Credit: Netflix

Just in time for the United States to celebrate its 250th anniversary, Netflix dropped the extremely revelatory five-episode historical documentary, The American Experiment, exploring the monumental but complex foundation of the nation that catalysed the birth, growth, and reimagination of American democracy.

Directed by Brian Knappenberger, the docu-series features a wide range of extraordinary voices, including former vice presidents and cabinet officials, a former Supreme Court justice, contemporary and former members of Congress, Native American tribal chiefs, prolific historians, military experts, and thought leaders from the political arena.

“It seemed like an incredible time to go back to the basics of who we are as a country,” Knapperberger says. “As complicated, complex, and chaotic a time as we are in right now, pretty much anywhere you look, there is a route back to our founding.”

While the docu-series traces the origins of the nation, recounting various moments of crises and deeply personal experiences from the political spectrum, here are the top three bombshell moments from The American Experiment, now streaming on Netflix.

Three revelatory moments from The American Experiment

The Hilary Clinton moment

In the fourth episode of The American Experiment titled We the People, Brian Knappenberger says to former Secretary of State Hilary Clinton, “You won the popular vote,” to which she replies, “I did.” “Yes, I remember that every day.”

In reference to the 2016 presidential election, she says, “We’ve had other incidents, but mine was probably the clearest case because the margin was significant.” “It’s a very bizarre feeling to know that nearly three million more people voted for you, and a relic of compromises from the Constitutional Convention [is] going to prevent you from becoming a president.”

Knappenberger recalls dealing with the subject carefully, acknowledging it as “one of the most painful moments” of her life. “But you are one of the few people in history who has run for president and won the popular vote. You won by a significant margin. And this part of the Constitution – this thing that was created in the last few weeks of that hot summer in Philadelphia, which was an afterthought more than anything – made it so that you didn’t win the presidency,” he says.

“I personally think the Electoral College is an abomination,” Clinton says in The American Experiment, continuing, “for obvious reasons.” To which Knappenberger reminds, “But she accepted the results.”

The Mike Pence moment

The fifth episode of the Netflix documentary, titled Washington’s Warning, begins with footage of Mike Pence taking the oath of office at his inauguration as vice president in 2017. “I put my left hand on Ronald Reagan’s Bible, and I raised my right hand, and I took an oath to support and defend the Constitution,” he says in The American Experiment. “It ended with a prayer. The Bible actually says, ‘He keeps his oath even when it hurts.’ I know something about that.”

The footage then cuts to January 6th, 2021, when massive protests and attacks broke out on the United States Capitol. Pence recalls what it was like certifying the election results amidst angry calls for his execution, saying, “For me, on that fateful day, having made my position clear to the president many times, my only purpose was to keep my oath.” “I always believed I did my duty that day to see to the peaceful transfer of power under the Constitution of the United States,” he reasoned, citing an anecdote about former vice president Al Gore.

Ted Cruz’s The Godfather moment

Senator Ted Cruz from Texas seizes the opportunity to invoke the first line of The Godfather in the Netflix docuseries to recall a deeply touching story in the fifth episode. The story is about his father, who was born in Cuba. Having been put behind bars and suffered incredible torture in his motherland, his 18-year-old father fled Cuba in 1957, finding his way to Texas.

“He got a job washing dishes. He made 50 cents an hour. My father ended up going to the University of Texas, eventually becoming a small-business owner. When I was sworn into office in January 2013, I stood on the floor of the Senate. My hand was on my father’s Bible. And in the gallery was my father looking down. And he had tears running down his face. And he said that day, ‘Only in America,’” Cruz says.