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Dr. Clyde N. Wilson

Trump in Power: A Southern View

4/5/2025

21 Comments

 
Picture

Donald Trump is not the kind of character who appeals readily to Southerners.  However, he is a recognisable un-Woke American type who deserves credit for some virtues.


His is certainly not a Southern administration although a solid South made possible his big victory in the popular vote and the Electoral College.


It is nice to see steps being taken against the bloated and destructive nature of the U.S. government - something truly revolutionary that we never expected to see happen. How good to see the DEI fraud attacked and 10,000 bureaucrats leaving the Department of Health and Human Services. It will be a long-term benefit to society and the economy, though the government will probably still have to pay their lavish pensions. And the destructive and unconstitutional Department of Education brought into question.


The same process needs to be applied to the military brass, who are all devious bureaucrats and not soldiers at all.


All that is really just a drop in the bucket.  There are still many tens of thousands of federal drones to be eliminated. Where will they find work? It will be nice to see them as WalMart employees and waiters.


I have to say that my opinion of Trump rose greatly with his inaugural and state of the Union speeches.  They were actually statesmanlike, something not seen from a President in a long, long time.  He told the big picture like it is, while surrounded by all the empty-suit and corrupt officials who were responsible for the evils he was describing.


Trump’s biggest obstacle remains the Republican Party.  The grassroots is populist but the mainstream Republicans, like Speaker Johnson, want to get back to their comfortable power and pelf.  They have never been a real opposition party but have aided and abetted creation of the evil regime that Trump and his followers have attacked.


Some of Trump’s moves seem bombastic and a bit ridiculous.  Why acquire Greenland when we already have all the military bases there that we need?  Acquire Canada which has 10 states, making our country, already too big, even bigger?  We ought to be getting rid of useless territory - like Puerto Rico. Reclaiming the Panama Canal might make sense. 


I am hopeful that all the noise being made about Ukraine and Russia is just jockeying and things will come right.


Trump’s rabidly excessive Zionism is a deep moral failure that is inexcusable.  The only explanation may be that no American President can survive without obedience to Israeli interests. Then there are the stupid Evangelicals and their deceitful and opportunistic leaders.


In the 1980s some of us begin to project a Southern nationalism.  We thought that the U.S. was hopeless, that only independence could save the South, and that devolution was the wave of the future.  We were mostly right, but history has moved on and it is hard to see for sure where we stand now.  And sadly, some of those who dishonestly present themselves as Southern spokesmen are fascists, which there is nothing more un-Southern.


Trumpians have made some noise about restoring the historic monuments and symbols that were trashed in recent years. During World War II a lot of army bases were named for Confederate generals to encourage Southern support for the war---Bragg, Benning, Hood, Polk, etc.


It seems that the old names have been restored to Forts Bragg and Benning.  But the names now represent not Confederates but other people with the same names.  This is a bit of a dirty trick.


I am withholding judgment and approval until I see the noble Reconciliation Monument restored to Arlington.

21 Comments
Joseph Johnson
4/6/2025 01:37:04 am

Yes Dr. Wilson Trump is a Yankee and has his faults, particularly his Zealous Nizonism, his flip flopping on Russian/Ukraine conflict that the US government help instigate, but he is one of those rare public figures that genuinely cares about the well being of people and strives to liberate them from the Globohomo megalomaniacs hell-bent on destroying humanity.

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James
4/15/2025 06:41:03 am

That New-York Yankee, I always say, was the sole national public figure who had the courage to stand athwart the eradication of Confederate symbols and yell “stop.” For that alone, we owe him at least the benefit of the doubt.

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Joseph Johnson
4/6/2025 01:58:10 am

And yes his tarrifs may not be a good idea, but I think his mainstream critics are certainly no Thomas Jefferson, John C Calhoun, JohnTaylor , Nathaniel Macon, George Mason, St George Tucker, etc. Such people were actually committed to the native soil and Natural grown societies which today's tarrif critcs are not.

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BrianTheRebel1861
4/6/2025 11:17:45 am

Dr. Wilson, the thing that confuses me, is that for someone who claims to dislike the yankee empire, and regrets southern democrats becoming republicans, you have very much done the same thing. You seem to reject southern secession and hope the yankee empire who conquered your ancestors will give you some concessions, but that's it. Also, your embrace of Trump is more of the same. You were once another southern democrat who now runs defense for Trump, who is an arch republican in every way, ie belief in America as a world empire, rabid zionism, devotion to business interests, and devotion to Lincoln, the union cause and the union as inseparable. Am I wrong on this? Do you really think of Jefferson Davis was alive today he would get behind Trump, who is the last gasp of a rightfully dying empire?

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Paul Yarbrough
4/6/2025 04:46:16 pm

“Trump’s rabidly excessive Zionism is a deep moral failure that is inexcusable. The only explanation may be that no American President can survive without obedience to Israeli interests. Then there are the stupid Evangelicals and their deceitful and opportunistic leaders.”

I’m not sure you read Dr. Wilson’s article with as much prescience as Jefferson Davis would have. When you are fighting a beast, you fight with what you can, and hope to get a knockout at the end with muscle AND prayer. JMO

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Joseph Johnson
4/6/2025 12:32:22 pm

Brian, do you read Dr. Wilson's column?

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Clyde N Wilson
4/6/2025 02:10:38 pm

Brian, you are full of it. You have obviously not followed my career, I have never deviated from a free South as the goal. But we have to live in the real world. I hope that Trump will loosen up the system in some ways that will help toward our goal. I am really tired of being called a traitor by people who have never done anything for the cause except criticise those who have worked hard and risked a lot for our goal.

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BrianTheRebel1861
4/6/2025 02:17:38 pm

You did not address the points I made. Are you not a former democrat who is now behind Trump? Again, Trump is there to boost the yankee empire, not dismantle it. He wants southerners to join the army to fight israel's wars. Why can you not see this? Supporting Trump is not against the system, it's why the gop is entirely behind him now. Pushing the same old, "Vote republican as a lesser evil" has gotten the south nowhere, and yet you and other supposed southern nationalists keep pushing it.

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General Kromwell
4/6/2025 09:29:18 pm

My dear Sir, perhaps you should go over to the Occidental Dissent website where Brad explains why Southerners like ourselves are justified in supporting President Trump. Professor Wilson is older in age and doesn’t feel like wasting his time with you. Trump is not our god. He’s not a Southerner. With that said, when is the last time you have seen this much winning? I could say a lot more, but I don’t have more time. Go on over to Occidental Dissent. Brad explains what you are looking for much better. I’m not making excuses for Professor Wilson. I don’t feel like wasting my time on you either. After you read what Brad says, then come on back over here and make a comment about it. I promise to respond. And don’t forget, Professor Wilson has destroyed more Yankees than all those dress up SCV people or even the LOS.

Perrin Lovett
4/6/2025 04:47:05 pm

Hope is a virtue, even if what's hoped for isn't entirely clear. I think the Yankee empire isn't even sovereign and Trump was more installed than elected by an elite who know their global reach is collapsing and that they are trapped here for the duration. There's no exact telling with any of this. Two things to watch for that might show Trump is somewhat independent would be: 1) his appearance in Moscow on May 9th, and 2) his putting the necessary monetary reforms behind his tariffs, which probably aren't really tariffs, so as to allow an economic rebuild not commanded by the usurers. I look for neither to happen, just as I don't expect him to put Bibi and Co. in their places. But it's dark and there's this glass in the way. Keep it up, Clyde!

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Clyde N Wilson
4/7/2025 04:38:48 am

Brian, Pay Attention. I have never advocated voting Republican as a lesser evil. In fact, I have never voted for a Republican since Goldwater in 1964. I don't think the GOP is really behind Trump. The grassroots, including Southerners, are, but the establishment is not. Trump has shook up the establishment and even a little bit of that is good and something we have never seen before.

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Paul Yarbrough
4/7/2025 06:59:24 am

I agree--that the establishment is not behind Trump. Which is the only reason I voted for him (as opposed to not voting at all)

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BrianTheRebel1861
4/7/2025 12:00:01 pm

Dr. Wilson, I am not calling you a traitor or trying to defame you. My point is this. I could understand southerners voting for republican Goldwater as a protest vote in 1964, as that was mainly a justified vote against Lyndon Johnson, more than it was a vote FOR the gop. I did not vote for Trump in 2016, but again, I could understand why southerners would have voted for him against Clinton. Back then, he had not governed yet, and was a wild card. Now that he has been in office for 4 years, there is no excuse for it. There was no excuse in 2020, and even less of one in 2024. Again, Trump is there to SAVE the yankee empire, not dismantle it. He is there to get southerners invested in American nationalism again, because that's what Trump is, a Lincolnian Amnat. Why do you think the Maga crowd glorifies Lincoln, the union and reconstruction? They demonize the Confederacy as evil democrats. Trump is continuing in that tradition. Supporting this dying yankee empire as a lesser evil is just a dead end, southerners should just be withholding their vote from now on, which should have been done post LBJ. As for Trump being opposed by the GOP establishment, that's not true, he is overwhelmingly supported by them. Do you think Rubio, Stefanik and Huckabee are anti establishment? I appeal to southern heroes of the past. Do you think Jefferson Davis or Calhoun would embrace the empire that conquered their people and embrace the imperial presidency just to cynically get a few crumbs?

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GENERAL KROMWELL
4/11/2025 05:43:00 pm

I do share most of your sentiments. I don't want our people returning to American nationalism-which Trump represents. Are we guilty like our ancestors for using the system like Southerners did with Franklin Roosevelt? What did Southerners really gain by getting crumbs underneath Roosevelt? You do bring up valid points...In 4 years, the dust will settle and a Democrat president will undo all Trump has done...Eventually, a national supreme court will rule that there is not individual right to bear arms. At some point, our people, if any are left, will have to take a stand like at Lexington and Concord.I tremble for what is coming. Because it could have all been avoided. At some point, federalism ceased to be the solution. At some point, republicanism ceased to be the answer. Can the genie be put back in the bottle? I don't know. I see rule of autocrats and/or warlords in our future. History shows that most of them were evil and corrupt. But are they any different than Democracy???? Perhaps, Professors Wilson and McClanahan still see federalism and republicanism as the cure. I don't. But neither do I see any other solutions...All I know is free men must take a stand. Live free or die...Or as Arthur Lee said: "I cannot conceive the necessity of becoming a slave while there remains a ditch in which one may die free."

GENERAL KROMWELL
4/11/2025 05:32:02 pm

So let me ask you Dr. Wilson: We cannot go back to the Old Order. We can never again allow our enemies to use our freedoms against us. Like you, I am opposed to fascism and see it as anti-Southern. However, the liberal democracy of John Taylor of Caroline has been tried has it not? Now true, he would not have supported this communist version of America-this American Reign of Egalitarian Terror. But I believe the future predicted by John Randolph of Roanoke has been proven more true. But with that said, are the oligarchs of European history any better than American Jacobins? So how do we move forward? Federalism can't be the mere solution. We can't allow our enemies to ever gain foothold again. But how do we prevent sub-par oligarchs and/or fascists from possessing most of the power? Yes, I know-republicanism. But we can never allow our enemies to ever use our freedoms against us. And our most dangerous enemies have looked just like us (racially). No need to blame other races and/or ethnicities for this downfall. America has always had a Yankee problem. Yankees (in action, not just by birth) must never be allowed to live amongst us. Thoughts?

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Paul Yarbrough
4/12/2025 11:11:18 am

The solution may have been passed over in 1787. Never should there have been a government under 13 separate (but distinctively different makeups) states. I personally (and I am only a student of history) think that the added on “Bill of Rights” was fraudulent in that it was like a band aid put on an infected wound—the 10th amendment was a laugh a minute to fellows like Hamilton.
The promise was that if the Constitution was ratified (made, I believe, by Madison) then the so-called Bill of Rights would “fix” it. I don’t know if the term “BS” was used back then (probably not) but it would have been appropriate.
“Fix it”? Why the hell was it ratified if it was broken?
Patrick Henry (at least by rumor) did not attend the Convention because he was said to have said “I smell a Rat.”
By Appomattox you could smell it throughout the continent—and it wasn’t dead!
A solution today? That’s a tough one considering the educational system promoted over the past 160 years. And I’d be willing to bet my last nickel that if a poll were taken (or many polls) that 90% of the respondents would say that federalism and nationalism are the same. Or that a republic is a constitutional democracy or some such #$%^&!

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DAVID SWEATT link
4/14/2025 02:30:44 pm

DOWN WITH THE YANKEES!

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James
4/15/2025 06:49:28 am

The chicanery in the name re-changes at Bragg and Benning are because there’s a federal law (passed with a virtue-signaling bipartisan majority) prohibiting bases and such from being named after Confederates. All things considered, it’s a good move, and more than any other Republican would’ve done.

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EveryCarpet link
4/15/2025 10:25:14 am

One possible solution lies not in attempting to install a Southern, populist candidate in the 2028 presidential election, but in the capture of State legislatures. It would not yet lead to freedom-- nor would it stop the bleeding within the South-- but it would give Southerners an opportunity to slow it down instead of letting Imperial Center run amok.

An example of this is the 'Pork Chop Gang', a former alliance of Southern Democrat legislators in the State of Florida. While they were ultimately unsuccessfull due to the Supremacy Clause, they were able to slow down the legal change of their state.

Instead of investing in Federal or municipal & county legislative elections-- as the former is too expensive and the latter does not possess the proper scope-- would an effort to create a new 'Pork Chop Gang' within State legislatures throughout the South truly be a waste of resources and personnel?

Not only would it grant the possibility of 'slowing down the bleeding' at a more... influencable level, but it would grant legitimacy, funding, and infrastructure to the following:
1. State governor campaigns
2. Federal legislature campaigns
3. Decades-off secession movement

I do not believe that Trump truly cares about the South. He is not Southern, his mannerisms are not Southern, and he did not marry a Southern woman. He cares only that Southerners remain in the Union-- and more importantly, in the Armed Forces. That being said, I know that the Southern States, even if wholly united today, would be unable to best the Federal government and their allies today.

What is needed is a Southern 'Long March Through the Institutions'. Otherwise, we're stuck on blogsites.This, to my knowledge, has organically occurred to a small degree, but not at all to the effectiveness of the 1960s-1970s Countercultural Movements.

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James
4/15/2025 06:56:05 pm

Calhoun himself, the Southern statesman par excellence, was not above practical politics. He didn’t let any misplaced sense of perfectionism interfere with an opportunity to do good, hence his cooperation with the relatively unprincipled pragmatists Van Buren and Polk. Indeed, in spite of Jackson’s rather deranged vindictiveness toward him over the Seminole and Peggy Eaton affairs, Calhoun nonetheless set his ego aside to give Jackson his due from time to time, and the two even ended up on the same side of the Texas Question. Concurrent with these practical politics, Calhoun labored to build Southern unity around his political idealism, which was ultimately achieved after his death. Calhoun’s example comes to mind whenever I encounter some latter-day Bluftonite telling me to eschew practical politics because this candidate or that policy isn’t perfect.

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General Kromwell
5/13/2025 12:06:10 pm

To my dying day, my life motto shall be: “give them the cold steel.” Yankees and their kind deserve nothing better. Trump is a businessman. He ain’t no Armistead or Trimble. Southerners of today need men like Jackson, not the Rockefellers. When Southern steel shall glisten in the sunlight, let it drip with Yankee blood upon the battlefield. Let loose the dogs of war for our God, kith, and kin.

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    Author

    Clyde Wilson is a distinguished Professor Emeritus of History at the University of South Carolina He is the author or editor of over thirty books and published over 600 articles, essays and reviews

    Dr. Wilson is also is co-publisher of Shotwell Publishing, a source  for unreconstructed Southern books. 

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