Dipping a toe into how history is taught in today’s schools is perilous as President Donald Trump issued this executive order recently: “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History.”

The order challenges comprehensive history in favor of Patriot History. Patriot History stresses American exceptionalism, progress and heroism. Its K-12 curriculum comes from the 1776 Project and Hillsdale College, a conservative Christian college. Patriot history focuses on western civilization. Hillsdale’s K-12 program for charter schools emphasizes “classical” education and America’s unique position in world affairs.

The Civics Alliance is another Patriot History organization. The alliance created the American Birthright Standards for American history. These standards focus on American exceptionalism as well. American Birthright standards have been incorporated into Woodland Park School District, among others in Colorado.

Comprehensive history, the basis of Colorado’s social study standards, presents caveats to American exceptionalism. “Manifest destiny,” or that spread of Americans east-west across the continental United States, is an example of the strain on history’s interpretations. Patriot History shows the western expansion as inevitable, moral, even a divine right. Comprehensive history reminds students of its murderous effects on native peoples across the continent, African slaves and Mexicans in the southwest.

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America’s acquisition of land is part of manifest destiny. Patriot History sees President Thomas Jefferson’s Louisiana Purchase as an inexpensive deal with the cash-strapped Emperor Napolean Bonaparte to buy much of the east-central territory of what is now the United States for $15 million (856,000 square miles at about 4 cents-per-acre). Comprehensive history might question whether the Louisiana Territory which imperial France grabbed from imperial Spain was Bonaparte’s to sell and Jefferson’s to buy.

A similar story attaches to William Seward’s Alaska Purchase of 586,000 square miles of territory from the Russian Imperial Empire for $7.2 million, or 2 cents-per-acre. Imperial Russia was broke from the cost of its Crimean War. Does this sound familiar? Tsar Alexander II worried he’d lose Alaska to imperial Britain that entered the Crimean War to protect trade routes to India and secure a balance of power in the Balkans and Black Sea. Seward cut the deal, which got some laughs from Congress as “Seward’s Folly.” The rest is manifest destiny.

Today, concepts of manifest destiny are again in play. The Trump administration wants the United States to acquire in some way Greenland and Gaza and control the post-colonial, US-built Panama Canal.

In 2019, President Trump during his first term floated the idea of buying Denmark’s autonomous colony Greenland, which got a derisive laugh from Denmark. Internal documents indicate Trump would pay $600 million in aid to Greenlanders for access to their land. The U.S. would pay Denmark somewhere between $200 million and $1.7 trillion, according to the Washington Post. The Wall Street Journal put the price tag at $533 billion using Wyoming as a state with similar resources.

Now President Trump is putting more pressure on Greenlanders, mostly Inuit peoples. Vice President JD Vance says Greenland must be secured by the U.S. for its minerals and to protect access to Arctic sea lanes.

Today’s students who will be tomorrow’s voters will be educated in some form of history that will affect their judgments about President Trump’s dealmaking. Their views on Greenland, for example, can have many layers. Does the U.S. have the right to pressure its NATO partner Denmark to give up its “autonomous territory” of Greenland? Should Denmark even be included in any decision affecting Greenland since it took Greenland as a colony in 1721? Should Greenlanders decide for themselves how their resources will be extracted or its oceans protected?

President Trump’s plays in Ukraine for who controls territory and has access to extraction resources have similar layers. Is it America’s destiny to control Ukraine’s minerals for our industry?; Is it Russia’s domination that should decide who gets a chunk of Ukraine?; Should Ukraine retain its control of its minerals and territory?

Who controls the Panama Canal is a manifest destiny concern for Trump. He worries China’s construction projects and ports dilute American authority and former President Jimmy Carter’s treaty with Panama was a giveaway. “We built it, we paid for it.” “It was ours and we lost it.” Trump has tools to regain “authority” of the canal ranging from economic pressure to military intervention. These methods have historical precedents. History’s paradigms will frame how today’s students will understand such political or military decisions.

Stories from history are even more electric when conflict between Israelis and Palestinians is at issue. This territory was part of the Ottoman Empire that came apart after World War I with Britain and France divvying up the lands. Then came World War II, the Holocaust, the founding of Israel and the Palestinian diaspora. This struggle has so many political and historical angles along with assertions of racism, antisemitism and genocide most baby boomers who were born when Israel was created are still stymied.

Baby boomer Trump now offers a novel twist on U.S. manifest destiny. America should take over Gaza, resettle its people maybe to Greenland, and turn its coast into a tourist destination. That deal takes the notion of manifest destiny, divine or otherwise, in a whole new direction.

Paula Noonan owns Colorado Capitol Watch, the state’s premier legislature tracking platform.