Long before the “shot heard ‘round the world,” it was clear that President Trump was the target of a coordinated weaponization of governmental power. Despite this, and even after one of the four indictments resulted in an obvious sham of a conviction in New York, a persistent question was frequently hurled at Trump from alleged right-wing and politically neutral media minds, most notably Sean Hannity and Dr. Phil. In one form or another, they asked: “If reelected, will you seek retribution against your political opponents?” In Hannity’s case, he wasn’t even asking but rather “giving you (Trump) an opportunity to confirm you will not seek retribution.”
There is a conspicuous problem with this angle and phrasing: it fails to differentiate between personal vindictive retribution (something no American wishes to see) and addressing the many active attacks on American freedom coming from within our own government. Conservatives such as Peter Navarro, Steve Bannon, and President Trump have all served, continue to serve, or await jail sentencing for actions equal to or lesser than those of Joe and Hunter Biden, who remain free. Trump, or any other president in his position, would have a constitutional obligation to address this overt weaponization of government.
But evidently, leftists have dictated the terms of this topic by ensuring it is only viewed through their lens. This will make it more difficult for Trump to address these issues if he returns to the White House, which is something many Democrats in Congress have already resigned themselves to. To prepare for this increasingly likely scenario, mainstream media is programming the public to think a certain way about it. Leftists are way ahead of the curve on this, and right-wing media is enabling it by playing defense as opposed to offense. Because of this, it should come as no surprise that right-wing media is once again playing into the new parameters set by the left in the aftermath of the attempt on President Trump’s life.
While horrific, the attempt on President Trump’s life provided an opportunity for the right to neutralize or take control of this narrative. The bullet coming within millimeters of striking President Trump’s brain served as stark and literal evidence that it is not the right that are violent and dangerous extremists. Yet immediately after the attempt, there were calls for Trump, the obvious target of this violence, to change his tone, which subtly validates the insane leftists claims that Trump is responsible for the attempt on his own life because of his alleged violent rhetoric.
Notice the trend? Trump gets arrested or indicted through weaponization, and he must vow to never do the same. Trump gets shot, and it is he who must set the tone to ensure the party inciting violence against him never goes through the same. Every time a new scheme to hurt Trump fails and is exposed, narratives are deployed in an attempt to prevent him, and the 100+ million people prepared to vote for him, from speaking freely and unfiltered about it.
While Trump did acknowledge that the attempt on his life could serve as an opportunity to unite, he also mentioned that unity is a two-way street and that it may be hard to find common ground between groups who can’t even agree on whether men should be allowed to play in women’s sports (they shouldn’t, obviously).
Trump’s RNC speech was the first public address he made following the shooting and confirmed reports that he tore up his “rip-roaring attack on Biden” speech in favor of a more unifying one. Yet leftists appear to have already quickly moved on from any reflection and sympathy after the attempt on Trump’s life and have doubled down on their inflammatory rhetoric towards him as if the shooting never happened. This proves that any gesture of goodwill towards radical left extremists will never be reciprocated. Because of this, anybody with common sense would agree that not fighting back would obviously be the wrong political move. But apparently, common sense is not so common in the right wing these days.
Fox News host Laura Ingraham can frequently be heard calling on Trump to “focus on the issues” and to “stay away from personal attacks.” Ironically, she said this around the same time a clip of Kamala Harris’s announcement speech played, which showed her unleashing direct personal attacks against Trump by referring to him as “a predator who abused women, a fraudster who ripped off his consumers, and a cheater who broke the rules for his own game.” Despite this, Ingraham pathetically suggests the way to win is to turn the other cheek, even though numerous men who have won the general election, Trump included, engaged in personal attacks until the very end.
Hopes that a changed Trump would result in common ground with the left are completely naive, as the left has proven time and again that they will never acquiesce, even prior to Kamala’s recent remarks. Trump immediately called for unity during his victory speech on November 9th, 2016, only for a campaign to delegitimize his victory and thwart his agenda to begin almost immediately, months before he was even sworn in as the 45th President of the United States. His entire presidency was obstructed and resisted by smearing, threatening, and impeaching him. Their own actions have proven to the nation that they have no interest in finding common ground and are only interested in everybody submitting to their heinous agenda. Therefore, Trump fighting fire with fire is the obviously correct practice, no matter how loud the cries from the moral high ground crowd become.
Trump attained the highest office in the world by behaving exactly as he is now. For nearly a decade, the perpetually anxious ‘right-wing’ media has called for Trump to change, fearing he will turn away more voters than he will bring in. In reality, the opposite is true. Trump broke the general election vote record for a Republican nominee in 2016, set the record for votes for a sitting president in 2020, and is on pace to break the overall vote record for any candidate outright this November. He has accomplished all of this by being himself.
Trump’s continuous gains in support prove that his method of politicking is a net-positive when gauging overall support amongst the electorate. Anyone still vehemently opposed to Trump at this point, despite his incredible results as president and being the clear target of the dark forces currently running America, will never change their stance. With most minds already made up (in Trump’s favor, by the way), asking him to appease this group by changing the tone that has endeared him to a record number of people would only turn his present supporters away and bring in nobody.
So, while pervasive, this mindset among conservatives that he will turn away more voters than he will bring in comes from a place of fear and anxiety rather than fact, reason, or logic. Realistically, voters are far more angered by the Left’s actions than they are by Trump’s words, tweets, truths, or other ‘politically incorrect’ rhetoric, which there is a legitimate hunger for right now.
It is imperative to be brutally honest about the state of America roughly 100 days out from the most important election in its storied history. It is under attack. A former president and Republican nominee (who is leading significantly) was just shot in the head, while the Democrat Party just carried out a coup against their sitting president and nominee, disenfranchising 14 million voters in the process. There are evidently evil forces at play that have a major influence on the affairs of the United States that must be confronted head-on.
Fortunately, the people seem to be aware of this. Those still fearful that rhetoric and feelings will be put above actions and results in the minds of voters are not to be relied on for reputable insight. We need strong, unfiltered, and unapologetic rhetoric coming from the only leader willing to even come close to taking on this corrupt system. The last thing we need is for him to be taking advice steeped in political correctness from those who have never won anything. Thankfully, Trump has made it abundantly clear he has no plans of entertaining such nonsensical suggestions.
Those in the fearful conservative virtue-signaling, moral high ground camp must stand down. America needs a win—one so resounding it sets us on the path to greatness for many years to come. It’s now or never. To echo Hulk Hogan: Let Trump be Trump, so that he can Make America Great Again.
Matt Kane graduated from Stony Brook University with a bachelor’s degree in political science. His work has been posted by President Trump and published by Human Events, Real Clear Politics, American Thinker, and AMAC.
