Heather Cox Richardson on Trump’s 250th Celebrations
6/21/20261 hr 4 min
Historian Heather Cox Richardson joins Alex Wagner to discuss Trump's plans for America's semiquincentennial, put his fight on the White House lawn into historical context, and make sense of his mission to remake our nation's capital in his image. The two talk about what it means to be patriotic in this moment, the flaws in JD Vance's vision of blood and soil nationalism, and Heather's new series — 250 to 250 — where she's retelling the stories of "the people, places, and events that have helped to move us toward a more perfect Union."
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First 90 secondsAlex Wagner· Host0:00
[upbeat music] Welcome to Pod Save America. I'm Alex Wagner. On today's show, historian Heather Cox Richardson on America at 250. With the administration gearing up for July 4th celebrations and gearing down from celebrations of Trump's 80th, I thought I'd check in with someone who can situate all of the pomp and circumstance in historical context. You likely know Heather from her insanely popular Substack, Letters From an American, where she writes every damn day about the history behind today's increasingly ahistorical politics. Heather has a new series out to celebrate America's 250th. It is aptly named 250 to 250, where she tells the story of the Americans who, over the course of a quarter millennium, worked to make real the founding ideals of this nation, that all people are created equal. We're gonna talk about that series and Trump's Fourth of July celebrations, as well as so much, much more: Trump's efforts to make DC just as tacky as he is, JD Vance's Catholic faith, and how the left can embrace patriotism once again. It was a great conversation with Heather, and we're gonna get to it in a minute. But before we do, guys, there's a new episode of Pod Save America