The Capital at 250: A Firsthand Look at American Exceptionalism - Episode 47

On this episode of The Reagan Faulkner Show, Reagan steps away from heavy research to give a firsthand report from Washington, D.C. during America’s 250th year. She describes a capital that feels cleaner, safer, and more orderly under President Trump, even as far‑left propaganda clings to the outskirts. From the Great American State Fair and the America Innovates Pavilion to PragerU’s Freedom 250 truck and Arlington National Cemetery, Reagan shows how faith, sacrifice, and innovation still set America apart. She closes with a challenge: do we still want another 250 years of American exceptionalism, or are we ready to let this experiment fade.

What you’ll learn in this episode

• 00:07 – Why Reagan is sharing a boots‑on‑the‑ground D.C. trip during America 250 and how the capital looks and feels different under Trump.
• 03:45 – Far‑left propaganda in a “nice” neighborhood: Antifa and pro‑Palestinian stickers, anti‑Trump rhetoric, and how it disappears near the National Mall.
• 06:30 – Great American State Fair “Innovation Day,” a cleaner and safer Metro, and how the National Guard actually helps visitors instead of intimidating them.
• 08:40 – Inside the America Innovates Pavilion: NASA, SpaceX, Axiom Space, TikTok, Truth Social, and Google Jigsaw’s AI display on 250 years of American freedom.
• 12:30 – Secret Service’s new armored truck, Trump’s push to modernize security, and how most threats are handled quietly before the public ever hears about them.
• 15:15 – State pavilions that went all‑in (especially Florida), blue states that didn’t show, and how private sponsors rescued North Carolina’s booth when Governor Stein refused.
• 20:55 – PragerU’s Freedom 250 truck, the rodeo, and a main‑stage conversation on innovation, crypto, and AI alongside a full‑size GE jet engine and flight simulator.
• 30:05 – Arlington National Cemetery, the story of James Parks, and Reagan’s closing reflections on war, sacrifice, and whether Americans still want to carry this republic another 250 years.

What You Can Do

If you don’t want America’s next 250 years decided without you, now is the time to lean in. Follow The Reagan Faulkner Show on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and Substack so you never miss an episode and can share it with friends who need a clear, hopeful conservative voice. Stay connected with The Wilmington Standard on Instagram and Facebook for local and national coverage that actually respects your values. And when you order Seven Weeks Coffee with code REAGAN2026, you get great coffee while sending 10% of every purchase to crisis pregnancy centers serving moms and babies across America.



Capital-At-250-2.docx

Transcript

0:07

What's up guys, and welcome back to the Reagan Faulkner Show. Over this past weekend I had the amazing opportunity of going to our nation's capital of Washington D.C. And guys, it was amazing, it was such a great time. So today we are going to shy away from long form, deep research, super in depth, trying to diagnose America's problems type of content. And we're going to talk about my experience at D.C. this weekend and a little bit of what's going on in our nation's capital during our 250th year of independence. Now for context, I have been to Washington D.C. two other times in my life. The first time I believe I was three years old. I don't remember a whole lot. I know we went to the zoo and that was pretty cool. And the other time I was in late middle school or early high school and we did things like the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument. And that was really great. But this time was completely different. Now to be fair, I don't remember a whole lot of when I was three. But compared to the time when I was late middle school, early high school, this was completely different. It was clean. It was crisp. It was grand. It was just the marble was like you could see it and it looked like it was clean. The best way to explain it, there were parts of D.C. that I know that I had seen at other points in my life that I think I just failed to recognize because they weren't well maintained. And President Trump has gone and he's cleaned all of this and it really is worth the visit. It was just absolutely beautiful. But let's dive into everything that happened while I was there and some of just the really great exhibits and everything they have going on during America 250. So when I got there on Thursday, we drove over that beautiful bridge that crosses over the Potomac right behind the Lincoln Memorial. And like I said, it was clean. It was crisp. You like really noticed the grandeur of it. And just there were like these towers with statues of eagles and you could just feel them looming over your vehicle and they just carried a certain weight and a certain magnitude welcoming us into the very heart, the very center of the American political system itself. Now, as we drove through the city, there were just fascinating landmarks everywhere from statues to these beautiful marble buildings I keep telling you about, even to the Watergate Hotel and executive office buildings. That was really, really neat to see. Now at our hotel, which I learned had a fascinating history of its own, we got to stay on the haunted floor. Now, I don't have any cool stories about that. We were like eight rooms down from the haunted room, but allegedly my boyfriend did say that he heard scraping on the door at some point. I don't know if that's true or if it was just somebody being silly, but I didn't personally experience anything. Maybe he did. I don't really know. But we also learned that the Beatles stayed at our hotel, which was pretty cool in addition to a lot of other history that's happened there. Now, not to detract from the beauty and the cleanness of the city, which it really was beautiful. It really was clean. It was different than, like I said, times I'd been there before, along with same thing from my parents, same thing from my boyfriend who went there in ninth grade. So not to detract from that, but we went to dinner a couple of blocks away from our hotel the first night we were there, and I experienced something that was really, really fascinating. I don't know if y'all are going to care about it, but I thought it was so cool. There was far left propaganda kind of everywhere where we were, and I do want to say the closer that you got to the National Mall, the Smithsonian's, the White House, the Capitol building, all of that stuff, you didn't see as much. They did a really good job of getting any stickers or flyers off of the backs of road signs and those power boxes and street lamps and stuff like that. But where we were, which was a nice part of town, it was near the zoo, they didn't get all of them off. So you could see like the benches at the bus stops and around the metro and on the backs of street signs and lampposts, just this far left propaganda. And it wasn't just kind of any far left propaganda. It was like explicit stickers from organized Antifa chapters and stickers depicting vigilantes. One of them was in blue or not blue, it was in black and pink, and it was a guy that was masked up throwing what looked like a Molotov cocktail, but it was actually a sub sandwich, which was really weird, but super interesting. There was also a lot of pro-Palestinian posters and stickers and a lot of anti-Trump rhetoric. So that was just really interesting. I took lots of pictures of that because that's not really something that we see here in North Carolina to that degree. People would even put like their Instagram handles and stuff on it. So you could go follow them and follow their activism. And I guess they would make this art themselves and then turn it into stickers and post it on their Instagram or Blue Sky or whatever it was. So that was super interesting. Now, this in no way, it didn't really make the city feel unclean or dangerous or anything else, but it was just incredible to kind of see the juxtaposition, I guess you could say, between the clean grand war that President Trump is trying to reinstate into the city with this disorganized chaos and kind of the leftist desire to spread their beliefs in any way possible and through just kind of trashy public messaging. Now, for the people that kind of made their own art, sure, I can recognize art or whatever, but generally, I don't really agree with like sticking things on signs. It just makes it look trashy. It makes the city look trashy. So I didn't feel that way about D.C., i.e. that it was trashy or anything, but it was interesting as you got further into the actual historical areas to see all that melt away. And then when you got to the more outskirts of the city, it was kind of there and you really just saw the conflict of politics that's happening within the city. It's fascinating. Now, on Friday, my family went to the Great American State Fair. It was the last day of the state fair, and it was kind of what they called Innovation Day. So despite the rumors and the conversations online and in the media, it really was an amazing experience. Both of my parents loved it. They said that it reminded them of things that they got to experience as kids back when, you know, they were my age and younger. My boyfriend loved it. He's not a super big history buff or nerd like I am, but he had the best time. I had the best time. It really was amazing, again, despite what people are saying on social media. So we took the Metro, which I will go ahead and admit, I hate the Metro. I hate it so much. Based on the second experience, second time I went to D.C., I just I did not like it. I still hate it. I don't like being underground. But I have to say it was clean. It was organized. And a woman even prayed for us in our train car. I guess kind of the National Coalition of Prayer, all of those people were there and going to the Great American State Fair that day. So they were in the subways and they were in our train cars and she prayed over us. It was just really cool. And then the National Guard was in various terminals and inside and outside of the terminals around the city, just ensuring that order was kept. And they were really like helping the visitors navigate the city. I didn't, you know, for all the people saying, get the National Guard out of D.C. Like they they were actually really helpful as a tourist. They were so helpful. They were they made sure that we knew where to go. They made sure that we knew how to get around the city, that we understood what roads were blocked off because the state fair and other happenings. I mean, they were great. And it did make the Metro feel super, super safe. I loved it. So when we got to the National Mall, we stood in line for a little bit. We got there a little early and the event started at 10 a.m. We made it through security. Obviously, it was clear bags, no food and drink, no firearms, no explosives, all the things. It was like going to Disney, I guess. And we entered what like the National Mall. And then they had a tent called the America Innovates Pavilion. And inside I there were just so many modern innovations that I was not fully aware of. And it was just so cool to learn about. They had displays from NASA, from SpaceX, from a company called Axiom Space. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office was there. Truth Social was there. Google Jigsaw was there. TikTok was there. And there were more. There was like the guy, I can't remember exactly what the show is called. I think it's called Chopper. And basically, like he does custom motorcycles for different brands or companies or like Major League Baseball teams and stuff. So they had a display of all these different Harley Davidson motorcycles that had been custom done, which was really cool. I mean, it was just amazing. So there was also another organization. I'm not sure exactly what they did, but I know they had a golf simulator in there, which was pretty cool. But at the SpaceX booth, we learned about like the actual SpaceX spacesuits that have been specifically designed and innovated by SpaceX. And we saw a 1 to 72 ratioed rocket and spaceship models of what they're currently launching at SpaceX, which was fascinating. I'm a huge Lego nerd. So seeing these models was just so cool to me. Then at the Axiom space booth, we learned about the undertaking of building a brand new space station to replace the International Space Station, which is set to retire in January of 2031. So Axiom is a, I believe they're a private company, definitely not like government or anything. But they're working to build a new station that is complete with all of the technology for, you know, a long period of time, since this is a huge undertaking, as well as the general technology and ability for all of the samples and scientific discoveries to be transported from one space station into the new space station, which was really cool. Then at the NASA display, we learned about the timeline for the lunar base and what all of the new Apollo missions are going to be and what their general time frame is looking like, plans for Mars. And obviously we know we are trying to go to Mars. We are trying to build a civilization and a city on Mars. The history of past expeditions and endeavors that NASA has undertaken. We learned about moon dust technology and how they're going to deal with moon dust, which is apparently a really big issue, especially with them wanting to put solar panels on the moon for power. And you can't have the solar panels being contaminated with the dust. So they they have this thing that it will like charge whatever the dust is on and it'll move all the dust off. It's really cool. And then just the weight and the practicality of the spacesuits that are worn when astronauts are taking off, coming back, and when there's a general emergency. That was just fascinating. At the Google Jigsaw booth, AI was fully on display. They had like respondents answer kind of what it means to be an American or what Freedom 250 really means to them over the last year. They entered all these responses in and then they had AI in real time connect these quotes from regular everyday Americans over the past year to quotes from prominent Americans over the last 250 years. And they matched them on theme and idea and they strung them together with like, I guess, kind of a visual of yarn or string. And then it all turned into an American flag at the end, which was really cool. At the TikTok booth, American businesses were really highlighted through the TikTok shop. And there is information about the new ease and accessibility for small businesses to sell their products online with limited barriers. And again, really highlighting the TikTok shop. There was a TikTok photo booth, which was pretty cool with like little America 250 hashtag freedom signs. Outside of this display, there was a display from the United States Secret Service, which was really cool with one of their new vehicles. So they basically have like this huge armored truck that has a battering ram on it. And it's like fully bulletproof. And I think it might be explosive proof. It was really cool. You'll see it's like all over Instagram and TikTok right now, but it's like, it's really cool looking. We talked to the agents and they described just the extreme undertaking of President Trump's administration right now to strengthen the agency, to enhance their technology, enhance their resources. This includes new vehicles, like I said, better resources for emergencies in general, enhanced security. So they went on to describe how these initiatives are not necessarily the result of heightened political tensions at home and in our nation. But actually the result of heightened threats and technology concerns from across the entire globe. So what we're seeing is not just domestic threats. We are seeing heightened national threats everywhere, which was really interesting to hear. Where past administrations had failed to keep up and innovate, President Trump is really ensuring that they have the resources needed to keep our political leaders, even foreign dignitaries that come to visit the United States and our own citizens safe and secure. The agents also described how most threats are handled before anyone even knows about them. He described delivering warrants to credible threats and talking to or taking people into custody before the public or media even finds out about these people, these plots, these threats, you know, all of it. So it was really cool. He was told, I asked him like, when would you use the really cool armored explosive proof truck? And he said that they use it to actually go and deliver warrants to identify targets before they're able to carry out any of these threats or do anything bad. So that was really cool. I can't really imagine that type of truck showing up at my house and delivering a warrant. I mean, if you're trying to do something bad, I guess you deserve it. But dang, that would be so scary. On a day to day, they described how most threats come from the mentally ill or unstable rather than individuals with true intent, true ill intent. This kind of goes for people who tried to scale the gates before they broadened the perimeter of the White House. It goes for people that I guess would drive into barricades. They talked about kids that were able to like be small enough to slip through the gate of the White House, which was interesting. They even mentioned somebody that I guess scaled the White House gate and then they got their shoe stuck on the pointy part at the top and they were stuck hanging upside down by their shoe until Secret Service could get them down. There was a faith and family pavilion with patriotic artwork from students all across the country ranging from elementary to high school. All of that was on display and you could vote for your favorite piece. There were sponsors like Hillsdale College and Moms for America that were engaging with visitors and handing out things like pocket constitutions. And for the most and newsworthy or controversial or whatever you want to call it piece of the fair, there were of course the states. Yes, there were the states booths and we visited every single state's pavilion. We went to them all. I can go crazy in depth about this. I'm going to give y'all like a 30,000 foot above the air view, a very macro view of what happened. But it was really cool actually despite what people are saying again on social media, on Instagram, on the news. It was a really neat experience. States like New York, Arizona, and Pennsylvania offered amazing displays really showcasing their state, showcasing the history of their state, tourist attractions and what brings people to their state. And just the unique offerings, whether that be their ecosystems or kind of obviously like Nevada was there and they really showcased Las Vegas. Like whatever it is, they really highlighted what made their state unique. States like Oregon and Washington, they simply didn't show up and they kind of had like some banners that the organizers had to put up pretty quick. That was not cool. But that was like the state's fault. That was Oregon and Washington's fault. It wasn't the organizers of the Great American State Fair or anything. Like those states, their governments just refused to send anything. The North Carolina booth was fun. It was pretty cool. It was sponsored by Spevco and Richard Childress Racing because Governor Stein refused to send any resources from our state. That was a little disappointing, but Spevco and the racing company did a really great job putting together what we did have. It was still one of the cooler booths. And NASCAR like car was present. It was really cool. It had like Bass Pro Shop on it. And I mean, it was like a full car in there. It was really cool. And then they also had like a NASCAR simulator where visitors could get in like a driver's side door and then you could get your picture and it looked like you were in a NASCAR. So that was really cool. There were other states that were admittedly not very good at all, to be honest. Kansas was super bland. Alaska was super basic and they had run out of stamps for the little passports. And the lady sitting there was like super mad and grumpy about not having her stamps. Rhode Island had a person there with a stamp, but they didn't have a display. They had like those same generic banners that the organizers created. And then they just like, I guess, bust in a person to stamp the little passports. I'm not really sure what was going on with Rhode Island, to be completely honest. California was there. It was pretty basic. It kind of looked like, imagine if Hollister wasn't dark. Imagine if Hollister like looked like a generic mall beach. That's kind of what it looked like. Like they had posters of like the beach and piers and stuff like that. It just looked like what I think California probably would look like if you were standing on a beach. No history, no like unique offerings or anything like that. Just pretty basic. And then Florida. Guys, Florida was elite. Florida was the best one. They went all in. We waited about 40 minutes to get into the Florida display and it did not disappoint. They had in-depth history about the founding of Florida and St. Augustine. And they had like pull up. They were like little cards, I guess. And you could like fold them up and then close it down or like doors. And it had like what their state bird was, what their state animal was, what their water animal was, agriculture, like all of their state facts. And it was really, really cool. It highlighted all of the state's unique ecosystems from their waterways to the Everglades to the regular water to the middle of the state, the gulf part of the state. All of their agriculture was on display and it was phenomenal. It was fascinating just to learn so much about Florida. I love Florida. I go there at least once a year and it was really, really cool. Like I said, the displays were interactive with those lift and lower displays that had facts underneath them. That was all throughout the entire state's booth, I guess you could say. And then they also had like this door and the door would roll and then they had words at the top. So if you wanted to learn about like poultry or if you wanted to learn about like the aquatic animals or agriculture, you would move the door and then the door had a screen and then the answers or like the facts would pop up on the screen as it locked into the different gears and stuff. That was really, really cool to see. I've never seen anything like that before. And then at the end, every visitor got a stuffed animal. So that did not hurt. They had stuffed gators and they had America 250 or Freedom 250 little t-shirts on. And then they had little manatees because that is Florida's like state aquatic animal, I guess. And then they also had recipe cards, which were pretty cool. Now, before closing out the day, we got to watch an hour long rodeo, which guys, I have never seen a rodeo before. So that was really cool. They it was a full rodeo. They had a guy on a bull. He didn't last too long on the bull, but he was there and they let the bull out. They had people with lassos. They had horseback riding and then Roman riding, which is when somebody is standing on two horses and they're riding at once. They had ladies doing gymnastics on their horses and they were like falling off the horses and then coming back up. They had unique experiences for children in the audience to get out there and experience rodeo culture and practice lassoing and all this stuff. I mean, it was so cool. Then we did the Freedom 250 truck from Prager U, which was built by Spevco, one of the sponsors of the North Carolina table or booth. This truck had interactive displays like a George Washington screen hologram, a virtual wall where you could sign the Declaration of Independence yourself and get a picture with your signature and all the founders signatures and Abigail Adams screen hologram. And then just all of the different displays about what started the revolution, the battles during the revolution, the end of the revolution and what America looked like kind of in a post-revolution, trying to sort everything out and get our form of government together. They had pieces about spies and all of the major battles and then, like I said, life after independence and then major figures who had shaped America from past to present. And then at the very end was a special message from President Trump and then they had a little mirror that said like, this is the next exceptional American or something like that. And you could take a picture of yourself in it. So it was super, super cool. And then when we left, they had like that main stage where we all saw Zach Brown performing during America 250 or Freedom 250 around the UFC thing. And then I think he might have performed again around the fireworks on the 4th of July. I can't, I know he performed there multiple times. I don't really remember what the order was. But they had a panel of founders and entrepreneurs on that big stage talking about the future of the country, innovation, cryptocurrency, AI, and the technologies that are going to shape our next 250 years. So while they were talking, my boyfriend and I, we went over to the side and they had a full-size, the newest commercial jet engine from GE. And it was so cool. You could get your picture with it. It was massive. It had like all of the technology on the back. So you could see all the wires, all the gears, all the fittings, like everything that goes into a commercial jet engine and the blades. It was so cool. There was also, we did this earlier in the day, but they had like an interactive experience from Northrop Gunman where you could get in and feel like you were flying in a military airplane. And then it had all the graphics around you. So that was pretty cool. They had a smaller stage with art. That was from the National Endowment of the Arts. They had performers, they had like Cirque du Soleil people. I mean, the whole experience was absolutely phenomenal. So that was day one. It was a long day, lots of walking. The next day, we got up to do the undercroft of the Lincoln Memorial. If you don't know about the undercroft of the Lincoln Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial actually has a basement because it was built in a swamp and there are over a hundred concrete pillars that hold it up so it does not sink into the swamp. Very interesting. So we got tickets for their two o'clock and we headed off to see the Smithsonian Castle. Now, usually the Smithsonian Castle is not open. It does not house exhibits. It is under, I believe it's a five-year renovation, but they have opened it for a little under 90 days and it's holding what's called our Shared Future 250 exhibit until September 7th. This exhibit was super cool. It housed about 30 artifacts from across American history. Everything from Thomas Jefferson's writing desk to the commemorative lapel pins from George Washington's first inauguration, Amelia Earhart's flight suit, Sally Rider's challenger jacket, all the way to a book of spirituals from Harriet Tubman, a banner calling for African-Americans to pick up arms during the Civil War from Frederick Douglass and artifacts from the first Black Puerto Rican MLB player. So it was truly like overarching. It really was our shared futures. It was super, super cool. The exhibit really highlighted the contributions of every American from all across our history, regardless of race, gender, or creed. It was pieces of history that I didn't even know. I mean, it was fascinating. To top it all off, Edison's light bulb was there on display, which was really cool to see. I almost missed it, but luckily I caught it right in time before we had to leave. Now, here's like the really funny story of the entire trip, guys. We went all the way back to the Lincoln Memorial. We had to Uber because the Great American State Fair was a long day and we did not want to walk again. We had walked from the memorial to the Smithsonian Castle and because of the Great American State Fair, there was like, it was hard to access because there were only certain entry points so they could security check you. So we go all the way back to the Lincoln Memorial and the Uber and 15 minutes before our time, so I guess at 1.45, we got there right at two. At 1.45, the power went out. So they weren't doing any tours for an indefinite period of time. They could not tell us when the power would come back on. So we got in a new Uber and we went to the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History for a bite to eat before we got to go back. And we wanted to explore some more of the founding history, thinking that they would have more of what we saw at the Smithsonian Castle. Now, before we left, we did visit the top of the Lincoln Memorial. We saw the beautiful artwork on the left and the right-hand side above the etchings. We saw the excerpts of Lincoln's second inaugural address and his Emancipation Proclamation. This experience was like just a great reminder of how fragile the American experiment really is. I mean, we went through a civil war and we almost did not make it out. It was a reminder of how fragile our republic itself is. And it was also a reminder that the limbs of the excited, strong-headed man have the power to destroy this experiment while it takes the willful, tame pragmatist to find compromise and reason in the midst of the chaos and passions of man. It was just a humbling experience, a really, really cool experience to go up there. I love going into the Lincoln Memorial. It's just so huge. It's just humbling. Now, when we got to the Smithsonian, that is another funny story. Unfortunately, this museum was exactly what's being depicted in the media. If you've looked at Fox News and you've seen the National Museum of American History come up, yes, it is all true. I don't, I'll take that back. I don't know about the specific exhibits, but I can tell you the vibes were super off. Every exhibit was in English and Spanish, and I made huge, like huge Spanish. They could have fit so much more into this exhibit if they just took away the massive Spanish translations next to the English ones. I have never seen anything like it. Even the museums in Raleigh, I don't think are like this. I have never seen side-by-side English and Spanish translations at a museum. It was really weird. I really don't know what was going on there. So then the portion of the 250 display that at least I personally saw had no reference to our founding fathers or our founding documents. Again, I'm just saying what I saw. I did not do the entire exhibit, but I didn't see anything even within the realm of relating to that. Tons of cultural pieces were on display, like a COVID era banner that said, hate the virus, not the people. And then it had the Chinese lettering underneath. There was a monarch butterfly, I guess the same monarch butterfly that's iconic to the anti-ice demonstrations and the no kings protest. And then there was a poster, not a protest, a poster for the United Auto Workers Union. And yes, this is the same people, same union that's planning the 2028 May Day protest slash strike slash economic strike slash economic shutdown. So not what I thought it was going to be. And then we also realized there were super limited food. So we left, we did not hang out there. We did not stay there. We did not explore any further beyond that. Now, after lunch, we did find lunch somewhere else. We visited the White House, which is currently fenced off, get this, from the National Mall. So you've got like the National Mall here and then the car road and then fence. And it's fenced off from the very back of the White House, kind of where they had UFC Freedom 250 all the way to the front of Lafayette Park. So it is huge. The amount of White House that is fenced off right now is absolutely massive. So we went to the front of Lafayette Park. We got our picture in front of the gate that was in front of another gate that was in front of the park. And then you had the White House and then the White House or the gate, the main White House gate and then the actual White House. So tons and tons and tons of barriers and blockades to the White House. We spoke to some very, very kind Secret Service agents. We saw some protesters that have allegedly been there for over 100 days, maybe a couple hundred days. I can't really remember what their sign said. We were blessed enough to see the protesters shift switch. So we saw some of the protesters finish their shift and other protesters come in with new and bigger Palestinian flags. And the first protesters were pretty quiet. The second protesters got pretty loud. And here you could see where people had been putting that propaganda. I talked about up on the signs and the street signs and the street lamps and all that. And it had been ripped down. And I think Secret Service and probably law enforcement's trying to keep it clean and keep it from not looking trashy and littered. We also got to see the motorcade bring President Trump back from his Saturday golf game at the Trump National Golf Course in DC. So that was super cool. We saw all of the motorcycles and then all of the massive Cadillacs and then the really big anti-explosive truck I was telling you about from the Great American State Fair, the ambulances. I mean, it was just really, really cool to see that come in. Now throughout our day and as we made our way back to the Lincoln Memorial, for I believe this was the third time, we saw just beautiful architecture like the Eisenhower Executive Building. I absolutely love this building. We saw the U.S. Treasury, just beautiful and historic hotels and shops along the way, the Federal Reserve towering statues of Americans and international heroes and thought leaders. It was just so cool. I was geeking out the whole time, nerding out. I think my whole family and boyfriend were like, bro, what are you doing? I thought it was just so cool. As we went back through the National Mall for I think maybe the third time, we walked the bridge from the centennial anniversary of our nation's founding. So there's a small bridge and it's kind of a gift, I guess, from 1976, I guess that would be our bicentennial, sorry about that, to a small island. And on the island, each signer's name and their profession was carved into a small rock. And this island was in the middle of a small lake slash pond thing that was off to the right of the Reflecting Pond if you are looking straight on at the Lincoln Memorial. So that was really, really cool to see and read all the names of all the people who signed the Declaration of Independence. Now, back at the Lincoln Memorial, the Undercroft was still closed. We did not get to do the Undercroft this day. Now, it was also really interesting. I guess they probably have by now, but they were starting to drain the Reflecting Pond again after the vandals and everything that had happened to it right after it opened. So it was interesting throughout the day as we went back and forth from the Lincoln Memorial to see it start draining. Now, the next day, the Undercroft was still closed because of this power outage. Apparently, the next day the power was back on, but maybe the displays weren't up and running or the elevator wasn't up and running. Something wasn't right. They couldn't tell us when it was going to be functional again. So we did not get to do the Undercroft this trip. I'm hoping to go back hopefully before. I think I heard that the Emancipation Proclamation is there for a limited time. And then I think in September, they're moving it to the National Archives. I don't know if that's true. I was hoping to find out this weekend. But if it is, I hope to go back before they move the Emancipation Proclamation. But anyway, besides the point, instead of the Undercroft, we went to Arlington National Cemetery before we came back home. And this was my first time at Arlington. And it really, really was incredible. Over 420,000 American patriots are laid to rest here, mostly American soldiers. There are also justices of the Supreme Court, chief justices of the Supreme Court, two different presidents. It was Taft and John F. Kennedy. John F. Kennedy has his eternal flame that we got to see. And as you walk to the eternal flame, there's all kinds of different quotes from him in a small little pond slash pool. And it was just really, really cool to see. There are also incredible figures like Colin Powell laid to rest there. And also a couple of civilians are laid to rest there, one of which is named James Parks. So James Parks is the only person to be born on the plantation. So many of you may not know, Arlington National Cemetery, before it was a cemetery, was a plantation. It was owned by Martha Washington before she married George Washington. So she was married once before. It was Martha Washington. Her name was Martha Custis at the time. She married George Washington. Her son inherited it. And then her son, I think, had a child. And that daughter ended up marrying Robert E. Lee. So it went into the Lee family. And it was just really cool. Like it used to be this plantation. And then when Robert E. Lee and his wife fled to the South because he turned down Lincoln to lead the Union Army and instead led the Confederate Army, the Union took it over. And then eventually they turned it into a national cemetery because of how many people were dying during the Civil War. So back to James Parks. He was the only person to be born on the plantation while it was still a plantation before it got turned into the National Cemetery and also interred there. So Parks was born into slavery on the plantation. And then he resided in the Freedman's Village that was established after the Emancipation Proclamation. And he dug some of the first graves in the cemetery. He remained an employee of the cemetery for the rest of his life. And then he was laid to rest in the cemetery in 1929 with full military honors despite being a civilian and a former slave. So that was a really, really cool story to hear. Now Arlington and the trip as a whole, there's so much more to talk about Arlington. But I'm gonna leave it at that. It was just, it was humbling. It was amazing. It was a reminder of American exceptionalism. Seeing the eternal flame was emotional. It was kind of sombering, sobering, I guess. It was just a really, really neat experience. And we took the trolley. So as you went through, you just saw just rows and rows and rows of all of the white gravestones. It was just, again, really humbling, really cool, really sad, but also very patriotic, I guess. It made me very proud to be an American. I already am proud to be an American. It made me very, very proud to be an American and just a great experience. But Arlington and the trip as a whole, it was a real reminder of true American exceptionalism. We defeated the strongest military on earth, guys. At the time of the Revolutionary War, we beat Great Britain. We solidified our independence again during the War of 1812. We won two world wars. We fought and defeated communism abroad. We won the space race by beating the Soviet Union to land on the moon. And despite our flaws, despite our errors, despite our missteps, we have consistently strived for and achieved the goal of being a more perfect union. We have consistently taken the next right step, the next right move to try to be more perfect, to try to right our wrongs, to try to correct our missteps. Our heroes, our athletes, our scientists, our business leaders, our innovators, they've all challenged the status quo. They've all dared to ask why. Why must we live under the rule of Great Britain? Why must we have a government with a king? Why must we live in darkness? Why can't we have like a light bulb? Why must we walk or use horse and buggy? Why must we allow fascism to overtake Europe? Why must we allow communism to overtake the whole world? Why should we not be the first ones to land on the moon? Why can you not carry a portable computer in your back pocket? Why can't Wi-Fi be accessible everywhere you go? Why can't life be interplanetary? And with every why, with every challenge, with every daring figure, Americans have exceeded the expectations of an entire globe, the entire planet that we live on. With every thought leader willing to take a risk, with every employee willing to stay late, work harder, and meet tighter deadlines, with every wife and husband at home willing to take care of the kids in the house so that their spouse can be that employee or be that leader, with everyone in between, man, woman, and child, regardless of race, creed, or sex, we have continued to defy expectations and we have continued to succeed. And that was my takeaway from our nation's capital on this 250th anniversary of our founding. We truly are exceptional. We have defeated every odd and every expectation that was laid out before us. We have had hiccups, we have had wrongs, we have had missteps, but we have strived every day since to correct them. And now we sit at the dawn of our next 250 years. We face new threats, we face new technologies, new innovations, new leaders, new ideas, new dangers, and brand new possibilities. So as we stand on the precipice, we have decisions that we have to make, just like our forefathers did. Mainly, do we desire to last another 250 years? We have the longest running constitution, at least in the history of today, and based on history and world history and what we know, probably the longest running constitution in the history of the world. Do we desire the continuation of the great American experiment? Do we wish to continue our streak of exceptionalism? Do we wish to be the first nation living on the moon or having a population on Mars? Do we wish to excel in the AI space? Do we wish to have the most robust technology and infrastructure of any country or nation on earth? Do we want to produce the greatest minds to have the greatest schools and colleges? Do we want to be a global thought leader? And with these questions, we step into a new era. We step into the next 250. We step into a midterm, which will show our first instinctual answers to many of these questions. And we step into a reality that only we, the American people, can make these decisions and continue to shape the American experiment. Thank y'all so much for joining me on this episode of the Reagan Faulkner Show. Be sure to like and subscribe on your favorite platforms. Leave a comment about what you think true American exceptionalism means and also let us know what topics you want me to cover next. Be sure to like and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok for at the Reagan Faulkner Show, Instagram, Facebook, and X at the Wilmington Standard. And if you haven't already, be sure to get an order of seven weeks coffee and use code ALLCAPSREAGAN2026 for your next order. You'll get 10% off. Seven weeks coffee gives 10% of every dollar they make to crisis pregnancy centers across the country to help moms, families, and the unborn. Thank y'all so much. And I cannot wait to see you on the next one.