of the people likely to embrace fascism. 

• 
• SOURCE: The Atlantic
  9/6/2022
  

  It's Also Frightening When Trump Tells the Truth

  by Tom Nichols

  Showing his belief that the democratic process is only legitimate when he wins, Trump demonstrates the nihilism at the heart of MAGA, which Joe Biden correctly called out last week in his speech. 

• 
• SOURCE: New York Times
  9/8/2022
  

  It's Not Trump's GOP, it's Pat Buchanan's

  by Nicole Hemmer

  Republicans have come around to Pat Buchanan's vision of a hard-right, pessimistic and grievance-driven party. The question now is whether they will soften that vision in pursuit of a majority of voters, or try to keep power as a minority party.