Alexis Coe

Lot of criticisms you can rightfully launch at Truman and LBJ but at various times in their careers they fought like hell to make sure people had healthcare.

So you've read my book?

A rare two president artifact!

Truman applied.
Johnson signed.
Sixty years later, Trump’s trying to void the check.

alexiscoe.substack.com/p/two-presid...

He’s quite simply an abusive liar who can’t take no for an answer from anyone.

"Trump’s not preserving history—he’s weaponizing nostalgia. He’s not governing in 2025. He’s governing in 1861."

And I was thrilled to be a guest!

Confederacy of Dunce Trump is resurrecting the Lost Cause, policy by policy, plaque by plaque.

New from SMK: Confederacy of Dunce

Plaques? Restored. Base names? Reversed. Robert E. Lee? Always a failed traitor, now a presidential fave.

Trump is reviving the Lost Cause, policy by policy, plaque by plaque.

alexiscoe.substack.com/p/confederac...

Finished up July’s #AmRev250 prompt of a biography of George Washington with Edward Lengel’s General George Washington, Philbrick’s Travels With George, and @alexiscoe.bsky.social ‘s You Never Forget Your First: A Biography of GW. For August’s prompt, it is the complete works of Phillis Wheatley.

Commanders-in-Heat VIII: Last Words (Barry's Version) A guest post on Martin Van Buren's death.

"In writing my biography of Van Buren, I did not explore [his alleged last words] much because:

(a) I’ll never get at the full truth
(b) I don’t care.”

Thrilled to have a guest post by @jamesmbradley.bsky.social!
alexiscoe.substack.com/publish/post...

If the Constitution were poly: We the People (and also these other people) in order to form a more expansive union...

Excellent

lol is that the voiced labiodental fricative of truth I hear?

I floated a few titles—Senior Fellow², Super Senior Fellow, and (since I’m now three-for-three in the @250 program) Senior Fellow: The Trilogy—but alas, the contract simply said Senior Fellow.

They say you should never return to the scene of a crime, but it seems I’ll be in D.C. just as much this year for good reason--I’ve signed on for a third year at New America!

In print today!

Commanders-in-Heat VII: Dead on Arrival Andrew Johnson: No home in the North. No myth in the South. Just a grave and a grudge.

Andrew Johnson: No home in the North. No myth in the South. Just a grave and a grudge.

The next Commanders-in-Heat just…dropped:
alexiscoe.substack.com/p/commanders...

What’s your favorite American history myth—the most beloved, most maddening, most baked-into-our-fractured-sense-of-self?

Washington couldn’t tell a lie? America was born exceptional? We're a Christian nation?

And, just like that, the slaves were free.

that we alone "won" WWII

What’s your favorite American history myth—the most beloved, most maddening, most baked-into-our-fractured-sense-of-self?

Washington couldn’t tell a lie? America was born exceptional? We're a Christian nation?

🙏🙏🙏

Trump Administration Live Updates: House Moves Up Summer Break to Avoid Epstein Vote

When I testified, Reps Luna and Mace praised Trump as “the most transparent president ever.”

Transparency so extreme, it left skid marks:

www.nytimes.com/live/2025/07...

Said like a man who knows how to pick a handle.

If I describe someone as “a real Calvin Coolidge of a conversation,” isn’t it obviously code for monosyllabic, weirdly formal, and radiating the weary dignity of a man who thinks reclining is a moral failing?!

Because judging by my audience’s face…it wasn’t.

Commanders-in-Heat V: Manuscript or Morphine (Part I) Ulysses S. Grant, Terminal Author

Morphine or manuscript? The latest in my presidential clearance series: alexiscoe.substack.com/p/commanders...

Study. Marry. Kill. Grant did all three in a few months.

His doctors packed his throat with cocaine-soaked gauze. He sat upright in a chair because lying down choked him.

He'd been financially annihilated, left with $80 and the fear that after death, his wife Julia would be left destitute.

Another reason Madison is my favorite founder. #sschat

Presidents used to time their deaths. Now they schedule tweets.

Commander-in-Heat IV: James Madison Declined to Die for the Bit America briefly experimented with synchronized presidential death

Live free and die! New Presidential Clearance Season:
Madison just dropped. Six days early.

alexiscoe.substack.com/p/commander-...