- The 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence arrives amid national embarrassment, with the U.S. having elected a 'mad king' akin to the one it overthrew, reflecting a dramatic self-destructive streak.
- Historians may question how a wealthy, powerful nation chose to throw away its advantages; the author's research for 'The Next Civil War' reveals underlying causes of decline, yet the self-destruction remains a mystery even to those close to it.
- Causes of collapse are debated—some point to the 2008 financial crisis, others to 1980's inequality spike, 1876's end of reconstruction, or earlier conflicts—but Trump's presidency highlights that the crisis has existed since America's founding.
- Early American leaders like George Washington and Abraham Lincoln foresaw the nation's potential for hyperpartisanship and self-destruction, suggesting the seeds of decline were planted at the origin.
- The semiquincentennial prompts a reconsideration of the American project, with the revolution's mythic details (e.g., cherry tree, Boston Tea Party) blending history and myth, influencing modern perceptions.
- Recent iconoclasm, such as tearing down statues of Jefferson and Washington, and conservative curriculum changes in Florida and Texas, show a polarized reinterpretation of history, often driven by agendas rather than serious reckoning.
- Ken Burns' documentary 'The American Revolution' portrays founders as flawed humans in a messy historical context, revealing contradictions like advocating liberty while practicing slavery, but these contradictions are already well-known.
- American exceptionalism, born from the revolution, is ingrained and leads to a belief in the U.S. as the greatest country, even amid decline; this nostalgia drives backward-looking politics, like originalism in law and Trump's 'Make America Great Again.'
- Nostalgia warps politics, with courts applying historical standards to issues like gun rights and racial gerrymandering (invented by founding father Elbridge Gerry), reflecting a return to origins in destructive ways.
- Trump embodies American nostalgia and revolutionary spirit, where violence and greed are consistent with founding motives; the revolution's mob violence and entitlement echo in modern behaviors, leading to a self-poisoning decline.
- As America returns to its origins of greed and spectacle, it loses itself through atavistic dissolution, desecrating icons and undermining institutions, with foreign policy reflecting a destructive exceptionalism that claims moral right while causing harm.