The Brion McClanahan Show

http://blamehamilton.com http://brionmcclanahan.com/support http://learntruehistory.com Trump has his back against the wall. Leaks, obstruction, and disorder have been the norm for the last six months. This could have been predicted. When Trump decided to bring in several establishment Republicans to the White House, he opened the door to this type of abuse. They are not his friends and should be purged from the administration. The same thing happened to John Tyler in 1841, and Trump could learn a thing or two from "His Accidency."

http://blamehamilton.com http://brionmcclanahan.com/support http://learntruehistory.com I would be surprised if many of my listeners have heard of the Richmond Junto, but after hearing this podcast I hope you'll 1) agree that they are an important part of American constitutional thought, and 2) purchase How Alexander Hamilton Screwed Up America so you can read more about them. If you want slashing attacks on Hamiltonian nationalism, they are your guys. All were principled defenders of the original Constitution and all have been largely forgotten by the American public. Their resurrection starts here.

http://blamehamilton.com http://brionmcclanahan.com/support http://learntruehistory.com What is American populism? Donald Trump has been called a populist. Is he? Journalist Daniel Levy thinks almost anything in American history could be classified as "populist." This is wrong on so many levels I had to do a show on the topic. Perhaps if we had a better understanding of American populism we would stop running around calling anything that sounds "democratic" or that "appeals to the people" populist.

http://blamehamilton.com http://brionmcclanahan.com/support http://learntruehistory.com You've probably heard this before: "You Jefferson lovers conveniently forget that Jefferson disregarded the Constitution when it worked for him. Just look at the Louisiana Purchase!" I tackle this supposed inconsistency and how to give it back to these "gotcha" nincompoops in this episode of The Brion McClanahan Show.

http://blamehamilton.com http://brionmcclanahan.com/support http://learntruehistory.com The Whig Party is perhaps the most misunderstood political party in American history. Most people simply equate it with Henry Clay and the American System--a repackaged version of Hamilton's economic proposals from the 1790s. But the earliest "Whigs" were in fact Southern state's rights advocates who bristled at the actions taken by "King Andrew" during the nullification crisis beginning in 1828. I discuss these men, the history of the "Whigs" and how we should think about these men in Episode 94 of The Brion McClanahan Show.

http://brionmcclanahan.com/support http://blamehamilton.com Anytime someone mentions Abraham Lincoln unconstitutionally called up the militia in 1861, you are immediately bombarded with the Militia Act of 1792 and 1795. See, you hayseed, Lincoln DID follow the Constitution. Is that true? Not really. Get the scoop.

http://brionmcclanahan.com/support http://blamehamilton.com How do we measure political consent and what does consent have to do with nullification? These are important questions and in order to find the answers we have to travel to the American colonial experience and the Era of Salutary Neglect and the twenty years before the American War for Independence. I give a history of nullification and discuss consent in this episode of The Brion McClanahan Show.

http://blamehamilton.com http://brionmcclanahan.com/support Hillsdale College President Larry Arn has done a nice job marketing the college and making "conservative" ideas relevant. The "Constitution Minute" is heard across conservative talk radio, and their free courses on the Constitution and American history attract tens of thousands of "students." Arn, however, is a Jaffaite and a Straussian who thinks "The Founders Key" is found in the "unknown" link between the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, and the glue that holds those together is Abraham Lincoln. Hogwash. I discuss this distortion of American history in Episode 91 of The Brion McClanahan Show.

http://blamehamilton.com http://learntruehistory.com "No taxation without representation!" This is what most Americans will tell you started the American War for Independence. But is that true? The cause is, in fact, deeper than that. It was a constitutional crisis that had major implications for American government moving forward. I talk about the real conflict and what it means for America today.

http://learntruehistory.com http://blamehamilton.com Most Americans take for granted the perilous conditions the first English settlers had to endure in the wilds of 17th century Virginia. A PC narrative would portray these people as little more than barbarians stealing land. But the story behind these people and their impact on what became American culture is so much more interesting--and not PC.

http://blamehamilton.com http://learntruehistory.com Not many Americans know anything about the Culper Ring, the intrepid group of American patriots and spies who helped Washington during his difficult tenure in New York during the War. AMC brought the ring to life in the series Turn. While fun to watch, the show lacks historical accuracy. I discuss the show, the Ring, and several of the historical inaccuracies in this episode of The Brion McClanahan Show.

http://blamehamilton.com http://learntruehistory.com A listener asked me to discuss the supposed "flip" of the major American political parties. The narrative is that the Republicans used to be the Democrats and the Democrats used to be the Republicans. This is simply untrue. I discuss both parties and the myth of the "flip" on Episode 87 of The Brion McClanahan Show.

http://learntruehistory.com Now Take 'em Down NOLA wants to remove the statue of Andrew Jackson. This was predictable. Jackson seems to be an easy target. After all, he will be removed from the $20 Federal Reserve Note and millennials think he hunted American Indians for sport. That is simply not true. Jackson was a mixed bag. He was a real American hero but as President he abused power. I thought it would be a good time to talk about Jackson and explain both sides of the story.

http://learntruehistory.com Most people have never heard of Josiah Bailey of North Carolina. He was one of the few voices railing against the excesses of Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal and helped author "The Conservative Manifesto" in 1937. Garland Tucker featured him in his Conservative Heroes, a nice little book that is a good companion to Forgotten Conservatives in American History. I discuss Bailey, Southern Democrats, and the Manifesto in this episode of the Brion McClanahan Show.

http://learntruehistory.com Stephen Kinzer has written a number of marvelous books, and his latest The True Flag is no exception. Kinzer argues that the Spanish-American War of 1898 and the debates that swirled about the future of American policy at the time are the origins of our modern imperial impulse. There is some truth to this, but I also think that we have to go back fifty years before that to the James K. Polk administration and his desire to acquire California. I talk about Kinzer, Polk, diplomatic history, and the roots of American imperialism in this episode.