At CPAC yesterday, Donald Trump reaffirmed what many of us already knew. This is his Republican Party. That’s not to say he has any sway with lawmakers currently on Capitol Hill or the RNC itself. But he still holds the hearts and minds of a majority of Republican voters. Conservatives and populists generally love him. The moderates and neocons who support the Republican Establishment do not.
With CPAC over and calls for unity within the GOP already fading, there are two major takeaways from the event. The first is disappointing as far too many so-called conservatives are trying to blend in with the Establishment while also trying to maintain their conservative credibility. This has and always will be a failing endeavor as “Big Tent” Republicans among The Swamp believe compromise is a one-way street. They want the Big Tent as long as it’s THEIR tent. Whether based on ignorance or pettiness, they falsely claim that a Big Tent led by conservative and populist principles cannot work.
The second takeaway is that as long as Donald Trump chooses to stay in politics, he wields tremendous power over the true GOP base. That base does not include Establishment leadership or Swamp-loving megadonors. It’s just us, the people, the heart and soul of the conservative movement. We believe in an America First vision that embraces personal liberties and limited government. And while President Trump wasn’t always able to reduce the size of government, he strongly defended our freedoms and managed the nation with the most America-First mentality we’ve seen from a president in at least a century.
In lieu of going into the multitude of reasons the Republican Establishment hates him, let’s stipulate they do and speculate about their actions going forward. Everything they do from now until the next presidential election season will be geared towards reducing Trump’s hold on the base. Some will be assigned to attack him and his leadership, as we’re seeing from people like Liz Cheney and Mitt Romney. Others will put on a pro-Trump face for the public while quietly working to undermine his influence as we’ve seen from people like Kevin McCarthy and Lindsey Graham. Then, there will be those who will be supportive of Donald Trump until the last moment. These are the ones who will be hardest to identify. Lest we forget, people like Mike Pence, William Barr, and Mitch McConnell pretended to be Trump’s staunchest supporters until they pulled their rugs out from under him and us.
Now that I’ve stated what many of you will rightly say is obvious, let’s dig a little deeper and determine how we’re going to fight back. Sadly, there are no simple options, particularly when dealing with that third group who will scream “MAGA! MAGA!” until they’re ordered to switch sides for the sake of their own political gain. What makes it even harder is the rampant Big Tech tyranny we’re seeing every day. Communication is getting more challenging. I look up and down at allies I befriended on Twitter and other platforms and I’m finding my lists diminished. They’re still allies, but many of us made the fatal mistake of using Big Tech “platforms” to form our alliances. I’ve lost communication with at least two dozen influential allies and thousands of grassroots activists.
Events like CPAC can be great for making real-world alliances, but there’s a problem with that as well. CPAC is a great networking event and has famous speakers, but the organization is part of the Republican Establishment. We watched many strong conservatives talk about a lot of things while ignoring the pressing matter of our time: Voter fraud. They did this because they still want to keep their GOP Rewards Club membership, and that’s worrisome. Politics is a game of being in the right clubs and the gatekeepers of the various clubs like CPAC are beholden to the Republican Establishment.
We must build our own clubs. We must form our own platforms. The dust is finally starting to settle and the status quo is creeping back into play. We need to take this opportunity to grow organizations like the American Conservative Movement or others in order to truly fight back against a Republican Establishment that is neither conservative nor populist in nature.
In the coming weeks, I’ll be speaking and writing more about all of this. For now, we need to spread the word and get ready to take actions against the status quo. From conferences to charitable events, from new technologies to safe haven platforms, there are so many ways we can make tangible changes to the direction of our nation. We must fight the progressives; that will never change. But we must be willing to fight against both sides of The Swamp’s anti-American coin. That other side is the Republican Establishment.
They’re going to try to destroy Donald Trump because they do not want tens of millions of Americans embracing the America-First vision. It’s incumbent on us to fight back with the truth.
