The Brion McClanahan Author & Historian Blog

Did Jefferson Davis reply to the Emancipation Proclamation with a threat to enslave all blacks in America? That is what some historically challenged people on social media think. Their evidence is a broadside reportedly published in January 1863 by the Richmond Enquirer as “An Address to the People of the Free States by the President of the Southern Confederacy.” In other words, Jefferson Davis went …more

This isn’t a popular opinion, but the Supreme Court made a grave mistake in the recent decision striking down affirmative action at Harvard and the University of North Carolina. I told a colleague the Court was just trimming around the edges. He disagreed. Let me explain. The Court used 14th Amendment incorporation to invalidate affirmative action admissions policies for Harvard and UNC. While many conservatives …more

Mark Levin is really bad at history. In one of his rants over the weekend, Levin took the time to promote his forthcoming book, The Democrat Party Hates America. Now, more most American conservatives, this is read meat. I agree with some of his assessment. But the devil is in the details. You see, Levin blames every “evil” in American history on Democrats while the …more

Could Trump’s indictment be good for the GOP in 2024? This is a bold assertion based on the belief that Trump will be forced to support whomever gets the nomination–if he doesn’t–because only a Republican president would dare pardon him. I don’t necessarily buy it. Trump doesn’t seem to be taking the entire matter seriously, and I’m not certain he would see any jail time …more

It seems every crisis in America is a “Constitutional crisis.” Why? Because Americans have forgotten–or have never been taught–about federalism. You see, one size fits all, top down government results in all of the political angst we have in the United States. It’s quite simple. The founding generation realized that Connecticut and South Carolina were never going to see eye to eye on a variety …more

According to a Ron DeSantis “rapid response” organizer, you can call yourself a Republican or a conservative if you are anti-Lincoln. I actually agree with the first part, but the second is just laughable. Ron DeSantis has been a very good governor in Florida, but as I have said many times, it would be better to have 50 Ron DeSantis governors than DeSantis as president. …more

With friends like these. A Trump appointed judge in Tennessee struck down a Tennessee law that prohibited explicit drag shows in the general public. The bill required such events to be age restricted and indoors. It did not shut them down. It did not tell drag performers they could not put on a show. It only mandated that they be behind closed doors to those …more

Sometimes you just have to bathe in the left’s stupidity. Take for example their current assault on the federal courts. You see, their entire political agenda has only been possible because of the federal court system. When the Supreme Court seemed intent on undoing FDR’s New Deal, he pressured the Court to buckle and they did. The entire agenda should have been declared unconstitutional. Progressive …more

Don’t get conned by the Neocons. That should be a campaign slogan somewhere. Most Americans probably wouldn’t get it, but unfortunately most Americans have already been conned by the Neocons. In both parties. If you talk to people who have been around American politics for some time, they’ll tell you the Neocons weren’t much of a problem until the late 1970s. Sure, they were around, …more

American foreign policy is a mess and has been since the early 1950s. If we listened to George Kennan, that would not be the case. Kennan is famously responsible for the “containment doctrine” following World War II, meaning that the United States should contain communism to the areas where it already existed. Taken to its extreme, this involved the United States in several hot wars …more