The Trump maladministration chose to defile Martin Luther King Day by releasing “The 1776 Report” that actually defends America’s founding on the basis of slavery and likens progressivism to fascism.
Democratic Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut called the report “absurd” in response to a tweet by Los Angeles Times reporter Eli Stokols who quoted from the document.
Trump formed the presidential “1776 Commission” in September in response to The New York Times’ “1619 Project,” which reframed how America’s past should be looked at in relation to the consequences of slavery and the the contributions of black Americans..
The commission was chaired by Larry Arnn, a Trump ally and president of the conservative Hillsdale College.
At the time, Trump claimed that America’s heritage was under assault by leftist fanatics and that schools needed a new ”pro-American” curriculum.
The New York Times quoted from the report:
“Historical revisionism that tramples honest scholarship and historical truth, shames Americans by highlighting only the sins of their ancestors, and teaches claims of systemic racism that can only be eliminated by more discrimination, is an ideology intended to manipulate opinions more than educate minds.”
Of course, the 45-page report was short on scholarship. Half of it was devoted to reprinting the U.S. Constitution. Historians noted that this purported “definitive chronicle of the American founding” included no footnotes/endnotes or bibliography typical of scholarly reports.
And the report released on MLK Day actually dissed the civil rights movement, claiming it had evolved into “identity politics,” which it said “teaches that America itself is to blame for oppression.”
It also likened American liberals to the Italian fascist leader Benito Mussolini.
The report urged states and school districts “to 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.”
CNN White House reporter Maegan Vazquez pointed out the terrible timing of releasing such a report on Martin Luther King Day.