No Kings: The Dangerous Lie That America’s President Was Meant to Be a Monarch

This episode of Straight White American Jesus features Brad Onishi unpacking a central claim gaining traction on the political and religious right: that the American presidency was always meant to function like a monarchy. In light of the nationwide “No Kings” protests, Onishi challenges arguments from figures like Michael Knowles and Adrian Vermeule, who suggest that the founders embedded a “kingly” executive into the Constitution. He traces how thinkers drawing on Thomas Aquinas use the language of the “common good” …