(CTN News) – Like Sam Cooke, Trump may have studied history. When questioned by historians, the US president admits to knowing little about history, like the “king of souls” in Wonderful World.

Trump stunned historian Douglas Brinkley by claiming he had never read an Abraham Lincoln book at Mar-a-Lago after his 2016 election win. Brinkley told a Carnegie Endowment for International Peace webcast that he knew nothing about history before his inauguration speech.

Political book publishing surprised me. Imagine they read extensively. Shrugging, “I see.” JFK started his history studies””

The illiterate Trump wants to rule US history before next year’s semi-centennial.

In January, the president began authoring his own US history by executive order, which historians warn may erase negative events that contradict his American pride narrative.

According to Carter, Obama, and Roosevelt historian Jonathan Alter, “He is not now and never has been a student of history, but is basically a restorationist.” Says “restorationist” a “political figure who operates on the politics of nostalgia.”

Political and economic history are new to him. Change 250-person party plans. “He will try to hijack that event next year, but we don’t know how.” To mark the nation’s 250th birthday on July 4, 2026, Trump led the White House team 250 and promised a “grand celebration” and “other actions to honor the history of our great nation.”

The White House 250 website posted “The Story of America,” the first of three short videos, last month. Conservative Michigan Christian Hillsdale College made the videos.

In the introductory video, college president Larry Arnn, a former research director for Winston Churchill’s official biographer Sir Martin Gilbert, compared Lincoln to Trump using Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan.

“He has a famous slogan that I will not repeat here, but everybody knows what it is, and it ends with the word again,” added Arnn, who declined the Guardian’s interview. Repeating suits Lincoln’s politics.”

Founders justified independence by alleging King George III invaded the legislature, infringing his lawful powers and interfering with representation, election, and judicial authority, according to Arnn.

They were published weeks after Trump ordered a complete reform of how federal museums like the Smithsonian and national parks interpret history. The administration said the National Endowment for the Humanities will fund 250 life-size American hero sculptures for a national garden.

Trump’s opponents accuse him of disobeying courts, usurping congressional authority, and acting like a despot; therefore, Arnn’s story unwittingly warns against supporting America’s revolutionary founder.

Johann Neem, a Western Washington University US history professor, described the revolution “against tyranny and arbitrary power” like Trump.

“Any continuity between the actual political meaning of the revolution and what Trump is doing to our constitution is false,” he adds.

Donald Trump is lawless and strong without limitations.”

History academics say Trump’s attempt to rewrite history is part of a culture war fueled by leftwing discourses about race’s role in the nation. The New York Times’ 1619 Project criticized revered American founders’ slavery beliefs.

At a 2020 White House history ceremony, Trump fiercely declared the Pulitzer-winning research “totally discredited” andused left-wing critics of “defiling the American story with deceptions, falsehoods, and lies.”

“This project rewrites American history to teach our children that we were founded on oppression, not freedom,” adds. He requested a 1776 “patriotic education” report on institutional racism and critical racial theory in his first administration.

Misquoting Martin Luther King, mocking bigotry, and defending slave-owning founding ancestors were criticized. Neem termed Trump’s behavior a “hyper-nationalist overreaction” to “a post-American approach” by left-leaning historians who saw racism as so ingrained that ordinary Americans had little to celebrate.

“Saccharine” American history was “an abuse of history” and “an autocratic playbook.”

“He is speaking for a group of intellectuals and activists who truly believe progressives have corrupted American culture and stolen their country,” he adds.

“The critical turn in American history is just one piece of a larger problem, and they see historians and other experts as impurities.”

Historians question Trump’s extension.

The 90-second Journey to American Democracy teaching videos were made by Boston College nineteenth-century expert Heather Cox Richardson. Because historians put “grassroots history” online, she predicted Commission 250’s failure.

“We are looking at the different ways in which our always multicultural society constructed a nation, and that is a story of extraordinary triumph, but also of missteps and tragedy,” stated. A despot who tries to erase history benefits from reclaiming a glorious past.

“The president’s cultural impact declines. As he claims it’s the sanitized work of a few ideologically pure white elites, more will say, “Well, no, not really.”

SOURCE: TG