12 Books You Should Read This Summer To Celebrate America 250
This is a list of books every patriot should read.America is only months away from celebrating its quarter-millennial birthday — officially billed as “America 250” and even, in some quarters, a “Super Centennial.” But will America make it another 50 years, all the way to its tricentennial? Even as President Trump wages an existential conflict abroad, another one rages at home.
Without question, the country has lived a long and remarkable life. But the world also knows it has not been free of grave danger. Go back 165 years to the Civil War, and you’ll find proof that the American experiment can wobble — and nearly break.
‘We must all hang together, or most assuredly we shall all hang separately.’
Even at the nation’s birth, the outcome was not guaranteed. The men who signed their names to independence did so knowing that the newborn republic could be stillborn. In the eyes of King George III, they were committing treason.
That fragility hit me again recently on one of my many walks through Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in my neighborhood of Sleepy Hollow, New York. Sleepy Hollow is the final resting place of captains of industry — families such as the Rockefellers and Carnegies — as well as Washington Irving, America’s first internationally recognized literary giant.
Inside the cemetery’s borders stand monuments commemorating the dead of both the Revolutionary War and the Civil War. They are stark reminders of how fragile a nation’s life can be.
The words carved on the Revolutionary monument still land with force.

1776 — 1783
In Memory
of the
OFFICERS and SOLDIERS
of the
REVOLUTION
who by their valor
sustained the cause of liberty
and independence
on these historic fields.
While we honor the dead, we should remember the courage of the living — including those too old to take up arms themselves. When Benjamin Franklin signed the Declaration of Independence, an act of treason in the eyes of the Crown, he is said to have offered a grim assessment: “We must all hang together, or most assuredly we shall all hang separately.”
That line came rushing back when Susan Rice laid out what amounts to a warning shot about the next round of political retribution. On a recent podcast, Rice promised a reckoning for those who “take a knee to Trump,” and she made clear that Democrats, once back in power, will not "play by the old rules.”
Her message was simple: Align yourself with Trump — or with the tens of millions who support him — and your time “is not going to end well.”
For anyone who watched what happened to people swept up in the post-Jan. 6 dragnet, the implication is not subtle. The left’s appetite for lawfare is real. And it rarely stops with the obvious actors. It metastasizes. It broadens. It looks for new targets.
So what can derail the Democrats’ destructive engine?
The answer may be hiding in Franklin’s line: Hang together.
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President Trump has made two standards central to national survival: secure borders and honest elections. The border is more secure than it has been in years. But Congress still hasn’t delivered the SAVE America Act — and that failure matters.
Within months of July 4, 2026, Americans will again head to the polls. The choices will be stark, and Democrats will not be shy about what they want: revenge, institutional capture, and a reset of the country on their terms.
Two things now matter, and they are not complicated. First, patriots must keep pressure on elected officials to pass the SAVE America Act. Second, they must show up and vote in overwhelming numbers this November. Nobody gets to sit this one out.
That’s how Republicans keep their majorities. That’s how Trump’s agenda survives. And that’s how the country avoids another round of “fundamental transformation” — imposed by people who have already told you they plan to discard the old restraints.
Editor’s note: A version of this article appeared originally at American Thinker.
A Democrat state senator in Nebraska last month decided to remove portraits of America’s founders from the Capitol in Lincoln. Security footage shows state Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh taking down images from an exhibit designed by PragerU, marking the nation’s 250th year with portraits of Declaration signers and prominent women.
“Celebrating America during our 250th year should be a moment of unity and patriotism, not divisiveness and destructive partisanship,” Republican Gov. Jim Pillen wrote on Facebook. “I am disappointed in this shameful and selfish bad example.”
The left now treats America’s founding principles as cover for sin rather than a constraint on it.
I’m disappointed too. But I’m not surprised. The left has poured gasoline on the founding for years.
In 1927, historians Charles and Mary Beard published “The Rise of American Civilization,” portraying the American Revolution as a struggle driven less by ideals than by economic self-interest. Their Progressive Era “economic interpretation” challenged what they saw as romanticized narratives about the founding and helped shift elite opinion toward suspicion of the founders’ motives.
Nearly a century later, the left moved from economic critique to moral indictment. Slavery became the founding’s “original sin.” Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said the United States was “created” in large part “on racist principles.” The New York Times championed Nikole Hannah-Jones’ project urging schools to teach that America’s true founding occurred not in 1776 but in 1619, when the first enslaved Africans arrived. That framework recasts the Revolution less as a rebellion against tyranny than as a defense of slavery’s economic advantages.
Then came 2020. In Portland, mobs tore down statues of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. Protesters smeared them with graffiti and slapped a sticker on Washington’s forehead: “You are on Native land.”
My new book, “Trump’s Superpower: A Historical Novel About the Founding Fathers & One Founding Mother,” stages a rebuttal in story form. I bring the founders down from heaven to participate in a re-enactment of the founding on its 250th anniversary. They collide with modern America in darkly comic ways. Ben Franklin gets arrested for misgendering someone. George Washington fixes his teeth. Will Lee, Washington’s enslaved valet, discovers online commentary and becomes a social media sensation.
Those scenes deliver laughs, but the book’s center holds a serious conversation: Did America become what the founders hoped it would become? That debate carries its own evidence against the modern indictment. These men believed they were handing Americans tools — freed from Britain’s rule and debts — to pursue their own dreams and build lives worth living.
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In the book, Thomas Jefferson and the others see Jefferson’s memorial for the first time and learn about the campaign to cancel him. Franklin reads the moment with unnerving clarity. “I am beginning to think,” he says, “that they’re not trying to discredit us as people so much as to dishonor us for what we achieved. In a way, they are denouncing not only the founders but the nation we founded and the Constitution we left behind.”
Jefferson’s Declaration insisted that rights come from God, not man, and that governments derive “their just powers from the consent of the governed.” In his first draft, Jefferson also condemned Britain’s role in the slave trade, accusing King George of waging “cruel war against human nature itself” by trafficking human beings. The Continental Congress struck the passage, fearing disunity on the eve of war.
That context matters. The founders lived amid contradiction and compromise, yet they articulated principles that gave later generations the moral language and constitutional structure to attack slavery, defeat it, and expand rights. The left now treats those principles as cover for sin rather than a constraint on it. That inversion forms the point of the portrait-taking: It’s not merely about flawed men. It’s about discrediting the founding itself.
Lately, watching riots in Minneapolis and other blue cities tied to federal immigration enforcement, I wonder if we will even make it to July 4. Blue jurisdictions openly defying federal authority in 2026 sounds uncomfortably close to the pattern of states putting themselves above the Union in 1860.
The country should treat that warning seriously — not as a pretext for more cultural demolition, but as a reason to recover what America’s founders built: a constitutional order that binds us together, even when we want to tear it apart.
I’ve often wondered what our Founding Fathers would think of their great American experiment. Imagine George Washington strolling down the Las Vegas Strip, Thomas Jefferson riding the Tennessee Tornado at Dollywood, or John Adams catching a “throwed roll” at Lamberts in Missouri.
Would they be awestruck by the Independence Day fireworks in New York City? Or cheer at the Super Bowl? Would they marvel at the soaring Gateway Arch in St. Louis? Or the majesty of the Rocky Mountains? Would Betsy Ross wash down a Moon Pie with an R.C. Cola?
‘The greatness of America doesn’t begin in Washington,’ Ronald Reagan said. ‘It begins with each of you — in the mighty spirit of free people under God.’
On the last day of the Constitutional Convention of 1787, Benjamin Franklin was asked if we had a republic or a monarchy?
“A republic, if you can keep it,” he was said to reply.
Without a doubt, America is the most exceptional nation in the world. In the face of great adversity and insurmountable odds, we have overcome. And we have been blessed.
And that’s why I set out on a mission with my friend Michelle Cox to write “Star-Spangled Blessings: Devotions for Patriots.”
It’s a collection of stories about how God has lavished our country with a bounty of star-spangled blessings.
That’s not to say that our great nation has not been through some squabbles. We’ve had more than a few — and some were doozies. We’ve made lots of mistakes, but we’ve also righted many wrongs.
Perseverance is a word that has defined us over the years. Franklin Roosevelt announcing to the nation about a date that would live in infamy. Walter Cronkite relaying to the nation a shocking bulletin from Dallas. President George W. Bush standing on a pile of rubble at Ground Zero with a bullhorn.
Yet, amid great tragedy, our nation has always found strength in almighty God — our defender and our protector.
President Trump knows of that strength, that divine intervention. He survived not one but two assassination attempts.
“Many people have told me that God spared my life for a reason. And that reason was to save our country and to restore America to greatness, and now we are going to fulfill that mission together,” he said during a speech in 2024.
I vividly recall watching as the shots rang out in Butler County, Pennsylvania. My heart stopped as Trump dropped to the stage. But then, he rose up, and with blood streaming down his face, he thrust his fist into the air and shouted, “Fight, fight, fight!”
President Trump would then urge Americans to read their Bibles, to get back to church, and to pray.
“Let’s make America pray again,” he said.
The president caught quite a bit of grief from the atheists and the Democrats for that altar call.
“Religion and Christianity are the biggest things missing from this country, and I truly believe that we need to bring them back, and we have to bring them back fast,” the president said at the time. “I think it's one of the biggest problems we have. That’s why our country is going haywire. We've lost religion in our country. All Americans need a Bible in their home, and I have many. It's my favorite book. It's a lot of people's favorite book.”
Now, that’ll preach, as we say back home in Tennessee.
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Sure, we have lost our way in this country. We’ve been so focused on taking back Congress and the White House that we forgot to take care of our homes and our communities.
Ronald Reagan said it best in 1984 when he told the nation that “the greatness of America doesn’t begin in Washington. It begins with each of you — in the mighty spirit of free people under God, in the bedrock values you live by each day in your families, neighborhoods, and workplaces.”
As I write in “Star-Spangled Blessings,” we must return to the faith of our founders. A faith that compelled George Washington to pray on bended knee at Valley Forge.
A faith that compelled John Adams to petition the almighty to bless those who resided in the White House. A faith that compelled Franklin Roosevelt to ask Americans to pray for a spiritual awakening.
It’s that sort of American spirit that has resonated with people across the fruited plain. These are moments that define us as a nation.
Lee Greenwood, the singer-songwriter who penned “God Bless the USA,” is a friend of mine, and his anthem to the land of the free and the home of the brave still brings a tear to my eye as I write these words from the hills of Tennessee.
And I suspect that if America’s founders were here today, they would love this land from sea to shining sea. And they would join their fellow countrymen in asking God to bless the USA.
Worldview is destiny. That’s why I’ve always focused on it during my show — to explain how a powerful nation like ours can draw lessons from history’s triumphs and failures. Right now, I believe America faces three distinct paths forward, each emerging after years of abandoning the foundational values of our forefathers.
But before we can choose any path, we need to face a hard truth: Our current trajectory is unsustainable. We cannot continue pretending this is one nation when some states believe they have the right to seize your children if you don’t consent to irreversible medical procedures — something Colorado voters are considering right now.
Conservatives need to face a hard truth: There’s no political appetite in America for meaningful cuts to government if those cuts involve personal sacrifice or accountability.
Just as we couldn’t share a country with states that once sanctioned slavery, we cannot share one with states that reject basic parental rights. We lied to ourselves back then, too — until a civil war jarred us into reality. History doesn’t let us ignore deep moral divides forever.
We won’t nuance our way out of the three possible destinies we face. Nuance requires spiritual maturity — and we don’t have that. It’s the old question: “What’s the greatest commandment?” If you’re generally aligned with loving God and loving your neighbor, you’ve got room for nuance and a wider range of policy options. But when a nation turns godless — and news flash: We’re already there — nuance disappears. All that’s left is consequence.
The first path forward is spiritual revival. That’s the path of a humble people willing to repent of their foolishness and reorder their priorities. Revival would demand that we live within our means, stop printing money, and return to the principles of limited government.
It turns out that sound economic policy is inseparable from moral clarity. A moral people don’t justify redistributing other people’s money through welfare programs — that’s theft. They don’t dodge consequences by laying claim to what isn’t theirs — that’s covetousness. Strip away morality, and no economic system will save us.
Let’s be honest — we need to go back. Before America even became a nation, its foundation was laid by Puritans, church-chartered colonies, and multiple Great Awakenings. Back then, as now, spiritual revival wasn’t optional — it was essential. Without Christ, we don’t have the supernatural strength to restrain ourselves or sustain self-government. We just don’t.
That’s why one of the first acts of the U.S. Congress was to commission Geneva Bibles for public distribution. The Founders understood that a free people needed more than laws — they needed the fear of the Lord, which Scripture calls the beginning of wisdom. Without that, don’t even bother.
Even as a believer, I once might have tried to pitch you a more measured path back to sanity. But then I watched my fellow citizens wave the white flag — not just to gender ideologues and pandemic authoritarians, but to reality itself.
Instead of drawing lines in the sand, people leaned harder than ever on the same government that had just stripped them of their freedoms. We were made to be ruled — and without a moral foundation, we’ll always find someone else to do the ruling.
This also explains why politicians rarely lose elections by spending too much. Voters want it that way. We live under government by the consent of the governed — and what the governed want is more spending. You might see yourself as a victim of the system, but you’re also complicit in it.
That brings us to the second path: empire. This is the trajectory of a society that craves comfort and rejects consequences — the exact opposite of the humility demanded by spiritual revival. The math doesn’t lie. If we won’t cut spending, we’ll have to raise revenue. Forget fiscal restraint — bring on the second slice.
Conservatives need to face a hard truth: There’s no political appetite in America for meaningful cuts to government if those cuts involve personal sacrifice or accountability. Unless the DOGE saves us through divine crypto intervention, voters aren’t signing up to downsize the welfare state.
We worship our glittering idols of comfort and convenience. So unless someone pries them from our cold, dead hands, we’d better decide who’s going to foot the bill for our national appetite for gluttony and denial.
Democrats plan to bleed their own citizens dry to fund their agenda. The alternative is to make other countries pick up the tab — which is exactly what Red Caesar Trump is trying to do with his grand tariff gambit. Maybe it won’t work. We’ll know soon enough.
That’s why he’s eyeing Greenland. This is what empires do. They demand tribute from weaker nations in exchange for the privilege of doing business with them. I’d love to say we’re nobler than that. But let’s be honest: Nobility doesn’t exactly describe our national mood. We want what we want — and we don’t particularly care how we get it.
Even Ben Franklin — moral failings and all — warned that we could only remain a republic if we made the effort to keep it. But let’s stop pretending that preserving the republic has been a national priority for decades. We’ve chosen empire. That means more mergers, more acquisitions, more demands. That’s the terrain where Trump thrives. Whether we admit it or not, this is the road we’re on — and we chose it.
Unless we’ve simply lost all interest in acting like adults on any level, we’re headed straight for path three: death. But this isn’t just death in the traditional sense. It’s worse. It’s moral collapse. As John Daniel Davidson wrote in his book “Pagan America,” the endgame isn’t America ceasing to exist — it’s America becoming evil.
The real question isn’t whether tyranny will come — it’s who will bring it. Will it be the corporations aligned with the right? Or the communists dressed up as champions of democracy on the left? Call it whatever name you like — “sacred democracy” if you must — but don’t ignore the outcome.
And unlike other Western nations that have walked this path, America owns 300 million guns. So when this collapse hits home, it won’t look like Europe’s slow-motion slide into technocratic authoritarianism. It’ll be faster. Uglier. And bloodier.
That’s not hyperbole. That’s the math of human nature. I’m not offering a prophecy. I’m offering an equation. Our options are few, but we still have agency. We still have a choice.
This is a time for choosing, and what we choose will have consequences that stretch beyond policy or politics. We are staring into something deeper — something metaphysical. The clock is ticking. Everything is at stake.
The only question that matters now is: Who and what are we willing to become?
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) was forced to delete a social media post over the weekend after misquoting Benjamin Franklin to promote her narrative about Jan. 6.
On the third anniversary of the Capitol riots, Shaheen urged her followers to remember the "insurrectionists" who she claimed "put our democracy in jeopardy." And then she tried to quote Franklin.
"'A democracy, if you can keep it,' said Ben Franklin," Shaheen continued. "January 6, 2021, was a stark reminder of just how fragile our democracy is. It is on each and every one of us to never forget the actions that led to that day so we ensure history does not repeat itself."
— (@)
But the problem is Benjamin Franklin did not say, "A democracy, if you can keep it."
Upon the adjournment of the Constitutional Convention in September 1787, a woman named Elizabeth Willing Powel inquired of Franklin what type of government the founding fathers had established.
"Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?" Powel asked.
"A republic — if you can keep it," Franklin responded.
The quote was recorded by James McHenry, a delegate to the Constitutional Convention from Maryland.
Although the form of government the founding fathers established is a type of democracy, the differences between our constitutional republic and a pure democracy are not insignificant.
Jay Cost, a scholar of American history and government, explains:
Our system is republican in that the Founders understood that the public is the only legitimate sovereign of government. But it is not wholly democratic, in that they feared the abuse of that authority by the people and designed an instrument of government intended to keep temporary, imprudent, and intemperate outbursts of public opinion from dominating the body politic.
...
This is a republican system of government, because there is no point at which a self-appointed or hereditary sovereign can hope to retain power against durable public opposition. Everything flows, ultimately, from the people. But “ultimately” is the key word in that sentence. The people rule, but often not directly. The system is republican, but not entirely democratic.
Shaheen later deleted her social media post, but she did not acknowledge her embarrassing — and telling — error.
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