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Heather Cox Richardson on Trump’s 250th Celebrations
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JD Vance's Blood and Soil Nationalism: A Historical Demolition
At 59:35 · chapter starts 52:11
Wagner describes Vance's Claremont Institute speech, in which he critiques the Declaration of Independence as both over- and under-inclusive, and proposes instead a vision of America as a place and a people — specifically those who fought in the Civil War, which Richardson immediately identifies as a dog whistle for white Southern culture. [1] — Heather Cox Richardson "Blood-and-soil nationalism is a European concept, and it never mapped onto North America. The original 13 colonies were never exclusively w…" 53:15 She traces blood-and-soil nationalism to 19th-century European ideology and a fabricated 1920s American document claiming Nordic racial lineage for the colonies — noting that the original 13 colonies were never exclusively white. [2] — Heather Cox Richardson "The founders were radicals making a specific philosophical claim: that natural laws — observable truths about the world — guarantee human e…" 55:10 More fundamentally, she argues that Vance's vision is a rejection not just of specific rights but of the entire founding enterprise: the claim that human beings can use natural observation to construct just societies. When Wagner points out that Vance's vision excludes his own wife and children, Richardson agrees — and adds that Vance has admitted he is willing to simply make things up for political effect, concluding: 'The ends never justify the means.' [3] — Alex Wagner "When you talk about reality coming crashing through the front door, J.D. Vance's version of America excludes his own children. And his wife." 59:01
Blood-and-soil nationalism is a European concept, and it never mapped onto North America. The original 13 colonies were never exclusively white or European — that revisionist claim comes from a 1920s American document fabricating a Nordic racial lineage. Vance's use of it is a straightforward attempt to put white wealthy men in charge.
The founders were radicals making a specific philosophical claim: that natural laws — observable truths about the world — guarantee human equality and the right to self-governance. That claim is what Vance and the radical right are really attacking when they substitute race or divine authority for the founding creed.
Vance admitted he was willing to fabricate claims — such as immigrants eating cats and dogs — because he said it drew attention to real conditions, an explicit endorsement of ends-justify-means lying.
If Richardson could create a new national holiday, it would be the 14th Amendment — ratified July 9, 1868, just five days after Independence Day. It's the amendment that said 'that whole equality thing, we mean it,' and gave Congress, for the first time, the power to enforce rights against state violations.
