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The week before the 2025 election, the undisputed leader of the Democratic Party, New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, got a bit sidetracked while campaigning on the trail of radical Zohran Mamdani in New York City.
After simply pointing out how destructive the new radical left is becoming, as many did, she decided to tweet angrily at me for my well-known position that men should not be in women’s sports. Her claim was essentially that if I had just swam faster in college, I would have beaten the guy I was swimming against.
Unsurprisingly, the insult fell flat. It was an attack that might have been convincing a few years ago, but not today. It was also a laugh-out-loud reminder of how far we’ve come since President Trump returned to power.
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Gone are the days when the left could impose its alternate reality on Americans, at least for now. According to her post, this seems to have struck a chord within their party. They went from controlling the narrative to having a new president and a majority of voters who no longer believe in it.
It’s an important reminder that elections matter. But a few things have changed since our landslide victory a year ago. Despite their unpopularity, the left has only become more radical and has gained some ground since then. And despite our advantage, some on the right seem to have already forgotten who the real opponent is.
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AOC’s radical positions are not the only reminder of what we are dealing with. Between Mamdani’s communist rise in New York and Virginia Democrats embracing an attorney general who fantasizes about killing his opponents and their families, they say the quiet part out loud.
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The left didn’t get the memo after 2024; they became more radical. And they may not be available since last year, but they’re not out. All of this is just a taste of what it would be like if we let them make a comeback.
If conservatives want to live in a world again where our leaders think men can become women or where political violence is justified, we must continue the struggle among ourselves.
Without a doubt, the most vivid reminder of who they are was the loss of Charlie Kirk. It’s not just that he was murdered by a deranged trans activist and one of their own, but it’s also that they openly celebrated it too.
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This was just a few months ago. But given some of the discourse on the right lately, it might as well have taken years. By now we should unite and unite for him. Keep policy debates separate from personal debates. And regaining the upper hand on the economic, immigration and cultural issues that won us the White House in 2024.
No one is happier than the Democrats that our focus has seemingly shifted from them to us.
The America First movement has come too far to fall short now. Charlie Kirk lost his life for it. President Donald Trump was shot and faced several politically motivated charges for it. And countless Americans suffered at the hands of the left when they were in power. If we want to win again in 2026, a quick reality check is needed.
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The other side doesn’t mind your daughter’s private spaces being invaded by men; they prefer it. They also don’t care if you get hurt or killed because of their agenda; they applaud it.
Bearing that in mind, ruthless infighting on our side over matters of foreign and domestic policy, or even personal issues, seems foolish. It’s not that discussing these issues or the direction of our movement isn’t important. It’s that in many ways there are more pressing problems.
What difference do your policy preferences make if one party can shoot you down just for advocating for it, while at the same time you face no consequences at the ballot box?
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That has to change.
In 2026, leaders from across the conservative side must lead like Charlie did. As for the rest of us? Join us. That means we must put our heads down, knock on doors, register voters, and advocate for our diverse coalition to meet the moment again. There is no shortage of options to do this. Whether it’s directly through campaigns or with groups like America First Works and Turning Point Action, we all need to get back to what we do best.
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We won in 2024 by closing the gaps in our movement. We win in 2026 by doing it again.
I don’t know about you, but I’d much rather have the AOCs of the world continue to angrily tweet at us while they’re defeated than have them take control of us again.
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Our movement faces two simple choices: keep fighting and lose, or unite and win.
The outcome of next year and beyond is up to us.
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