The Brion McClanahan Show Podcast

Adam Gopnik at The New Yorker has written one of the most stupid (but typical) pieces on Reconstruction. The presentism, the historical revisionism, and the downright laughable assertions are so cringe worthy, I had to podcast about it. It also makes for a great introduction to my newest course at https://mcclanahanacademy.com Reconstruction and Recreation. This episode was too fun to put together.

Conservative scholar Daniel Mallock blames identity politics, in particular Southerners, for the sectional conflict and “civil war.” Is he correct? In short, no, at least in regard to the South. He also supports a type of neoconservative nationalism that would find favor with leftists like Jill Lepore. I discuss in this episode of The Brion McClanahan Show.

Harvard professor Jill Lepore thinks we need to write more nationalist histories of the United States, but they have to be a certain type of nationalist histories. She gets so many things wrong in a recent article for foreignaffairs.com that I had to take her positions apart.

We witnessed an example of good, bad, and ugly in state politics this week. Missouri did something good, no great, Mississippi the bad with good intent, and Colorado and Delaware the ugly. I explain all three in this episode of The Brion McClanahan Show.

The Federalist Society has decided to give an award named after the “originalist” Joseph Story. This is a bad idea for so many reasons. I explain why in this episode of The Brion McClanahan Show.

Libertarianism.org has called John Tyler the worst president in American history. This is lunacy. I like the author of the piece, but in this case, he’s just flat wrong. I tackle the issue in this episode of The Brion McClanahan Show.

Is incorporation settled law? More importantly, what does the “Establishment Clause” contained in the First Amendment mean? And could/can States have state established churches? These are big questions. One candidate for a Wisconsin State court position believes that the States did have the ability to establish a religion–he is correct. He then backtracked when attacked by his leftist opponent. At the same time, the SCOTUS …more

This is a listener requested episode. Lincoln’s Cooper Union Address is considered to be one of his best speeches. Figures. It is full of historical inaccuracies, half-truths, and logical fallacies. Typical Honest Abe. I take apart this speech and discuss what it means for American history on this episode of The Brion McClanahan Show.

I mean this in the nicest way. Avoid presidential rankings by collections of esteemed historians. They aren’t worth the time and effort to read them. I do that for you and comment on the absolute stupidity in their ranking system–and the justifications for them–in this episode of The Brion McClanahan Show.

According to a federal judge, women are now eligible for the draft. This is a sad day for Western Civilization. I Tweeted something on a similar line and of course the radical leftists went crazy. I explain everything in this episode of The Brion McClanahan Show.