'The Kylee Cast' feat. Adam Johnston, Ep. 46: Why Not Just Anyone Can Become An American

Federalist Radio Hour

Radio America

News Commentary, Politics, News

4.5 • 3.3K Ratings

🗓️ 18 June 2026

⏱️ 49 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

On this week's episode of "The Kylee Cast," Federalist Senior Contributor Adam Johnston joins Managing Editor Kylee Griswold to discuss why the "Heritage American" debate matters, why America 250 feels so different than the bicentennial, and how we can tell that America is more than just a creed, proposition, or set of ideals, but rather a distinct people and place. Plus, Kylee and Adam discuss birthright citizenship, and Adam makes some spicy observations about Abraham Lincoln and the Gettysburg Address.

Follow Adam on X: https://x.com/adamkjohnston

And read his piece at The Federalist here: https://thefederalist.com/2026/06/12/leftists-replaced-the-constitution-with-these-four-texts-to-enable-mass-migration/

The Federalist Foundation is a nonprofit, and we depend entirely on our listeners and readers — not corporations. If you value fearless, independent journalism, please consider a tax-deductible gift today at TheFederalist.com/donate. Your support keeps us going.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Like what's the point of borders if the creed is all men are created equal? Okay, well, then we don't have a right to turn anyone away because anyone is an American in waiting.
0:09.1	And they're just waiting to have their, you know, the rights that they've been endowed with their creator by, you know, stamped with a naturalization that you're an American now.
0:16.3	What gets lost, I think, in this shuffle about the family documents for whatever reason, is that the Constitution specifically was, in a way, drafted as to correct some of the radical
0:27.5	excesses of the Declaration of Independence. The Constitution's preamble does not talk about
0:32.9	all men or universalism or anything where it's idealistic. It's saying this constitution is drafted for ourselves and our posterity, meaning our people
0:44.2	here in America in our country.
0:46.8	And yet that, nobody touts that as we are going to lean on the Constitution.
0:52.4	It's always the declaration, never the Constitution's
0:55.2	preamble. It's glaringly obvious why.
1:10.2	Hi, everybody, and welcome to the Kylie cast.
1:12.6	I'm Kylie Griswold, managing editor at The Federalist.
1:15.5	Please like and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.
1:18.2	And if you're just listening to the show, go check out the full video version on my personal
1:22.4	YouTube channel or the Federalist channel on Rumble.
1:26.3	And then, of course, like and subscribe there as well.
1:28.9	If you'd like to email the show, you can do so at Radio at thefederalist.com.
1:33.0	We always love to hear from you.
1:35.1	Today, I am excited to welcome to the show Adam Johnston.
1:39.1	Adam is a senior contributor to the Federalist.
1:41.7	He also writes on Substack, and he writes about some really important topics, which we're going to dive into right now. So welcome to the show, Adam. Thanks for having me on, Kylie. It's so great to have you. We chat over email a lot. So we were just talking before we got started. It's great to actually get to have a face-to-face conversation or as
2:00.9	face-to-face as you get in the digital age but Adam you write a lot about a topic
2:07.2	that has become super super hot on both the left and the right and that is what is an
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in 20 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Radio America, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Radio America and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.