For as long as I can remember, many in the GOP have been unwilling to wage a real fight on the Culture War front. The so-called conservative talking heads (whom I refer to as the 'Washington Generals of Punditry') often said those issues were not the 'hill to die on' and preferred instead that we talk about tax policy and spending. While those policy discussions have a place in political discourse, most of us don't think about the marginal tax rate all the time.
We do, however, have to go to school and interact with businesses like department and grocery stores. Some of us even like being entertained once in a while, and that means looking to movies, television, and music as ways to pass our free time. So we see the impact of the politicization of every aspect of life because we live it.
While the Right ignored the Culture War, the Left moved in and claimed almost all the ground. Now, they enjoy an ideological stranglehold on schools, the entertainment industry, and media outlets. And it's something they're not going to give up without a fight.
Many of us -- myself included -- warned that the failure of the Right to push back on cultural issues yesterday would lead to a place none of us would really like, and that the effort needed to course correct later would be much greater than if we started fighting back sooner. We were ignored and dismissed.
The Washington Generals of Punditry instead told us to vote for guys like Mitt Romney, who let Obama and Biden smear him as a cancer-causing, dog-abusing, wannabe slave-driver. We just embraced those 'nice' and milqutoast candidates, eventually the Left would see reason.
Not.
Enter Donald Trump. For all his faults, he's a Republican who actually follows through on some of the promises he makes, and he understands the Culture War better than almost any Republican.
He's emboldened the Right to push back against the Left, and that includes cleaning up the wokeness that's infiltrated places like the Smithsonian, schools, and corporations.
Yes, a new conservatism has emerged. We are leading a rebellion against the establishment and dismantling the elements of the left-wing ideological regime—not for the purpose of nihilism, but for the purpose of the rebirth, or restoration, of our republic. pic.twitter.com/fuOnrGA2E1
— Christopher F. Rufo ⚔️ (@realchrisrufo) August 21, 2025
But because he's Donald Trump, the never-Trump right sees the pushback in the Culture Wars as problematic.
So liberals brazenly push out and exclude conservatives from institutions wielding power, then thoroughly erode the credibility of those institutions by politicizing them to the hilt...
— Mark Hemingway (@Heminator) August 22, 2025
...and David Brooks wonders why the right doesn't want to "conserve" these institutions? https://t.co/vQRe8VdLfo
David Brooks is not alone.
So what, exactly, are you conserving? Beyond a brand that helps with fundraising?
— Jonah Goldberg (@JonahDispatch) August 22, 2025
The issue is not about what Rufo is conserving; the issue is how we got here in the first place. If the Washington Generals of Punditry had started pushing back on Leftist takeovers of culture, we wouldn't be at this point now.
When Ron DeSantis took on Disney in 2023, perpetual scold David French came out in favor of Disney's woke agenda and argued it was entitled to special tax breaks because it had a right to free speech. It does, but it doesn't get to do it on our dime or with privileges not afforded to anyone else. DeSantis won that war, of course.
David French is also the guy who said the only remedy for violations of our rights was to engage in an expensive, years-long court process:
Periodic reminder that in David French world the First Amendment is doing just fine because all you have to do if your 1A rights are violated is spend a decade fighting in the courts, including SCOTUS, and sacrifice your livelihood and well being to vindicate your rights. Easy! https://t.co/y1LfeN7rRe
— John Daniel Davidson (@johnddavidson) October 8, 2024
And then they wonder why voters rejected their candidates in favor of Donald Trump and why some on the Right are actually fighting back now.
As I told you the other day, the Smithsonian is full of Left-wing ideology that clouds everything in the museum. Go to Monticello and count the number of times display placards mention slavery, but don't turn it into a drinking game because you'll die of alcohol poisoning. Movies and television shows are full of Leftist ideology -- NBC's medical drama 'New Amsterdam' pushed a storyline about racism giving a kid cancer.
And to all of this, the pundits just shrugged. They conserved nothing.
The difference between Jonah Goldberg and Christopher Rufo is generational and philosophical. In Goldberg's world, the only legitimate way to win is through rational argument. If the other side cheats, then you just have to argue harder. Rufo recognizes that this fails. 1/2
— Avi Woolf, Wilderness Conservative🐺 (@AviWoolf) August 22, 2025
We no longer live in that world. Like me, Rufo is reading the room.
He, like myself and other disillusioned conservatives, understands that what was taken by politics, whether internal or external, will not be regained by any other method. Punditry alone will not conserve anything. Agree or not with his tactics, he has the core thing right. 2/2
— Avi Woolf, Wilderness Conservative🐺 (@AviWoolf) August 22, 2025
Being nice to the Left didn't work. Using rational arguments or appeals to the Constitution didn't work. The Left steamrolled us. They used the courts, 'human rights commissions, ' and institutional capture to recreate and redefine America as racist, sexist, bigoted, and bad. They put their politics into entertainment and corporate policies to circumvent the Constitution, and used the media (including social media) to silence and attack dissent.
We disillusioned conservatives can no longer tolerate this. Nor should we, because far too much is at stake.
Exactly what's at stake is easily understood by looking at places like Europe -- in Germany, politicians proudly censor free speech, and in England, you get arrested for saying you love bacon. In Brazil, 'misgendering' a trans person can land you in prison for decades. Leftist ideology has turned those nations into tyrannical hellholes, where free speech doesn't exist, and where the government will use its boot to crush any dissent.
It's the future that will befall the U.S. if we don't put an end to it. Kamala Harris and Tim Walz were pretty darned open about their disdain for free speech, the Biden administration tried to install an Orwellian Ministry of Truth, and Democrats have made it very clear they will dismantle the Constitution to install themselves as the permanent ruling class if they ever get power again.
All we wanted was a fair and level playing field. One where conservative beliefs were given equal time, freedom, and consideration, where American exceptionalism was the norm even though our nation had (and has) its flaws, and a world where some things -- like sports and the local Target -- were free of political agendas of any stripe.
That wasn't acceptable to the Left, though. They wanted power, and many on the Right didn't so much as lift a finger to stop the creep of Leftist ideology into many facets of life.
'That's not the hill to die on,' the Washington Generals of Punditry told us.
Now we're on the last hill, and it's worth dying on.
