Those who imagined a landslide defeat of President Trump as the prelude to crushing his Make America Great Again movement were flat wrong, despite what self-assured pollsters and journalists told us.
Nope, America First will stay strong.
Bolstered by patriotic Trump campaign nationwide rallies when the polls forecast an unstoppable Blue Wave, the presidential race has come down to the wire in just a handful of states — not unlike 2016, 2004 and 2000. Down ballot Republicans also greatly exceeded expectations in Congress, tracking to retain control of the Senate while picking up numerous seats in the House of Representatives.
And thank goodness for our nation.
#Resistance figures who went full-on “Banana Republic” to oust Trump from office and sabotage the presidency signal they will keep attacking. Some openly muse about a possible criminal prosecution while setting their sights on supporters too. Federal and State prosecutors in New York still haven’t stopped investigating his taxes and the family business.
Regrettably, the centrist Democrat party of FDR and JFK is long gone. Swayed by decades of far left, anti-American indoctrination on increasingly expensive university campuses nationwide, today’s progressives and their calls to defund the police and implement socialism have led to dystopian scenes straight out of a horror movie.
Walking through a mostly deserted and boarded up downtown Washington, D.C. these days has been surreal – a milder version of fiery riots, looting and death from Portland to Kenosha, yet still heartbreaking. At times, it seems like the pre-revolutionary period of 18th century France. Sure doesn’t help that left-wing Big Tech oligarchs who have more collective wealth than half the country are ironically fanning the flames of social unrest, not dampening them.
The anarchy of antifa, Marxist roots of Black Lives Matter and their violent clashes with right-wing groups who show up to challenge them like the Proud Boys and Patriot Prayer all proved too much for Main Street as the election showed.
Despite attacks from the political left, strawman or otherwise, America First has deep roots. Vexing problems behind its rise haven’t gone away: A broken immigration system, massive trade deficits, millions of jobs disappearing overseas, lopsided defense burden sharing among allies, a corrosive cultural assault from within and more.
Immigration reform has made recent progress — even if stymied by Congress and activist judges. While the wall with Mexico remains in progress, visa restrictions on seven countries with severe terrorism or security screening problems, including North Korea and Venezuela, have kept the U.S. safer.
Americans also remain concerned with the monstrous trade deficit with China, the world’s other leading economic power. Considering we lost 3.7 million jobs mostly in manufacturing and technology since it joined the World Trade Organization in 2001, reversing the trend is key.
On the Atlantic side, back in 2016, just five of 28 NATO countries spent the agreed upon 2% of GDP on defense. By 2019, nine did — thanks to vocal pressure from the president and America First crowd.
Meanwhile, Americans who see the country as a fundamentally good place chafe at Hollywood, the NBA, NFL and MLB which all kowtow to China and a potential 1.4 billion-person windfall audience while disrespecting the U.S. Seems they think alienating half the country while ingratiating themselves to China is a good business model. Hopefully they are proven wrong.
Yet even when we acknowledge past flaws in our nation’s history, which country doesn’t have flaws, past or present? And what country has done more for global prosperity, security and stability than ours in defeating the threats of Nazism, Imperialism and Communism in the 20th century? None. Where will people escape to for freedom and opportunity if and when the U.S. crumbles from within or becomes a left-wing authoritarian police state?
Perhaps the greatest outrage inflicted on America First believers was the Russiagate collusion hoax as meticulously documented by the Capital Research Center. For several years, a powerful cartel in politics, government and media fueled a slow motion coup attempt against the duly elected president and his associates. The manufactured scandal was full of lies, entrapment and conspiracy mongering, yet hamstrung a presidency and wrecked many innocent lives. Not only has there been near zero accountability thus far with just one indictment of an FBI lawyer, the Washington Post and New York Times even won the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for it.
Regardless of the presidential election’s final outcome, America First supporters must never forget all of this. It will help it stay strong for generations.
J.D. Gordon is a former Senior National Security & Foreign Policy Advisor to Donald Trump. Previously, he served as a Pentagon spokesman during the George W. Bush Administration and is a retired Navy Commander.