Trump names 18 people, including Charlie Kirk and Victor Davis Hanson, for his '1776 Commission'

President Trump announced on Friday the 18 people he intends to name to his "1776 Commission," which he established through an executive order on November 2, the day before the presidential election.

The list includes Larry Arnn, who will head the commission. Arnn is the president of Hillsdale College. Others on the list include Charlie Kirk, the founder of Turning Points USA, historian Victor Davis Hanson and former Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant. 

President Trump decided to establish the commission following a summer of riots and looting and a general breakdown of civil order following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. He was concerned with the education system in this country and wanted to advance what he called "patriotic education."

"Critical Race Theory, the 1619 Project, and the crusade against American history is toxic propaganda — an ideological poison that, if not removed, will dissolve the civic bonds that tie us together," Trump said when first announcing the idea in September.

"This radicalized view of American history lacks perspective, obscures virtues, twists motives, ignores or distorts facts, and magnifies flaws, resulting in the truth being concealed and history disfigured," the executive order said. "Failing to identify, challenge, and correct this distorted perspective could fray and ultimately erase the bonds that knit our country and culture together."

The order directed members to report back within a year with recommendations on how to achieve his vision of a patriotic education and to promote the founding principles of America. The recommendations were meant to be a guide for the Department of Education on providing federal grants.