What is it that stirs the Twitter trolls? First there is Mr. Sajak’s skepticism that climate change is a dire crisis necessitating massive government intervention. “Climate and weather are two different things—unless it follows the narrative,” he says. “They’re happy to point at weather phenomena that fit the narrative. And if you point at one that doesn’t, then you’re just being stupid.”

Next there is his insufficient self-flagellation for American history, particularly regarding race relations. “In 150 years we went from institutionalized slavery to having a black president,” says Mr. Sajak, who in Chicago attended a majority-black public high school. “The shame that we’re supposed to feel about that—I understand that impulse. But what we really should be feeling is the pride.”

Which leads us to American exceptionalism, which Mr. Sajak isn’t shy about proclaiming. “The Wright brothers, what was it, 1903, they got about 20 feet in the air and went about 180 feet. Sixty-six years later we put a man on the moon and brought him back,” he says. “Oh, and in the meantime we won two world wars and fought a great depression.”