“Give people a common enemy,” noted Christian theologist and English Catholic priest James Alison, “and you will give them a common identity. Deprive them of an enemy and you will deprive them of the crutch by which they know who they are.”
In other words, large groups of people — including political groups — aren’t just defined by what they support, but by whom they oppose. It ain’t just about bright lights and positivity.
Darkness matters, too.
To quote Doctor Who, “You can always judge a man by the quality of his enemies.”
It’s a dynamic pro wrestling figured out long ago: In a “sport” that’s 100% built on storytelling and manufactured emotions, promoters learned that it’s not enough just to have a super-popular champion. That’s not the secret to drawing big crowds and huge money.
You also need a worthy villain.
Few wrestlers in history could rival Hulk Hogan’s popularity in the 1980s. But as uniquely popular as the Hulkster was, he couldn’t sell out the Pontiac Silverdome on his own.
He needed a villain: the monstrous Andre the Giant.
When they met in WrestleMania III, up to 93,173 fans were in attendance. It was the classic storytelling formula: hero in jeopardy + unbeatable villain = drama.
The audience ate it up with a spoon.
(The Hulkster won with a bodyslam, by the way.)
And this brings us to President Donald Trump, the Republican Party, and the MAGA movement, circa the tail end of 2025. If you haven’t noticed, the GOP is on its heels. We lost badly on Election Day 2025, and Trump’s current polling numbers are going in the wrong direction.
Who’s our common enemy?
Don’t simply say, “It’s the Democrats.” That’s already baked into the cake. In a two-party system, it’s ALWAYS gotta be one or the other.
We need more than that.
Over the past few decades, Republican have — temporarily, at least — embraced all kinds of different, far-reaching missions. And each mission had at least one great enemy: There was the Cold War mission (bad guys: Russians, commies, and “useful idiots”). There was the Reagan Revolution mission (bad guys: country club Republicans, RINOs, and non-conservatives). There was the post-9/11 mission (bad guys: radical Islam and/or “the Axis of Evil.”). There was the Tea Party mission (bad guys: government waste, bloat, and debt).
Then, of course, came the MAGA mission (bad guys: politicians and policies that put “America Last” instead of “America First”).
But the MAGA mission has been around for over 10 years now. Donald Trump has either been running for president — or living in the White House — every day since June 16, 2015. And in some ways, he’s a victim of his success. He’s already closed the border, stopped illegal immigration, and reversed countless “America Last” policies.
And today, the globalists are no longer the biggest threat to America’s well-being.
We’re seeing the rise of a new Democratic Party. There’s AOC in congress and Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani in New York City. After Charlie Kirk’s murder, leftists were more concerned with Jimmy Kimmel’s “right” to entertain dozens on late-night TV than the most shocking political assassination on American soil since Sirhan Sirhan, a Palestinian sympathizer, killed Robert F. Kennedy.
Speaking of Palestine, for today’s liberals, the great moral quandary of our age is how to “Free Palestine” from the evil Zionists. Gender identities might be fluid, but devout anti-Zionism is their new North Star.
So on and so forth.
Political movements aren’t static; they’re constantly evolving, continually changing. When our enemies change, we must change with them.
Adapt or die. Pivot or perish.
Otherwise, we’ll be left behind.
Besides, I’ve noticed that the GOP does better when we’re united by a big mission — and a big, scary, threatening enemy. Without one, we turn on each other and cannibalize our own.
Which is exactly what we’re seeing today, with the Groyper + Tucker Carlson + Candace Owens triumvirate battling everyone else. It’s destructive and stupid, and the rest of MAGA needs to nip it in the bud — or it WILL spiral out of control.
The clock is ticking.
Tomorrow, I’ll offer new ideas on a MAGA PR pivot: A new “common enemy” to re-unite our movement, realigning it to match the ethos of today’s biggest danger.
But until then, please share your thoughts in the comments. If you believe MAGA needs a new common enemy, whom should we target?
Lord knows there’s no shortage of candidates.
(Here, our cup spilleth over.)
I’m curious how the PJ Media VIP audience sees the problem — as well as the opportunity.
PRedictions: The economy is in far better shape than the media is telling you. Although the ultimate fate of the U.S. economy — and the GOP’s chances in the 2026 midterms — will depend on the so-called “A.I. bubble” being a misnomer, we received excellent news the day after Turkey Day.
Even the New York Times admitted it (although they phrased it as negatively as they could): “U.S. Black Friday Sales Defy Tariffs and Economic Woes.”
That’s the Times’ way of acknowledging that Black Friday retail sales increased by 4%. Nearly $12 billion was spent on digital purchases.
Just a few days prior, the Financial Times predicted “US Black Friday shoppers expected to spend less as cost of living bites.” (Whoops.)
Typically, when a Republican is in the White House, the media seeks stories of economic pain and devastation. (And then, when a Democrat takes over, those stories vanish in an instant: Good times are back!)
It was a phenomenon that Rush Limbaugh loved to lampoon, especially when it came to the homeless: Somehow, all the homeless people seemed to vanish whenever the Dems returned to the White House.
Still, this economic news wasn’t just a ray of sunshine amidst the winter doldrums. The GOP needs a strong, successful economy to stave off a 2026 Blue Wave. If the American people lose faith in the Republicans’ capacity to steer the financial ship, the gig is up.
And the final two years of Trump’s presidency will be mired in impeachment hearings, subpoenas, and phony investigations. I guarantee it.
Had the opposite happened — and Black Friday sales tanked — it’d be too much to overcome. More than the Thanksgiving turkey would be cooked.
What we have, boys and girls, is a legitimate reason for hope and optimism.
PRojections: That’s because there’s a lag between the “economic reality” and “public sentiment.” They don’t move at the same start time.
The economic reality is like a very long train, and public sentiment is the caboose: It takes a while for the public to catch up.
Whether they believe the economy is good, bad, or something in between, public sentiment is always a lagging indicator.
Right now, in opinion poll after opinion poll, the public has a negative feeling about the economy. They believe prices are still too high — and basic necessities are no longer affordable.
And even if the economy takes off like a rocket ship, Joe Six-Pack won’t feel it right away.
It’ll take him half a year.
For PR, at least, the phrase “trickle-down economics” is exactly right: It takes time for the caboose to feel the momentum.
But once it starts moving, it also takes a lot to slow it down.
So let’s hope the 2025 holiday shopping season helps kickstart a new age of American prosperity. Because, if it does, the rest of the country will feel it by summer 2026. Come June or July, Americans will be feeling very positive about their future.
And that’ll put the GOP back in the driver’s seat for the Nov. 2026 midterms.
PRaise: To the West Virginian National Guardsmen who, according to their governor, are asking to honor their fallen servicemembers by continuing to patrol the streets of D.C.
Per CBS News: “No West Virginia National Guard troops deployed in D.C. have asked to leave since deadly shooting, governor says”
Gov. Patrick Morrisey said Friday that no West Virginia National Guard members deployed to Washington, D.C., have requested to return home in the wake of Wednesday's shooting of two West Virginia Guard members that left one dead and the second critically wounded.
"I haven't heard of anyone step back," Morrisey told CBS News in an interview. "They wanted to stay. They wanted to complete the mission and serve their state and country."
Good. Walking away from evil invites more of it.
I was raised in a military family. My father is a retired lieutenant colonial. But until my son joined the Army Cavalry, I didn’t appreciate the emotional commitment.
I guess it’s because it never occurred to me that anything could hurt my dad. He was big and strong when I was small and weak. I depended on him to keep me safe, and he never gave me a reason to doubt his commitment.
But it’s my job to keep my boys safe. It’s ALL our jobs to keep our kids safe! It’s our most solemn responsibility as parents.
I’ve kissed enough boo-boos (and made enough emergency room visits) to know how vulnerable our children are. We owe them so much more than this!
Importing mentally unstable Afghan nationals into our country is madness.
It’s getting people killed.
PRedators: It’s gotta be Rahmanullah Lakanwal, the Afghan immigrant who shot a pair of National Guardsmen. One of them, Sarah Beckstrom, age 20, has already passed away.
And I know we’ve Epstein’d ourselves into backing all kinds of kooky conspiracy theories. Believing in outlandish, far-reaching conspiracies has gone mainstream in certain MAGA-aligned circles, alas.
So it was only a matter of time:
URGENT Is the CIA behind the murder of two US soldiers near the White House? Did they direct/orchestrate this act of war? Take a close look at the gunman’s ID card below - acc to this he was a member of the Qandahar Strike Force, a CIA-backed paramilitary unit. He’s one of theirs pic.twitter.com/anKD3JrkQS
— Lara Logan (@laralogan) November 27, 2025
GET THIS…😳😳😳
— The Patriot Voice (@TPV_John) November 27, 2025
Rahmanullah Lakanwal, the name of the dude who killed two National Guard soldiers today, and was subsequently given asylum status by the Trump Administration actually “served alongside U.S. Special Forces in Afghanistan” for 10 YEARS.
Because, OF COURSE he… pic.twitter.com/MY8ZMuxzMc
Look, I get that speculating about some conspiracies is fun: For all I know, maybe there really are dead aliens in Area 51.
I doubt it, but I can’t rule it out.
But not everything is a conspiracy. They’re the exception, not the rule.
Most of the time, a cigar is just a cigar.
And when the blood of a young American patriot like Sarah Beckstrom is spilled, we owe her — and her family — more than speculation and innuendo. It’s not fair to cheapen her death by transforming it into conspiratorial gobbledygook.
Or as a way for untalented “influencers” to generate social media clicks. It’s cruel and gross.
If you wanna let your imagination run wild over aliens in Area 51, have at it. Believe in aliens and spaceships if you want.
But until you have something more substantive than baseless theories and rampant speculations, SHUT THE [expletive] UP and let Beckstrom’s family mourn the senseless death of a beautiful, brave 20-year-old American girl with dignity and peace.
And go play “conspiracy” somewhere else.
