The 2025 off-cycle elections were not exactly a great source of joy and celebration for the Right.  They’re not reason to panic, but they are definitely a warning that we can’t let our enthusiasm wane—and that we need to make sure we’re actively attempting to address the concerns of American voters.

It’s easy to swallow the black pill.  Yours portly has been very overwhelmed lately between work, planning a wedding, and buying a house.  Dr. Fiancée is exhausted from a series of heavy, hard rotations.  We’re both ready to get to the wedding and the cruise ship, and just unplug for a week.

In such times, it’s hard to do what I need to do most—submit it all to God.  That’s what I’m trying to do, but prayers are appreciated.

That said, I have not taken the black pill.  All of these stressful life events will have quite obvious and immediate positive outcomes.  It’s just getting through them that’s the challenge!

With that, here is 14 November 2024’s “TBT^4: Resist the Black Pill“:

What a difference a year makes!  Trump is back—and America with him.  What a time to be alive!

It is, perhaps, a good reminder that the vagaries of the American election cycle are too unpredictable and short-term for us to pin our hopes and dreams on any one election.  I’d argue, however, that this year’s presidential election is the exception.  It was, in many ways, the culmination of many years of struggle and torment, even pre-dating the first Trump administration.

Regardless, it’s worth remembering that things are often darkest before the dawn.  And it is morning in America, baby!

With that, here is “TBT^2: Resist the Black Pill“:

It was another disappointing election day last week, both locally and nationally, with Democrats doing better than anyone would reasonably expect and infanticide enshrined in Ohio’s State constitution.

But we have so much to be thankful for as conservatives.  Roe was overturned, after all, and at least we can have these political battles to protect the unborn, instead of their murder being illicitly enshrined in the national Constitution.  Trump is outperforming Biden in polls, although that doesn’t mean much at this point, nor does it mean much when election shenanigans are widespread.

Regardless, we must continue to hope and to pray—and to believe.  I’m fairly pessimistic about America’s longtime prospects, but it comes from a place of realism, not desperation (as, I’m sad to admit, it at times has).  In the meantime, God Has Given me ample opportunities to make a difference among the people in my life.  That’s all most of us can reasonably ask.

With that, here is “TBT: Resist the Black Pill“:

Life has been kicking yours portly hard lately, and the lackluster midterm elections affected my mood more than I realized.  What I neglected to remember—what I always forget!—is that despair is a sin, and we shouldn’t wallow in its murky depths.

We can’t let discouragement get the better of us.  We have to do the difficult thing and keep fighting.  I still am done with national politics—it’s become meaningless kabuki theatre, like the bogus Roman Senate under the Caesars—but I’m not giving up hope on my country.

Of course, what I think of as “my country” might be quite diminished from what it once was.  Increasingly, I’m thinking of myself as a South Carolinian first and an American second.  That’s how it was in the 1776, 1783, and even 1789 (the ratification of the Constitution).  I’d rather most decisions be made at the State level, anyway.  If we must have a Caesar, let him at least be a good one, but no government—not even a strongman one—can fill the moral void of a decadent people.

Only Christ can save us, and He Will, if we let Him.

With that, here is 17 July 2020’s “Resist the Black Pill“:

Lately, it’s been easy to give in to despair.  Trump is way down in the polls, we’ve suffered reversals on DACA (and Trump’s own reversals on rescinding foreign student visas for colleges going online-only in the fall and on suspending foreign worker visas through the end of the year), BLM is murdering people for saying “All Lives Matter,” and so on.

Despair is a sin.  Like most situations in life, doing the opposite of what you feel is virtuous.  Wallowing in self-pity (or shouting angrily during one of Tucker Carlson‘s litanies of unpunished progressive malfeasance) is the emotionally satisfying approach, but it’s not very productive.

I’m noticing that a number of folks on our side of this great culture war are taking the “black pill.”  Z Man railed against Trump in this week’s podcast, and in a post earlier this week (which I referenced yesterday).  Milo had all-but written Trump off until the Roger Stone commutation.

As I listened to Z Man’s podcast today, however, I couldn’t help but think he was being too hard on Trump.  Yes, Trump has not delivered as much I’d like on immigration, and has essentially reversed his position on DACA (although I would argue part of that reversal is the result of the Supreme Court’s interference).  I don’t understand why he doesn’t pull the trigger and start taxing remittances—a truly elegant solution that would fulfill his ubiquitous promise to build a border wall and “make Mexico pay for it.”

Yet the black-pillers and Former Trumpers also forget about Trump’s accomplishments.  Just look back to the flurry of activity—the terror travel ban, the realignment of foreign and trade policy, the slashing of regulations, the protection of American jobs and industries, etc.  Trump has done remarkably well, considered his hobbling from the Deep State, the Russian collusion hoax, the bogus impeachment, and his own—at times—poor personnel choices.

He’s a fighter.  Yes, he can sometimes be distracted by flattery, or speak out of both sides of his mouth.  But he’s managed to survive—and thrive—while beset on all sides, even those allegedly on his side.

Remember, too, that the long Ford and Carter years of malaise resulted in the golden age of Reagan’s “Morning in America.”  The 1980s were objectively awesome:  great music, great movies (based on original ideas!), great economy, and the great birth of yours portly.

Even beyond Trump and politics, we have a greater hope in Christ.  Satan always loses on the end, and don’t think that he isn’t involved in BLM, AntiFa, progressivism, socialism, radical feminism, etc.  Our chances of victory may seem dim at present, but we will ultimately prevail.  Christ has assured us that our victory is in Him.