Happy Independence Day! As PJ Media’s Catherine Salgado wisely noted, this is the actual “No Kings Day” in America. (Fun fact: Of the 163 countries that celebrate Independence Day, 65 of ‘em — approximately 40%! — gained their independence from England.) But none of the other countries had a rebellion quite like ours.
Because Americans are a different breed, ain’t we? We’re not built like the rest of the world.
Think about all the injustices, impositions, and outrages other civilizations have tolerated: From time immemorial through 2025, there’ve been countless mad kings, crazy leaders, corruption, legal shenanigans, the theft of property, stupid wars, and executing innocent people. And, for the most part, they sucked it up and took it on the chin: “Ah, well. Alas, the king ‘tis still the king. What can we do?”
Not America!
We were like, “What? They’re taxing our tea?! TO HELL WITH THE BRITS!! This means WAR!”
And just a few years later, a bunch of backwoods soldiers, volunteer militia members, and untrained hillbillies tossed the Red Coats out of the colonies. Merry ol’ England — arguably the most dominant power on the planet by the late 1700s — got the fish and chips beat out of ‘em.
You don’t screw with America!
Of course, that won’t stop our enemies from trying. We’re just too tempting of a target. And that, dear readers, brings us to this week in political PR:
PRedictions: The Thomas Massie “trial balloon” will be the most important campaign in the 2026 cycle. At stake is nothing less than the future of the Republican Party.
It’s shaping up to be a proxy war: On one side are Rep. Massie (R-Ky.), Elon Musk, and, possibly, the Libertarian Party. On the other are President Trump, the MAGA movement, and the bulk of the GOP.
What’s especially worrisome is Elon Musk’s pledge to launch a third party. As we discussed yesterday:
For a man like Musk, throwing his support behind Massie is tantamount to a trial balloon: If it fails, at least he punched back after his ignoble exit from the White House. He proved that there’s a price to pay for crossing him.
But if he succeeds?
If Musk actually manages to push Massie over the finish line, you can bet your bottom dollar that he’ll view it as “proof of concept” and take his idea nationwide. That’ll mean the real creation of a third national party that will, in all likelihood, take more from the conservative Republican side than from liberal Democrats.
Assuming Trump ousts Massie in the Republican primary (which seems likely: according to current polls, just 23% of GOP voters in his district view Massie favorably, whereas a whopping 62% view him unfavorably. Additionally, should Trump endorse his primary opponent, just 14% of voters said they’d stick with Massie), the Ayn Rand-adjacent congressman will have a big decision to make: Does he run as an independent?
Musk (and others) will shower him with riches if he does. Based on what we know about Massie’s affinity for the limelight, it’s difficult to imagine him turning down all that money (and/or media attention).
Stay tuned…
PRojections: The “patriotism gap” between the two parties will have generational consequences. Right now, 92% of Republicans are “extremely” or “very” proud of being an American.
But only 36% of Democrats feel the same way!
It wasn’t always like this. Less than 25-years ago, 90% of Republicans were “extremely” or “very” proud of being an American — but so were 87% of Democrats!
That’s a 51-point drop in national pride amongst the Donkeys.
Additionally, the gap between GOP voters and Democratic voters is now 56 points!
Laughably, the mainstream media tried to spin the story as an anti-Trump commentary. Their headlines were ridiculously misleading:
The Daily Beast: Americans Have Never Been Less Proud of Their Country
The Daily Beast (Part II): National Pride in America Takes Dramatic Nosedive Under Trump
Huffington Post: National Pride Is Dramatically Declining in America, Finds Stark New Poll
Newsweek: Gen Z Drives Sharp Decline in American Pride
The Independent: American Pride is declining new Gallup poll shows
Axios: U.S. patriotism fades as American pride close to record lows
UPI: Gallup: American pride falls to record low
The Hill: National pride slips among Americans: Gallup
New American Journal: American Pride Slips to New Low As USA Celebrates Independence Day and 250th Anniversary
Alternet: American pride plunges to new low under Trump—again
Daily Kos: American pride hits new low under Trump—just in time for July Fourth
NJ.com: How many adults are ‘proud’ to be an American under Trump? New poll shows…
The Economic Times: As national pride plunges, Trump’s America looks less ‘great’ than ever, Gallup poll data reveals
The New Republic: Americans Have Never Hated Being American More, New Poll Finds
The media won’t be able to cover this up long-term, because Democratic politicians — including our new buddy Zohran Mamdani — won’t let ‘em. This is who they are now!
And they won’t be able to resist revealing themselves on the campaign trail.
To win over today’s Democratic voters, it’s better to burn the flag than wrap yourself in it. Which means, in leftwing Democratic primaries, cagey politicians will be compelled to tell their electorate EXACTLY what they wanna hear. Thus, their anti-American rhetoric will grow.
Our loss of bipartisan patriotism is a problem that’ll get worse before it gets better.
PRaise: I’m a PR guy, not a policy guy. So I can’t tell you if the “Big Beautiful Bill” is actually beautiful (although it’s certainly big), or if Musk’s objections are warranted. But I can tell you that if it had failed, it would’ve cost President Trump enormous political capital. The gloating of Democrats, the media, and certain right-leaning voices (i.e. Musk) would’ve been unbearable.
Had it gone down in flames, the probability of Trump passing future legislation would’ve dramatically diminished, too.
But it didn’t. It passed.
And victory creates its own momentum.
Onward and upward!
PRedators: Anyone who’s willing to blow up the MAGA movement over a single-issue disagreement falls into the “PRedator” category. After all, “America First” is as much a destination as it is an ethos.
Therefore, the ultimate litmus test of “America First” policies are “America First” results. And America is a REALLY BIG PLACE!
From the border to the budget to the courts to international trade, there’s no shortage of work to do. And when you factor in foreign policy, military planning, and protecting Americans from outside aggression, the political complexities are readily apparent.
There’s a lot of moving parts!
Over the past month or so, we’ve seen some big names attempt to seize the wheel of the MAGA movement in single-issue disputes: Musk and Massie with the “Big Beautiful Bill.” Tucker Carlson, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Steve Bannon, and Candace Owens over Israel/Iran. They didn’t just state their case and move on; they made it their hill to die on.
Get. Over. Yourselves.
After all, today is Independence Day. We could use a helluva lot more George Washingtons, and a whole lot fewer Benedict Arnolds.
Happy birthday, America!
