Make America Great Again - Mythic History and the Quest for National Redemption

Abstract

This article analyses how right-wing intellectuals aligned with the post-2016 “MAGA” movement mobilise mythic narratives of American history to legitimise exclusionary politics and delegitimise critical scholarship. Focusing on two key case studies, the Claremont Institute and the Trump administration’s 1776 Commission, the paper shows how these actors construct a redemptive national myth centred on the Founding, moral unity, and heroic tradition. Through close readings of primary texts such as Michael Anton’s “The Flight 93 Election” essay and the 1776 Report, the article demonstrates how historical complexity is rejected in favour of simplified, moralised narratives that frame dissent as unpatriotic. Drawing on theories of political myth, collective memory, and anti-intellectualism, it argues that these actors weaponize the past to undermine pluralist democracy and reframe historical knowledge as a matter of loyalty rather than inquiry. In doing so, they contribute to an epistemic environment in which civic education is reoriented toward indoctrination, and historical truth is subordinated to ideological coherence.