Fighting Back after the Trump Indictment

To Win, We Need Honesty—and Fortresses

Fortresses are the key

These columns have focused on the (first) Trump indictment and related outrages not just because they’ve dominated the recent news.  That our cultured, accomplished and fearless former president could be reduced overnight to the status of an outlaw captures, better than any words, how badly corrupted our republic and civilization have become.  More than anything in recent years, this shocking spectacle must wake up all patriots to the grave dangers at hand.

It’s hard not to be discouraged when we behold the Left pushing their tyranny successfully and dramatically on so many fronts.  No longer incremental advances, their oppression now comes as a flood:  electoral subterfuge that the courts are unwilling to check; basic freedom of speech denied in the halls of power and social media; widespread sexual degradation and sowed confusion over basic human biology; and unequal treatment in our justice system, crystallized by the drawing-and-quartering of Trump. 

Two important points should be made upfront.  First, this flood began with droplets, then brooks, then rivers, and now the current deluge—because the Left took over academia years ago, built up their cadres of powerful and prosperous graduates, and faced no hard opposition as they gathered force.  What we’re seeing is the culmination of decades of determined, patient, evil work that is now paying off for the other side.  There’s no point in mincing words any longer:  Our leaders on the Right who refused to stop these monsters all these years, despite actual or constructive knowledge of what they were planning and doing, deserve nothing less than our enduring contempt.

Second, there is much reason for hope.  There is always the overriding spiritual truth that God can correct any situation.  And there is this political and social truth:  For thousands of years of recorded history, righteous movements have suffered persecution, setbacks and tyranny but have adapted, persevered and ultimately overcome.  We are no different.  But victory starts with rejecting falsehoods spun by the leaders who have failed us, and recognizing and embracing realistic strategies that will help guide us out of this darkness.  This means assessing our situation anew and then taking specific, concrete steps to regain lost ground.  One example of a shining recent success that bucked the conventional wisdom is Trump’s steadfast appointment of three solidly pro-life votes to the Supreme Court.  For decades Republican presidents had failed to deliver on their promise of a pro-life Supreme Court.  It seemed unattainable after so many years of failure.  But Trump showed it wasn’t if we insist on leaders with courage and determination.

Here are some basic initial steps we must take to begin recapturing ground from the Left:

1.     Reject false hopes and hucksterism on the Right

We’re being overwhelmed by the Left on almost every front because for decades, too many of our own leaders have betrayed and manipulated us.

That’s not a happy truth to accept.  But accept it we must, consistent with the old saw that the first step to recovery is acknowledging the problem.  Previous articles on Resurgence have called out politicians, organizations and leaders we’ve trusted for their collective responsibility for the current disaster.

By 2016, most patriots realized we had been sold out.  That’s why Trump was nominated for president.  And it’s why he’s cruising to a second presidential nomination today despite epic and ruthless opposition.  Much more work remains to be done in rejecting failed leaders and organizations that led us into this swamp.  We must double down and cull through the roster of political leaders and groups that constitute Conservative, Inc. to discern who are legitimate and effective in defeating the Left and who are not.  Clearly, given the scale of the catastrophe we’re experiencing, most fall into the latter camp.

On that note, let’s state the obvious.  Everyone sells sunshine because it’s profitable.  Fox News, Republican politicians and consultants, and others predict a “red wave” before every election because they know we want to believe things will get better—and now.  They prey on the natural desire for a “quick fix,” a desire that’s become a sense of downright urgency as we realize we’ve been played by our own leaders and our fundamental rights are being shredded rapidly.

Why has the collective leadership on the Right failed us so spectacularly for so long? 

The same people whose cowardice and self-service got us into this mess now insist there’s a fast solution to everything—if only we continue to trust, finance and empower them.  When we feel ourselves falling for these same smooth assurances, we must remember their fake guarantees of “red waves” for the last several election cycles. These pledges served only to goose fundraising for the GOP and ratings for those commentators selling this mirage.

Many Conservative Inc. groups resort to similar hocus-pocus.  Conservative and Christian legal groups seek donations for their cases in court to defend embattled patriots and believers.  But they almost never speak out about or lead efforts to combat the collapse of the justice system, which threatens all of us and makes such cases necessary (and increasingly hard to win).  That is out of sheer selfishness:  Despite their singular qualifications, they don’t lend their voices to these reforms because it’s not in their short-term professional interest to rock the boat.  Organizations such as the Heritage Foundation (where I was a Bradley fellow long ago), the American Enterprise Institute and others generate white papers and voter engagement efforts that usually are focused on the taxation and regulatory concerns pushed by their major left-leaning donors.  The MAGA agenda is typically shunted aside if not effectively opposed.

The bottom line is these politicians, leaders and groups share responsibility for the rout we are experiencing.  There is no other fair way to view things.  They have ownership of this dire crisis.  We need to take a fresh look at who deserves our continued credence and support.

2.     No more subsidizing failed leaders and organizations

Inextricably related is the issue of funding.  The shattered pledges and phony optimism of GOP bosses and Conservative, Inc. leaders seem united by one very base desire:  to enjoy an easy life pretending to fight these leftist crocodiles while scheming to be the last eaten by them.  The absence of genuine moral courage is breathtaking.  In this hour of historic, nation-rending disaster, cowards don’t deserve our hard-earned dollars.

These leaders and groups fall somewhere on a continuum of effectiveness.  Some produce some good work; some have no value at all; some are downright counterproductive.  We need to create a fair way of judging them and a reasonable metric for assessing their work besides the amount of publicity they create for themselves and the number of appearances they make on Fox News.  Unless these individuals and organizations can demonstrate real past effectiveness, conservatives must withhold their support and dollars from them and divert those resources to causes that are working or show promise.

3.     An honest accounting of how we got here

Here is the question of the moment:  Why are WE having to figure all of this out?

To the point, why has this collective leadership failed us so spectacularly for so long and left us struggling for answers?  This is their job.  Many billions of dollars of taxpayer funds have been appropriated at all levels of government for staffing, research, policy advice and management to tackle the issues of the day.  That’s not to include all the mountains of cash raised over the years by the feckless Conservative Inc. groups. 

After all these decades of stunning and cataclysmic failure, the best they can come up with now is:  “Vote for me” and “keep sending us money”?

We need to have a full inventory of who has failed and why so we can start winning again.  This will be the subject of future columns.  If nothing else, by raising our own awareness of this record of failure (and some successes), we can spread the word and focus our support on those groups and endeavors that work.

4.     The Fortress Strategy

After education comes action.  Over time I’ll put forth some specific ideas for going on the offensive and winning.  Let’s start with the fortress strategy.

This strategy lies somewhere between the ridiculous “red wave” magic-wand optimism of conservative elites and the darker pessimism of others who say we should hunker down in individual, embattled households along the lines of the Amish.  The fortress strategy means identifying places in this country where patriots still dominate politically and, to some degree, culturally, and resolve that this we will defend.

How?  We move there.  We invest there.  We clean up the schools there.  We push through real reform in the universities, legal system and other institutions.  And then, over time, we push out and take more ground.

In the Dark Ages, castles were built to provide signs of order and points of real security for an insecure time.  Similarly, we should build up strongholds in this nation where right-minded people are as safe and free as possible to practice their beliefs and affirm their American heritage.  These may be states or counties or towns.  We must elect people, adopt policies and make decisions as citizens that garrison and nurture these redoubts.

Strapping on Our Armor

The first order of business is dispensing with the idea that there is a swift resolution, a winning lottery ticket we can summon to wipe away all these problems.  Conservative hustler leaders have sold this sham vision for years, and their indifference to the gathering storm has brought us the present parade of horribles:  President Trump’s indictment, Covid masks and freedom-smashing hysteria, the destruction of America’s borders, and sexual and cultural depravity at which the pious Founders of this republic would have wept bitterly.  There is no fast cure for something as fundamental as the disintegration of a civilization over decades of time and the loss of political and cultural power that results from this.

For now, rejecting the old leaders and organizations that have milked us for years and building up fortresses where we can regroup and strengthen our cause are essential parts of a fundamentally new strategic plan that, through God’s grace, will lead to ultimate victory.