The Brion McClanahan Show Podcast

Prince Harry is confused about the First Amendment. It seems many Brits have the same problem. The rights of Englishman have lost their anchor. One brave Limey flies various historical flags to honor major events. Recently he decided to hoist the Confederate Battle Flag in honor of Stonewall Jackson. This led to a political puritan turning him in for a “hate crime.” Yep. Our friends …more

When I started teaching nearly two decades ago, I never thought the term “progressive” would come back in style. It had been discredited and rightfully dumped into the historical trash heap, that is until leftists figured out “liberal” became so toxic they had to come up with something else. Thus, the new “progressives” were born, but not with any new ideas or tactics. They simply …more

I’ve been hard on the progressives this week, from those on the “right” like Allen Guelzo and Michael Anton to those on the left like Clint Smith. Progressives get many things wrong, but even a blind squirrel finds a nut now and again. A recent piece by Zaid Jilani at Newsweek proves my point. Wokism is at the heart of the current culture war, and …more

We could say “progressive lies live on” in multiple areas: economics, “health science,” government. But progressives lies form the core of American history and thus the basis of the American memory. I’m not talking about Charles Beard progressives but the twits that dominate the modern historical profession. These incestuous careerists can’t really be called “historians” any longer because their work borders on propaganda. Leftist woke …more

Last week, “conservative” Michael Anton at American Greatness published a lengthy hit piece on yours truly. He didn’t like my attack on the 1776 Commission in Chronicles magazine, and he was clearly personally insulted that I called out some of the people who wrote the report. These are his friends, and he circled the wagons. I can respect that. I do the same for my …more

“Conservative” historian Allen Guelzo thinks he has an answer to the modern debate over American monuments. First, anything that honors John C. Calhoun should not just be destroyed, it should be put on a rocket and launched into the sun. Second, he has a five point test to determine if a monument is good or bad. You can imagine how this is going to go. …more

Joe Biden took center stage last week on the eve of his “100th day” in office. We can thank FDR for such idiotic benchmarks. No one asked Washington what we hoped to accomplish in his first 100 days. That would have been an interesting question then, but as the president was never intended to be everything in chief, no one bothered to bring it up. …more

Fisher Ames had a devastating wit and used it quite effectively against his opposition, often Southern members of Congress. I don’t often agree with what Ames had to say, but even when I don’t, he could be very funny. Ames would have given Trump a run on Twitter. Ames had two redeeming qualities: he detested democracy and he favored secession. All of the our little …more

The term “originalism” can be a bit confusing. What does this actually mean? Are the terms “originalism” and “textualism” the same thing? If someone calls themselves an “originalist,” does that mean they think women shouldn’t vote and that black Americans should be counted as 3/5ths of a person toward representation? Of course not, but this is how progressives like to play emotional games with stupid …more

Florida is reading leftist losers the riot act. I love it. They hate it. Ron DeSantis has been doing a great job pushing back against wokism for the last several months and in the process has taken on the corporate press and all the sludge it drags with it. Most normal Americans would look at the Florida anti-rioting act and think, “Sure, we shouldn’t allow …more