Heather Cox Richardson on Trump’s 250th Celebrations
Pod Save America
Pod Save America
4.5 • 87.3K Ratings
🗓️ 21 June 2026
⏱️ 66 minutes
🔗️ Recording | Apple Podcasts | RSS
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Summary
Historian Heather Cox Richardson joins Alex Wagner to discuss Trump's plans for America's semiquincentennial, put his fight on the White House lawn into historical context, and make sense of his mission to remake our nation's capital in his image. The two talk about what it means to be patriotic in this moment, the flaws in JD Vance's vision of blood and soil nationalism, and Heather's new series — 250 to 250 — where she's retelling the stories of "the people, places, and events that have helped to move us toward a more perfect Union."
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to Pod Save America. I'm Alex Wagner. On today's show, historian Heather Cox Richardson |
| 0:25.5 | on America at 250. With the administration gearing up for July 4 celebrations and gearing down |
| 0:32.4 | from celebrations of Trump's 80th, I thought I'd check in with someone who can situate all of the |
| 0:37.2 | pomp and circumstance |
| 0:38.2 | in historical context. You likely know Heather from her insanely popular substack letters from an |
| 0:44.4 | American, where she writes every damn day about the history behind today's increasingly |
| 0:49.8 | a historical politics. Heather has a new series out to celebrate America's 250th. It is aptly named |
| 0:56.2 | 250 to 250, where she tells the story of the Americans who, over the course of a quarter |
| 1:01.8 | millennium, work to make real the founding ideals of this nation, that all people are created |
| 1:07.9 | equal. We're going to talk about that series and Trump's Fourth of July |
| 1:11.5 | celebrations as well as so much, much more. Trump's efforts to make DC just as tacky as he is, |
| 1:17.4 | J.D. Vance's Catholic faith, and how the lefts can embrace patriotism once again. |
| 1:23.1 | It was a great conversation with Heather, and we're going to get to it in a minute. But before we do, |
| 1:32.2 | guys, there's a new episode of Pod Save America Only Friends out now with me and hysteria's Aaron Ryan. |
| 1:34.5 | Go check it out. |
| 1:35.5 | Only Friends is the Friends of the Pod subscriber exclusive show where Pod Save America hosts and |
| 1:42.1 | contributors dive into even more news stories from the week. |
| 1:46.4 | In this episode, Aaron and I unpack the Justice Department's latest investigation into Gavin Newsom and his wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom. |
| 1:53.3 | We check in on whatever was going on at the Turning Point Women's Leadership Summit. |
| 1:58.4 | No, that is not an oxymoron. |
| 2:00.5 | And much more. So hit pause and subscribe |
| 2:03.1 | to Friends of the Pod at crooked.com slash friends. Also, please, if you would, check out my |
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