1/27/2025

Last week’s curation at RealClear’s American Civics portal starts off with a focus on President Trump’s Second Inaugural Address. Associated Press writer Ted Anthony notes how Trump’s inauguration featured many themes throughout American history, including the Revolutionary War and Manifest Destiny, and invoked individuals including Martin Luther King, Jr., Theodore Roosevelt, and American music pioneers like Scott Joplin and songwriters like Woody Guthrie. “In summoning people to his vision for the future throughout a day of pageantry, Trump assembled a dizzying collage of American myths, tropes and ideals.” Anthony states that the “most fascinating aspect of Trump’s inaugural was, perhaps, how so many of the currents of American history – from the Monroe Doctrine to the Pax Americana – are still alive, still potent, still being used by countless constituencies and stakeholders to tell the stories that they wish to tell.” He ends by quoting William Faulkner’s famous line: “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.”

One of the many executive orders President Trump signed last week includes perhaps the most controversial one, which clarifies that automatic birthright citizenship by soil is not the correct interpretation of the 14th Amendment. At UnHerd, Ryan Williams, President of the Claremont Institute, argues that this executive order is in line with the original understanding of those who framed the Citizenship Clause of the 14th Amendment. By contrast, the Brennan Center’s Thomas Wolf makes the case that Trump’s executive order is clearly unconstitutional and should be struck down by the Supreme Court. Whichever argument ultimately prevails, it is clear that President Trump’s second term will be a more radical one than his first, taking full aim at ideas and traditions that have become a cornerstone of American life in the 20th and 21st centuries.

Essential Reading

Did MLK Convert His Enemies?

Micah H. Harris, RealClearHistory

Martin Luther King, Jr. said the goal of the civil rights movement should be to turn an enemy into a friend. It can be done, he said, because people aren’t simply good or evil. “Ther...