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Donald Trump

Racism Against Haitians Didn’t Begin in Springfield, Ohio

In the early 19th century, US elites demonized the self-liberated slaves of the Haitian Revolution as dangerous practitioners of barbaric rituals.
by Ayendy Bonifacio via Jacobin on September 18, 2024
Donald Trump stands in front of a microphone, holding a graph titled "Illegal Immigration into the US."

Trump’s Anti-Haitian Hate Has Deep American Roots

The former president’s grotesque demagoguery is just the latest in a long line of vicious attacks on residents and immigrants from the island nation.
by Jonathan M. Katz via The New Republic on September 16, 2024
Photograph of 1964 GOP presidential nominee Barry Goldwater.

The Twisted History of the American Crime Anxiety Industry

Our political and cultural systems are obsessed with exploiting fears about crime. But it wasn’t always this way.
by Caleb Brennan via The Nation on November 1, 2023
John F. Kennedy standing at a microphone, holding notes.

The Warning About Trump That JFK Never Got to Deliver

In his undelivered final speech, Kennedy warned the world against ‘voices preaching doctrines wholly unrelated to reality.’
by Jeff Nussbaum via Politico Magazine on June 10, 2022
Exhibit

Fear Itself

We're not generally at our best when frightened. It's no surprise, then, that some of the ugliest episodes in American history (but also, some pretty great films) have been driven by fear.
Josh Hawley at Senate confirmation hearing

Stranger Dangers: The Right's History of Turning Child Abuse Into a Political Weapon

Josh Hawley’s attacks on Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson are part of a long, sad tradition.
by Paul M. Renfro, Ali Breland via Mother Jones on March 28, 2022
Masked person wearing transgender flag around their neck holding heart-shaped sign with colors of transgender flag (blue, pink, and white) that reads "TRANS PEOPLE BELONG"
partner

Anti-Trans Legislation has Never Been About Protecting Children

The roots of “protecting children” in U.S. political rhetoric lie in efforts to defend white supremacy.
by Nikita Shepard via Made By History on May 10, 2021
Donald Trump
partner

Even After Their Fearmongering Proves Wrong, Republicans Keep at It. Here’s Why.

For close to a century, conservatives have seen all government programs as the road to socialism.
by Lawrence B. Glickman via Made By History on August 31, 2020

Fear and Loathing of the Green New Deal

What the backlash to the emergency legislation reveals about the age-old pathologies of the right.
by Kim Phillips-Fein via The New Republic on May 29, 2019

White Supremacy Is the Achilles Heel of American Democracy

Even in a high-tech era, fears about minority political agency are the most reliable way to destabilize the U.S. political system.
by Vann R. Newkirk II via The Atlantic on April 17, 2018
Syringe and pills.
partner

How Sensationalism Compounds the Opioid Crisis

Instead of playing on emotions, we need to destigmatize addiction.
by Claire D. Clark via Made By History on July 5, 2017
Opening frame of documentary segment in question.
partner

Confronted: A Black Family Moves In

Northern whites reveal their deep-seated prejudice when a black family moves into their neighborhood.
by WGBH via American Archive of Public Broadcasting on December 2, 1963
Black soldiers and well-dressed women walking proudly in a military camp.

Chocolate City

Right after slavery ended in the United States, thousands of Black people, formerly enslaved by white slave holders in the South, flooded Washington, DC.
by Kaitlyn Greenidge via What It Is I Think I'm Doing on August 14, 2025

Why America Got a Warfare State, Not a Welfare State

How FDR invented national security, and why Democrats need to move on from it.
by Samuel Moyn via The New Republic on June 26, 2025
Protestors at the Global Climate Strike in London, March 2019.

Why Everyone Hates White Liberals

1988 was a pivotal year in how “white liberals” are perceived by their fellow Americans.
by Kevin M. Schultz via Arc: Religion, Politics, Et Cetera on June 25, 2025
Atlanta Journal Constitution newspaper reimagined as Atlanta Cop City dripping blood.

From the Atlanta Race Massacre to Cop City: The AJC Incites Harm

The AJC wielded its editorial power to pave the path for Cop City and the 1906 race massacre, directly harming Black Atlantans.
by Aja Arnold via Scalawag on June 11, 2025
White South Africans who support Donald Trump in front of the U.S. Embassy in Pretoria, 2025.
partner

The History of White Refugee Narratives

The Trump Administration's reasons for resettling Afrikaners echo early U.S. debates about Haiti's independence.
by James Alexander Dun via Made By History on June 9, 2025
Mexican men in line for work in the Bracero program.
partner

What the World War II-Era Bracero Program Reveals About U.S. Immigration Debates

Efforts to restrict immigration have long coexisted with — and even reinforced — the nation's economic reliance on Mexican laborers.
via Retro Report on May 9, 2025
Joseph McCarthy with a map.
partner

Joseph McCarthy in Wheeling, West Virginia: Annotated

Senator Joseph McCarthy built his reputation on fear-mongering, smear campaigns, and falsehoods about government employees and their associates.
by Joseph McCarthy, Liz Tracey via JSTOR Daily on March 24, 2025
U.S. President Donald Trump looks at an executive order in the Oval Office.

Are Trump's Actions 'Unprecedented'? Here's What Seven Historians Say

Trump's second administration is 'unprecedented' to some, but historians find parallels in ancient Rome, Nazi Germany, and Latin American dictatorship.
by Miles Klee via Rolling Stone on February 22, 2025
Elon Musk arrives for Donald Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20, 2025.

The Worldview of the Afrikaner Diaspora Now Haunts the US

Elon Musk and other tech moguls with roots in apartheid-era South Africa have been shaped by the history of right-wing white nationalism.
by Joseph Dana via New Lines on February 19, 2025
partner

The Media Spawned McCarthyism. Now It's Happening Again

Some of today's most influential political figures also won power through their willingness to say things that capture media attention.
by A. Brad Schwartz via Made By History on February 9, 2025
Anita Bryant speaking at microphone.

She Launched the Modern Antigay Movement in America. It Worked—Just Not as She Intended.

Anita Bryant’s legacy is not what she hoped—but her destructive message lives on.
by Josh Levin via Slate on January 11, 2025
Depictions of possible causes of apocalypse through war, disaster, and climate change.

Apocalypse, Constantly

Humans love to imagine their own demise.
by Adam Kirsch via The Atlantic on December 31, 2024
Haitan commuinty members bowing their heads in prayer.

The Coming Witch Trials

It’s time to care for the community—not cleanse it.
by Adam Jortner via Current (religion and democracy) on October 22, 2024
Netanyahu, Trump, Orban, Modi.

The Reactionary Bind

In assessing the rise of the global anti-democracy movement, the United States must look inward as well as outward.
by Kim Phillips-Fein via Democracy Journal on October 21, 2024
Illustration of John Tanton

The Ghosts of John Tanton

Today’s contentious immigration debate is the construct of one man’s effort to halt overpopulation.
by Abrahm Lustgarten via ProPublica on October 19, 2024

The Making of the Springfield Working Class

Each generation of this country’s workforce has always been urged to detest the next—to come up with its own fantasies of cat-eating immigrants.
by Gabriel Winant via New York Review of Books on September 30, 2024
Police officer in front of a playground and school.

The Historical Precedents to Trump’s Attacks on Haitian Immigrants

An expert on white nationalism explains how such demonizing rhetoric incubates and spreads—and what sets this particular episode apart.
by Kathleen Belew, Isaac Chotiner via The New Yorker on September 18, 2024
Trump at the debate in Philadelphia.

Why Republican Politicians Keep Claiming Immigrants Eat Cats and Dogs

"They’re eating the pets of the people that live there," former President Trump claimed — with no basis — at the first presidential debate.
by Bettina Makalintal via Eater on September 11, 2024
Drag queen reading book to children.

Censorship Through Centuries

A new book examines battles over drag story hours and book bans through the lens of LGBTQ history.
by Rebecca L. Davis via Literary Hub on September 9, 2024
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