GOP strategist: U.N. speech shows how for Trump the fight itself is the victory | Opinion
What we heard from President Donald Trump in his hourlong speech at the United Nations on Monday was never meant to be diplomacy or statesmanship. It was always going to be raw political theater — staged to shock the establishment, enrage the left and electrify Trump’s base.
It’s the reason he stormed into the U.N. on offense: criticizing American allies, calling climate change a “con job,” demanding Hamas release the hostages, and bragging about ending “seven unendable wars” while sneering the two things he got from the U.N. were “a bad escalator and a bad teleprompter.”
The left will never grasp that Trump’s supporters don’t care if there were exaggerations or untruths; they care that when he steps onto a stage — whether it’s the U.N. General Assembly or a rally in the Rust Belt — he swings with both fists. Every insult, every confrontation, every break with “presidential norms” becomes political currency for him — something he can bank in the heat of battle and later cash in for more power, more loyalty and more dominance.
That’s why every clash matters. Every fight is theater. Every spectacle is strategic.
Trump is rewriting the rules of political combat. It’s why he cancels government shutdown talks over “ridiculous demands” from “Radical Left Democrats.” It doesn’t matter if those demands are real. The fight itself is the victory. The chaos rallies his supporters, the drama builds momentum and the shutdown becomes just another deposit of political capital in his war chest.
That war chest doesn’t just power his attacks — it shields him from accountability.
You see it when conservatives shrug after Trump directs U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to prosecute his political enemies or when corruption allegations against border czar Tom Homan are dismissed by commentator Megyn Kelly with a simple: “We DO NOT CARE.”
That same capital gives Trump the opportunity to chip away at constitutional rights.
Attacks on the press, erosion of due process and blatant violations of free speech are waved off because the base is too busy cheering the spectacle. Trump’s genius is that he understands the show. His danger is that while the show plays, liberty is quietly eroded.
The Founding Fathers knew from bitter experience that unchecked power — in any hands — leads only to tyranny. That is why they designed a system of checks and balances and a separation of powers, and placed strict limits on authority. They enshrined guarantees of speech, press, religion and assembly; protections against unreasonable searches; and the promise of due process and a fair trial — freedoms that all safeguard liberty.
Yet too many Americans seem to have lost that understanding. Decades of indoctrination in public schools have stripped away basic understanding of civics. American exceptionalism has been smeared, replaced by endless critiques of the nation’s flaws. Social media has reduced freedom to hashtags and memes. In the process, we’ve lost sight of the foundations of freedom and the costs of liberty.
The last great pure defense of freedom came during World War II — more than 75 years ago — when Americans stood united to defeat fascism and totalitarianism. Since then, conflicts in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan have been fought under far more divisive circumstances, often seen less as battles for liberty and more as political struggles shaped by partisan agendas. In that shift, we’ve lost something vital — the understanding that freedom is never inevitable. It is fragile, always one generation away from extinction.
Today, too many Americans treat freedom as background noise, assuming they will automatically renew themselves with each sunrise. But history tells us otherwise. Our freedoms don’t exist on autopilot; they are not organic, not self-sustaining. Liberty must be nurtured, defended and cherished. It endures only when citizens remain vigilant, when they guard it with conviction, and when they refuse to let its light fade.
The question is not whether liberty can endure, but whether my fellow Republicans will find the courage to defend it. If we do, we can restore faith in our institutions, rekindle pride in America’s principles, and see the torch of liberty burn brighter than ever.
Matt Wylie is a South Carolina-based Republican political strategist and analyst with over 25 years of experience working on federal, state and local campaigns.
This story was originally published September 25, 2025 at 5:00 AM with the headline "GOP strategist: U.N. speech shows how for Trump the fight itself is the victory | Opinion."