Episode

7/27 Union: The Struggle to Forge the Story of United States Nationhood w/ Colin Woodard

July 27, 2020

The Majority Report returns this week as Sam hosts journalist and author Colin Woodard (@woodardcolin) to discuss his new book, Union: The Struggle to Forge the Story of United States Nationhoodon how 19th-century intellectuals forged the myth of national unity.

On today’s show: Steve Mnuchin says WH won’t use taxpayer money to let people stay home. Mnuchin says it wouldn’t be fair to pay people to stay home while others have to work.

Journalist and author Colin Woodard (@woodardcolin) joins Sam to discuss his new book, Union: The Struggle to Forge the Story of United States Nationhoodon how 19th-century intellectuals forged the myth of national unity. What “the United States” means to its citizens has never been a given, inspiring various actors to try to impose their version of a unifying national myth onto this vast and diverse nation-state. Woodard tracks these competing visions, including that favored by 19th century historian George Bancroft, which posited the US as a project blessed by God to spread “freedom” across the continent, as well as the explicitly ethno-nationalist vision favored by people like Woodrow Wilson in the KKK era.

On the fun half: Ted Cruz says Democrats only want to extend unemployment benefits to beat Trump in November. Jake Tapper asks why Trump hasn’t used Defense Production Act to improve testing turnaround, Giroir says “it’s not magic.” Jesse Watters has nice things to say about Qanon during interview about tech censorship with Eric Trump. Ben Shapiro says empathy is bad for politics. Plus, your calls and IMs.

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