This week, the world watched as President Donald Trump welcomed Russian strongman and wanted international war criminal Vladimir Putin to the United States, rolling out the red carpet as if he were a head of state we should admire.
Days later, the president hosted European leaders and Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House to supposedly broker peace in the ongoing war, as Putin continues to bomb and attack Ukraine and its people.
What was striking about that summit was not the substance but the spectacle. Every leader in the room understood the unwritten rules: Flatter the American president, stroke his ego or risk being cut off.
Zelenskyy had to arrive in a suit instead of his trademark fatigues. He had to thank Trump repeatedly, sometimes with visible discomfort. European leaders did the same. Not because they wanted to — but because they knew they had to.
That is dangerous. When international diplomacy becomes theater for one man’s pride, the world becomes less safe.
But what the world didn’t see — and what Americans must — is the war brewing here at home — a war over American history, free and fair elections and whether diversity, equity and inclusion will remain part of the American fabric first embroidered into our founding motto of 1780: E pluribus unum — out of many, one.
The battle over history
For years, Americans have wrestled with how to tell our story honestly. The New York Times’ 1619 Project challenged us to reckon with the truth that this nation began half enslaved and half free, and that the legacy of racial injustice continues to shape us. Millions of citizens, teachers and historians have embraced it as an honest reckoning.
The backlash was swift. Enter Project 2025, a Heritage Foundation blueprint being implemented from inside the Trump White House. Its aim is to roll back the gains of the last 70 years and restore a sanitized narrative of America — one where white men are the sole protagonists, women are pushed back into June Cleaver roles and Black voices are muted or erased.
Credit: handout
Credit: handout
This is not just cultural debate. It is ideological warfare over who owns America’s story.
Nowhere is this battle clearer than in our museums and historic sites.
The Smithsonian, long the gold standard for scholarship, is now under political pressure to alter or remove exhibits. Especially targeted is the National Museum of African American History and Culture.
America has made great progress in the truth telling of our painful pasts — for example, in Virginia, presidential homes such as Monticello, Montpelier and Mount Vernon have worked tirelessly to tell fuller stories — including the lives of enslaved people alongside those of the Founders.
Trump’s team is moving to reverse this progress — outsourcing curatorial control to political appointees and contractors without historical expertise, while targeting exhibits that highlight African Americans, women and marginalized communities.
When you erase history, you erase people. And when you erase people, you weaken democracy itself.
Overreach into democracy itself
Trump’s overreach does not end with history. He has threatened to eliminate mail-in voting nationwide, despite the Constitution saying elections are run by the states, not the president.
And we are seeing the same coercive spirit filter down to the state level.
In Texas, Democrats returned to the Capitol after a quorum-busting walkout designed to stall a Trump-backed redistricting plan. But Speaker Dustin Burrows demanded that they sign “permission slips” agreeing to be escorted by state troopers when leaving the chamber.
Rep. Nicole Collier refused — and was effectively locked inside the House chamber overnight in protest to preserve her dignity as an elected official. Her words were telling: “I refuse to sign away my dignity as a duly elected representative just so Republicans can control my movements and monitor me with police escorts,” she said.
Collier’s act is not just symbolic — it is a warning sign of how fragile democracy can become when power is weaponized against dissent.
The pattern is unmistakable: Rewrite history, restrict the vote, silence dissent, consolidate power. It is the playbook of strongmen the world over.
What’s at stake
Most Americans understand the truth: We were born in contradiction, but we have fought to expand freedom — to make our union more perfect. That progress has never been easy, but it has been real: civil rights, women’s rights, voting rights.
The vision advanced by Trump and Project 2025 seeks to drag us backward, to a pre-1950s America where women were silent, Black Americans invisible and opportunity hoarded by the few.
That is not patriotism. It is regression.
And we must be clear: This is not happening in a vacuum. As we approach the 2026 midterms, Trump and his allies are already maneuvering to rig the system.
From threats to mail-in voting, to partisan redistricting, to rules that criminalize dissent like that exploited in Texas, the strategy is obvious: Consolidate power before voters can deliver a backlash.
Because make no mistake: Americans will recoil at cuts to Medicaid, attempts to tinker with Social Security and the erasure of history. The 2026 elections could see Republicans lose not just the House but the Senate.
Trump knows it, so he is rushing to rewrite the rules of both history and democracy. That is the real war — one aimed at reshaping not just our past, but our future.
The call to defend truth
This moment demands vigilance. Parents, educators, historians and everyday citizens must resist efforts to erase inconvenient truths or silence diverse voices. If we allow one man — or one movement — to dictate what history is taught and how elections are run, we will lose both our story and our freedom.
As America approaches its 250th birthday, we must ask: Do we want to enter this milestone as a nation diminished, dragged backward into myth, or as a democracy renewed — one that honors its past honestly and embraces its future boldly?
The choice is ours. And the clock is ticking.
Sophia A. Nelson is an award-winning nonfiction author of four books, including “E Pluribus One: Reclaiming our Founders’ Vision for a United America.” She is an award-winning journalist for her work in Essence magazine. She is a renowned global women’s conference speaker and corporate DEI trainer. She is a regular contributor to the AJC.
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