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Opinion: Not only does Trump get U.S.-Canada history wrong, but he just might be repeating the worst chapter of it

The War of 1812 holds lessons about the costly error of tariffs — not the threat of Canadians.

By Lawrence B. A. Hatter, associate professor of history at Washington State University and author of Citizens of Convenience: The Imperial Origins of American Nationhood on the U.S.-Canadian Border

Lawrence Hatter
Hatter

Flames may as well have erupted in the White House for a second time in its history last month when President Trump, in a heated phone call with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, invoked the burning of the Executive Mansion by British forces during the War of 1812. The call came as Trump started to impose tariffs on Canada in the name of national security, a move he reinforced last week with attacks on Trudeau after the latter objected to the tariffs during a tumultuous Group of Seven summit in Quebec.

But when it comes both to the war and to national-security threats, Trump has gotten Canada all wrong. First, he erred in painting the United States as the victim of the War of the 1812. In reality, it was the United States that began the war by launching an invasion of Canada, not the other way around. British soldiers set ablaze much of Washington in 1814 — but only in retaliation for U.S. soldiers burning the Upper Canadian capital building in present-day Toronto.

And in fact, the actual history of the war reveals that Trump’s trade policies are deeply misguided as well. By attempting to impose steel tariffs against Canada in the name of national security, Trump is repeating the very mistakes that led to the War of 1812 in the first place. The difference: This time it is the people of the United States who will get burned, rather than the White House.

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The Washington Post

Opinion: Billy Graham was on the wrong side of history

Racial tensions are rising, the earth is warming, and evangelicals are doing little to help. That may be Graham’s most significant, and saddest, legacy.

By Matthew Avery Sutton, Edward R. Meyer Distinguished Professor of History

Matthew Avery Sutton
Sutton

When Billy Graham stands before the judgment seat of God, he may finally realize how badly he failed his country, and perhaps his God. On civil rights and the environmental crisis, the most important issues of his lifetime, he championed the wrong policies.

Graham was on the wrong side of history.

The world’s most famous evangelist let his apocalyptic anticipation of the coming kingdom of God blind him to the realities of living in this world.

For Graham, the Bible had a clear message for Christians living in what he believed were humans’ last days on earth. Individuals alone can achieve salvation; governments cannot. Conversions change behaviors; federal policies do not.

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The Guardian

Series to explore growth of Clark County through residents’ personal tales

“How We Came to this Place,” a series of community conversations will explore how residents of Clark County, Wash., got there as individuals and as a community.

The Clark County Stories Project, beginning January 27, is a partnership of the Clark County Historical Museum, Washington State University Vancouver and Fort Vancouver Regional Library District. It aims to inspire and train community members to collect the oral histories of residents who have witnessed the changes of the last 30 to 50 years.

Sue Peabody“Each of us has a story about how we came here,” said WSU Vancouver history professor Sue Peabody, one of the project founders who also is a Clark County Historical Society trustee. “Each of us can see the rapid development and changes in our communities.”

The population of Clark County has more than doubled over the last 30 years to almost 500,000. More than half — 54 percent — of its residents were born in another state; 10 percent were born in another country.

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The Columbian

Camas Post Record

Jerusalem: Trump’s gift to evangelicals

Trump has made clear that he is listening to a powerful group of people eager to set the stage for Armageddon and the Second Coming.

By Matthew Avery Sutton, Edward R. Meyer distinguished professor of history

Matthew Avery Sutton
Sutton

Biblical prophecy is being fulfilled. President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel has set in motion events that evangelicals have long predicted. Or so it seems to the president’s most faithful supporters.

The president’s latest foreign policy decision is a gift to the evangelicals who have long supported him, those who advise him and those who fill his cabinet.

American evangelicals believe that Jesus is going to return to earth soon. But for that to happen, most of these Christians believe, Jerusalem has to become the capital of Israel.

With Trump recognizing Jerusalem as the capital, evangelicals are eagerly anticipating what might come next—perhaps the rebuilding of the temple, the rapture of all true Christians from earth, then, for the rest of us left behind, tribulation, war and the battle of Armageddon.

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Seattle Times

Opinion: Trump Wrecks U.S. Foreign Policy to Get Christian Zionist Votes in Alabama

The Trump administration’s controversial decision to move the U.S. embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem is an appeal to Alabama evangelicals who largely support embattled U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore, says radio host Ian Masters.

Matthew Avery Sutton
Sutton

Masters discusses the role of evangelicalism in U.S. politics and history with Matthew Sutton, Edward R. Meyer distinguished professor of history at WSU.

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