The Dirty Little Secret the Left Leaves Out Every Juneteenth
Today is Juneteenth. And if you're a Republican, this holiday belongs to you.
Not as a political weapon. Not as a partisan talking point. But as a matter of plain, documented, historical fact.
So let's walk through it.
On June 19, 1865, Union Major General Gordon Granger rode into Galveston, Texas and issued General Order No. 3.
It informed the roughly 250,000 enslaved people still being held in Texas that they were free – per the Emancipation Proclamation signed by President Abraham Lincoln two and a half years earlier.
That's what Juneteenth commemorates. The moment freedom finally reached the last holdouts.
And who made that moment possible?
A Republican president. A Republican Congress. A Republican Party that was founded in 1854 for one specific purpose: to stop the spread of slavery.
— The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) June 19, 2026
Let that sink in. The Republican Party did not exist before the slavery debate. It was created because of it.
Lincoln was the first Republican president ever elected.
His Emancipation Proclamation was a Republican-led executive action during the bloodiest war in American history – a war fought largely because Southern Democrats refused to give up their slave-based economy.
Then came the 13th Amendment, abolishing slavery nationwide. Passed by a Republican Congress. Ratified December 1865.
That's the Republican record on slavery. End of discussion.
Now here's the part of the Juneteenth story that almost nobody tells.
Two years after that day in Galveston, on July 4th, 1867, approximately 150 Black men gathered in Houston and founded the Republican Party of Texas.
I'm going to destroy the liberal narrative about Juneteenth in less than 2 minutes. pic.twitter.com/AEGBt3QCTe
— Damani Felder (@TheDamaniFelder) June 19, 2026
Many of them were newly freed men. They built the Texas GOP from the ground up, under Congressional Reconstruction, which gave Black men the right to vote for the first time.
Think about that image for a moment. Formerly enslaved men, on Independence Day, launching a Republican Party.
That's the real Juneteenth story.
Now, what were the Democrats doing during all this?
Some of the same former Confederate soldiers who had fought to preserve slavery formed a little organization called the Ku Klux Klan, founded in Pulaski, Tennessee in late 1865.
Its members and its goals aligned almost entirely with the Southern Democratic Party.
Its mission was to terrorize Black voters, Black officeholders, and white Republicans to restore Democratic control of the South.
The Democratic Party didn't officially charter the Klan. But it sure looked the other way while Klan members did the party's dirty work.
Now, I know the standard Democrat comeback here. “That was 160 years ago. The parties switched.”
The “party switch” theory is a political fairy tale that conveniently allows today's Democrats to wash their hands of their own history. But that's a column for another day.
The point today is simple.
Juneteenth is a celebration of a Republican achievement. Lincoln. The 13th Amendment. The Union Army. The newly freed Black men who built the Texas GOP with their own hands.
Today, we celebrate the end of the final chapter of slavery and the rights, liberty, and freedom now granted to all Americans.
In honor of this historic day, I signed a proclamation designating June 19, 2026, as Juneteenth Independence Day in Nevada. pic.twitter.com/DPEiUskZ9S
— Governor Joe Lombardo (@JosephMLombardo) June 19, 2026
Republicans have nothing to apologize for on this day. Quite the opposite.
Happy Juneteenth!
The opinions expressed by contributors are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Nevada News & Views. Digital technology was used in the research, writing, and production of this article. Please verify information and consult additional sources as needed.
