The Left is going to make it very hard for conservatives to advance their agenda — or even their message — after what happened on January 6, 2021.
Earlier on in the day, President Donald Trump delivered a speech before a sizable gathering of supporters in Washington, DC. With the president’s slew of lawsuits contesting the election hitting a brick wall, it could have been seen as something of a Hail Mary for the President as Democrat Joe Biden prepares for his inevitable inauguration.
And let’s be clear about this: Americans who voted for Trump had every reason to raise suspicion over what they saw in November. Never before in the history of the republic has a national election been handled so poorly. Voters went to bed with their President in a slight lead, only to wake up to discover Joe Biden being handed boxes of ballots the following morning. So, yeah — the anger and confusion is beyond excusable.
But…things then took a violent turn. Within hours of the President’s address, a segment of the protest turned into a riot — culminating with the invasion of the U.S. Capitol building. DC police were reportedly undermanned and unable to contain the situation. A woman who has been identified as an Air Force veteran was shot and killed by law enforcement. As of this time of writing, more altercations are being investigated. Tragically, seeing a higher body count by the end of the day is not impossible.
Let’s get the obvious out of the way: there was no point to any of this. A rag-tag group of Viking wannabes taking selfies on the House floor was never going to retain President Trump in office. If anything, they just helped the Democratic Party cut campaign ads for the next four years.
Here’s the less obvious part, and this is important: the progressive cultural-political apparatus (the media, the DNC, Hollywood, social media — pretty much everyone with a blue check mark on their social media page) is going to use this event to beat down conservative speech for as long as they can.
And yes — we’re perfectly aware that the radical left has been engaged in this sort of behavior for at least six months at this point. In fact, the likes of Antifa and Black Lives Matter likely saw the Capitol storming as child’s play. But this doesn’t matter — these movements will never get the scrutiny from the media. Conservatives are held to a different standard.
While “true conservatives” dismay people like Ben Shapiro for condemning the riot, understand that they’re thinking about what happens next — every single Republican voter is going to be held responsible for this. Get ready for more of your favorite YouTubers to be de-personed form existence. Get ready for Republican legislation to die as soon as it’s brought to committee. Get ready for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris to use this as an excuse for draconian gun control. Democrats have all the ammo they need…for now.
So, what’s the solution?
This is not the end of conservatism. The movement for free markets, free speech, and free worship will continue. If anything, conservative thought leaders and Republican politicians need to get back to their roots. This is a philosophical movement. It’s about personal liberty first and foremost. President Trump was an effective bulwark against the radical left, but believing our chances die with his presidency only makes that closer to true.
This fight will continue as long as threats to American freedom remain.
