Dear Donald,
When you asked your gold-plated mirror which president was the most MAGA of all, you were probably shocked when the answer came back as Woodrow Wilson. Wilson did everything you did and arguably did it better. When Wilson entered the White House in 1913, he re-segregated the government, getting rid of Black federal employees. All you did was get rid of DEI and hope things get to the level of white supremacy you desire.
Wilson actually knew history, having gotten his PhD from Johns Hopkins and taught history at the college level before becoming the president of Princeton University. Conversely, you did graduate from the University of Pennsylvania, where you’ve threatened to sue anyone who released your grades.
Where Woodrow Wilson has you beat hands down is in demonstrating his commitment to white supremacy. Wilson single-handedly brought back the KKK, which had almost been wiped out due to those pesky anti-Klan acts back in 1871. Everybody was after the Klan in those days, including federal troops and the courts. The Klan never died out but there were still embers waiting to be reignited.
Wilson screened the Klan-promoting film Birth of a Nation in the White House and gave it rave reviews. It was a signal to oppressed white supremacists to come out of hiding, shake the dust off their robes, and take back everything that had been stolen from them. Birth of a Nation was the first movie ever screened in the White House,
The film was produced by one of Wilson’s college buddies, avowed segregationist Thomas Dixon who based the film on his book The Clansman.
Several quotes attributed to Wilson were in his friend’s book and included it the subtitles of the silent film. Wilson’s words were literally in the movie.
“The white men were roused by a mere instinct of self-preservation….. until at last there had sprung into existence a great Ku Klux Klan, a veritable empire of the South, to protect the southern country.” — Woodrow Wilson
“Adventurers swarmed out of the North, as much the enemies of one race as of the other, to cozen, beguile and use the negroes…. In the villages the negroes were the office holders, men who knew none of the uses of authority, except its insolences.” — Woodrow Wilson
“The policy of the congressional leaders wrought…a veritable overthrow of civilization in the South…..in their determination to ‘put the white South under the heel of the black South.’” — Woodrow Wilson
After the film, Wilson is alleged to have said the following, which others now try to call into doubt.”
“It’s like writing history with lightning. My only regret is that it is all so terribly true.” — Woodrow Wilson
After numerous protests after the White House screening, including from a Massachusetts Congressman and former Attorney General, an aide wrote a response saying Wilson was “entirely unaware of the character of the movie before it was presented and has at no time expressed his approbation of it. Its exhibition at the White House was a courtesy extended to an old acquaintance.” That’s a move I’m sure you would have appreciated, Donald. Wilson said he had no idea what the film was about, and no knowledge he was quoted in it.
The embers were reignited and the Klan grew to its largest size ever. They marched publicly in cities like Washington DC. Lomng before you came up with Women for Trump, there was the Women of the Ku Klux Klan.
World War I started on Wilson’s watch. In a move reminiscent of you marking rental applications with the letter “C” for Colored to later reject them. Wilsons draft cards [provided for tearing off the lower left corner so Black soldiers could be placed in segregated units.
You have the upper hand against Wilson in many areas, Donald. He was only able to slow down the Suffragettes getting the right to vote and couldn’t stop the 19th Amendment giving women that right in 1920. You, Donald, were able to overturn Roe v. Wade and remove a Constitutional Right, still convincing enough white women to vote for you while you trampled their rights.
Wilson only had two wives, marrying the second while in office after his first wife died. He didn’t have your foresight to do test runs on the next wife while still married. Wilson was old fashioned like that. You, Donald, had three wives and a plethora of beautiful women, sometimes overlapping with your marriages. You have been a little messy with that Access Hollywood video and being found liable for sexual assault but that’s the price of doing the things you do. You said “they let you do anything.”
Donald, you could make the case of doing more for your people (you know who I mean) than Woodrow Wilson if it wasn’t for that damned movie. Birth of a Nation was the #1 movie in America and with Wilson’s help revived the Klan. While you’ve given life to dozen’s of neo-Nazi groups, skinheads, and militias. You need a movie of your own to get the message across. You could screen it in the White House and have simultaneous screenings across the nation although I’d avoid some of those cities you constantly belittle if I were you.
Your film could center on the Southern border, showing young kids carrying Fentanyl and white heroes come to save the day. Herschel Walker could be a border control agent which gives you some fake diversity. You know he’s not going to work out as the Ambassador to the Bahamas. You tried your best to make him a Senator and I’m sure he understands. Byron Donalds could be a technical consultant. His experience selling drugs could come in handy. Marco Rubio could do an introduction, I’m sure he won’t mind.
Given your marketing prowess, your movie is bound to be a hit. You could call it, “How America Was Made Great Again.” Your movie could be the impetus for the Fourth wave of the Klan which frankly, you’ve already begun. This would prove once and for all which President did the most to make America white again. I’m betting on you, Donald. You’ve done so much already.
This article originally appeared on Medium and is edited and republished with author's permission. Read more of William Spivey's work on Medium.