Every November, Americans gather around tables to celebrate Thanksgiving. We tell ourselves a story of Pilgrims and Native Americans sharing a peaceful meal, a myth of harmony and gratitude. But the real power of Thanksgiving lies not in its origins, but in how leaders have used it to shape national identity during moments of crisis. In 1863, with the Union torn apart by a great Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln declared a National Day of Thanksgiving. His proclamation was not about Pilgrims; in fact, Pilgrims were never mentioned – it was about unity. Lincoln urged Americans to give thanks “in the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity,” reframing suffering as part of divine providence and national resilience. Thanksgiving became a civic ritual of reconciliation, binding the North and South under shared values even as battlefields raged. By the late 19 th century, the Plymouth feast had become America’s founding story. Textbooks and school pageants promo...
On Truth Social, the President of the United States called for a group of Democratic members of Congress to be hanged for sedition and treason. They must have committed a very serious crime for Trump to be asking that they be hanged. What happened is that a group of Democratic lawmakers, many of them being veterans or with national security backgrounds, released a video telling members of our military that they must refuse unlawful orders, emphasizing loyalty to the Constitution over political directives. Trump on his Truth Social account labeled their actions as “seditious behavior from traitors” and claimed their conduct was “punishable by death”. He reposted a comment calling for them to be hanged. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt insisted Trump did not literally want executions, but rather accountability. Accountability for what? What law did they break? She was arguing that the lawmakers were undermining presidential authority over the milita...