Donald Trump is on his way out the White House door, but he clearly has some fight left in him. On Monday, aka Martin Luther King Jr. Day, his administration unveiled two curious things. One was a bizarre garden honoring tons of random historical figures. Then there was “The 1776 Project,” their long-threatened response to The New York Times’ 1619 Project, which aims to reframe how we look at America’s past in relation to its embrace of slavery for nearly its first century. And it was what a lot of people expected it to be, which is to say a mess of historiography that downplays slavery, attacks “progressives,” and many more whoppers besides.
It ran some 45 pages, half of which was a reprinting of the U.S. Constitution, and it purported to be a “definitive chronicle of the American founding,” attacking “destructive scholarship” that might view the nation’s past through the lens of the bad things it did for so long.
“States and school districts should reject any curriculum that promotes one-sided partisan opinions, activist propaganda, or factional ideologies that demean America’s heritage, dishonor our heroes, or deny our principles,” it reads.
It was, in short, a lot. It attacks higher learning. (“Colleges peddle resentment and contempt for American principles and history alike.”) It lumped “progressives” in with “fascists” and “communists” as “challenges to America’s principles.” It even attacks those who teach the nation’s grim history with non-whites. It asserts that pointing out that the founding fathers were “hypocrites” for preaching that “every man is created equal” while owning slaves was “untrue, and has done enormous damage, especially in recent years, with a devastating effect on our civic unity and social fabric.” (You can read the whole thing here.)
People online were quick to highlight the most jaw-dropping parts. There was its minimization of slavery.
shorter "1776 commission" pic.twitter.com/IExXcuWT4c
— Astead (@AsteadWH) January 18, 2021
Trump’s 1776 Commission says historians pointing out the paradox of a nation founded on the idea of freedom denying freedom to Black people “has done enormous damage” to “our civic unity and social fabric.” pic.twitter.com/TQkMkNtBTt
— Eli Stokols (@EliStokols) January 18, 2021
Trump’s absurd 1776 Commission rationalizes/minimizes slavery. On MLK Day.
And lists progressivism, which is largely responsible for safe food, factories, etc as a “challenge” to America’s principles. Along with fascism and communism.
What a joke. Gonna be a long 42 hours. https://t.co/4sp3Y9S3mF
— Jim Himes 🇺🇸🇺🇦 (@jahimes) January 18, 2021
Its distortion of the civil rights movement.
https://twitter.com/un_a_valeable/status/1351307186023133185
And lots of other weird ahistoricisms.
This is truly insane from the 1776 Commission report pic.twitter.com/bBhx5gU3rF
— Ben Jacobs (@Bencjacobs) January 18, 2021
This is a truly bonkers rendition of 17th century British history from the appendix to the 1776 Commission report pic.twitter.com/nTf1hZuj55
— Ben Jacobs (@Bencjacobs) January 18, 2021
There was also a curious overuse of the word “facts,” which struck some as fishy.
Okay, I really am not going to tweet through the 1776 Commission report, but I do want to point out that this constant invocation in the introduction of "the facts" and how to properly interpret them is basically straight out of the rhetoric of the John Birch Society. pic.twitter.com/QeeWwgcOBg
— David Austin Walsh (@DavidAstinWalsh) January 18, 2021
Some didn’t think it looked like a work of serious history.
https://twitter.com/jackiantonovich/status/1351286918877745165
https://twitter.com/imillhiser/status/1351312740862844928
Others pointed out the terrible timing of releasing all this on MLK Day.
It's been less than two weeks since riots at the Capitol building.
And today, on MLK Day, a new report from Trump's 1776 Commission is comparing today's political divisions to the Union and Confederate forces during the Civil War. pic.twitter.com/I9DAhFUJEu
— Maegan Vazquez (@maeganvaz) January 18, 2021
The idea that affirmative action was somehow a repudiation of King's vision — WHEN MLK EXPLICITLY ENDORSED AFFIRMATIVE ACTION AND CHARACTERIZED AS AN EXTENSION OF THE MOVEMENT — is just insanely stupid.
And to release this ahistorical garbage on MLK Day? Goddamn. pic.twitter.com/13Gei9M5nV
— Kevin M. Kruse (@KevinMKruse) January 18, 2021
Those who read it all felt worse afterwards.
https://twitter.com/schwellenbach/status/1351313485729296389
https://twitter.com/espiers/status/1351300401673474049
There was a lot of unflattering words for those who were involved in its creation.
Every member of the 1776 Commission would have been a royalist in 1776
— Peter A. Shulman 📚 (@pashulman) January 18, 2021
Though some assumed it was really just Stephen Miller.
With just two days to go, it seems Stephen Miller has turned in his book report. https://t.co/B5jjFYZDuy
— Hunter Walker (@hunterw) January 18, 2021
But at least there was (allegedly) not a trace of young Trump guy Charlie Kirk.
Per a source, Charlie Kirk, who was originally named to the 1776 Commission last month, is not mentioned as a member in the final report pic.twitter.com/fmoWw1Zn5d
— Ben Jacobs (@Bencjacobs) January 18, 2021
There is a silver lining: Many of those involved in it are about to be out of a job.
Are these people that can be fired about 48 hours from now? Because we genuinely don’t need a “1776 Commission” or the racist traitors who are on it #BidenHarrisAdministration https://t.co/DkUmZFN9C4
— (((Tara Dublin))), Rock Star Author 📚❤️🔥🤘🏻 (@taradublinrocks) January 18, 2021
(Via Forbes)