Before there was Make America Great Again, there was, simply, The Greatest: A brash, bombastic boxer known for his big boasts, big wins, big defeats, and — perhaps most of all — big, improbable comebacks.
But when he spoke to reporters after being dog-walked by Trevor Berbick in a sad, one-sided title loss at age 39, more than his fists had lost their sting. His bravado was stripped away; the same Louisville Lip who had taunted — often cruelly — opponents like Joe Frazier, Ernie Terrell, Sonny Liston, and George Foreman — was subdued and accepting: This was it.
He fought the good fight and came up short. There won’t be a storybook ending.
This time, The Greatest was done for good.
Still, there was an upside:
“The people of the world will love me more now,” Muhammad Ali predicted. “See, I’m like them. We all lose sometimes. We all grow old. We all die.”
Ali was exactly right. In his youth, he was a divisive, controversial figure — but our history books remember him as one of the most universally beloved icons of the 20th century. He went from a pro-segregationist Muslim in the 1960s to a cultural saint.
Today, everyone adores Muhammad Ali. By the time he died, foreign leaders traveled to Louisville to pay their respects (including Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, who left in a huff when he wasn’t offered a speaking role at Ali’s funeral).
We love and admire Ali — not just because he floated like a butterfly and had lightning-fast fists, but because of how deftly he handled setbacks.
After the 2026 midterms, the Make America Great Again movement is at a crossroads. Where we go next is unclear.
There’s the Tucker Carlson-JD Vance wing lobbying for an isolationist pivot that redirects the entire MAGA mission — and the birth of the New Right. There’s also the Ted Cruz-Tom Cotton wing reaching for the steering wheel, pulling hard in the opposite direction. Economic conservatives are still howling about the tariffs; neocons are still howling about the MOU; and podcastistan is still howling about Israel.
There’s too much howling. Stop already!
What we desperately need is a step-by-step plan to regain our mojo, rebuild the Republican Party, vanquish the Democrats, and smack around the newly-elected DSA dorks like a frickin’ piñata.
Because right now, the parallels between Old Trump and Old Ali are uncanny. The president who spoke with 60 Minutes certainly wasn’t the brash, trash-talking, burn-the-boats, go-for-the-jugular candidate of 2016, 2020, or even 2024. This was a subdued, introspective Donald Trump. Instead of doubling down, he ceded ground, acknowledging that his signature issue — border security and immigration — was “too tough” with deportations, and that he’d “love to do something on immigration” with congressional Democrats.
Y’know what?
It’s precisely the right PR play.
Like an older Muhammad Ali, Donald Trump is now a lion in winter. And being vulnerable didn’t make us lose respect for Ali — it humanized him.
That’s the first step in our comeback plan: Humanize President Trump, show (gasp!) some vulnerability and introspection, and resuscitate his approval rating.
The Democrats want Trump and the MAGA movement to appear out-of-touch and indifferent to the plight of the American people. The more out-of-touch and indifferent we’re perceived to be, the easier it is to sell the Democratic Socialist solution.
Ignoring the results of a one-sided midterm drubbing would make us look indifferent and woefully out-of-touch. It would’ve been the exact wrong thing to do: Trump would’ve sounded like Nero fiddling while Rome burned.
Once again, the president’s PR instincts were right on the money.
Which is why Donald Trump should be doing more interviews. More one-on-ones. He should be gracious, circumspect, and a little bit vulnerable. Give the audience a glimpse of his heart, his soul, his fears, and his dreams.
For obvious political reasons, Vice President JD Vance seems highly desirous of taking the communicative lead and spearheading the PR comeback campaign. (His X post certainly had tongues wagging.) That would be a mistake.
Trump is the lion in winter, not Vance.
Nobody sympathizes with the vice president. He’s not as likeable or charismatic as his boss and would be a poor PR point man, because he would come across as a self-serving politician who’s positioning himself for 2028.
JD Vance’s ambition would taint the message.
But an aging Trump, being a little bit vulnerable and self-effacing, wouldn’t be shackled with any of Vance’s liabilities. He’s not motivated by personal ambition anymore, but by helping his country as much as he can before the sun sets on his story, too.
It would make Trump a sympathetic protagonist — the aging gunslinger — and someone the audience cheers for.
And a terrific way to get the audience on your side is to seize a popular issue, which brings us to step two: I’d prioritize the prevention of veteran suicide, which is appallingly high and a national disgrace.
Each day, roughly 22 veterans commit suicide. Both parties have treated our servicemen as disposable assets; the neglect, disregard, and abysmal quality of care are a bipartisan scandal.
We elected President Trump to solve problems. Well, this is a huge one.
It’d be the perfect issue to seize, because sometimes, believe it or not, the best PR of all is simply doing the right thing.
But the reason why it’s such an effective PR tactic matters, too. Because it wouldn’t be happening in a vacuum: The Democrats’ vengeance campaign is just beginning.
We all know what’s coming next: The Democrats will control the House and the Senate in 2027. The White House will be under siege 24/7. There’ll be nonstop investigations, salacious media leaks, subpoenas flying, impeachment(s) hearings, and more.
The Democrats will interpret the midterms as a mandate to wage war on Republicans. 2028 Democratic presidential hopefuls will be incentivized to win over the base by delivering juicy slabs of rhetorical red meat. They’ll vow to lock up the president, his family, and all those evil Nazi enablers. Everything on the DSA wish-list will be promised!
Which is exactly what the GOP wants: The more Democrats wildly overreach, the faster Republicans will rebound.
Steps one and two were positioning ourselves for the inevitable. Step three is inviting the Dems to overreach — and then picking them apart with a barrage of counterpunches.
When Trump left office in January 2021, his approval rating was in the toilet. A comeback was unfathomable; his career was over. The Trump/MAGA brand was at an all-time low.
And then the Democrats did what they always do: They overreached, attacking the president with transparently partisan lawfare, bogus subpoenas, and manufactured criminal charges. They raided his home and threatened to throw him in jail.
And from a political PR point of view, getting indicted was the best thing that could’ve happened to the ex-president!
Ron DeSantis certainly thinks so:
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis on Trump: I didn't know what Trump was going to do initially, and then they kept indicting him, and he got more popular. Think about this. How crazy is this? You run for office, you usually think it's a good thing if your opponent gets indicted. I'm sitting there praying, "Don't indict him. Don't indict him," because I know he's going to get more popular.
— Clash Report (@clashreport) November 3, 2026
“When you run for office, you usually think it’s a good thing if your opponent gets indicted,” DeSantis said, reflecting on the 2024 GOP primaries. “I’m sitting there praying, ‘Don’t indict [Trump]! Don’t indict him!’ because I know he’s going to get more popular.”
It’ll happen again, too. Just wait: Harpooning the great Trumpian whale is still a left-wing obsession. Even if they wanted to, they couldn’t resist the temptation.
After all, it’s what their base wants. Anything less than his head on a pike would be a buzzkill.
Which means that the PR contrast between revenge-obsessed Democrats drunk on power attacking the president — and the lion in winter fighting valiantly to save the lives of American servicemen — will be dramatic.
Then, after the Democrats waste their political capital on subpoenas, indictments, and personal attacks, I’d pounce: That’s the perfect moment to realign MAGA for 2028.
On a day when good news in being reported (economic or otherwise), Trump should take a victory lap: He was elected to Make America Great Again. And he’s delighted to announce, “Mission accomplished.”
Victory is ours!
Which leads to step four: As of today, MAGA now stands for Maximum Affordability Golden Age.
The Dems believe “affordability” is the magical invocation that wins elections, so it ain’t going away anytime soon. Chances are excellent that whichever party prevails on the affordability issue will be in the driver’s seat in 2028.
So let’s take it back.
The last mission of the Trump presidency — and by extension, the new mission of the Republican Party — is maximizing affordability for the American people, ushering in a Golden Age of affordability.
That means bringing high-paying jobs back to America. Lowering regulations and slicing through red tape. Reducing the price of beef, chicken, gas, housing, and healthcare. Making it easier for younger Americans to buy a home and start a family. Eliminating fraud, waste, and government bloat.
It’s a smart, clever way to recapture the affordability issue.
And whereas the GOP is embracing Maximum Affordability, the Dems are hellbent on locking up the president and settling political scores. Yet again, the contrast is glaring.
But we can make it even more glaring if we cherry pick a few issues that sic DSA Democrats against the rest of the donkeys.
Which takes us to step five: Spark the flames of a Democratic civil war by pitting the DSA loons against the DNC.
Congrats, Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries. You guys won.
And now Abdul El-Sayed, Darializa Avila Chevalier, Claire Valdez, and Melat Kiros are YOUR responsibility!
Every radical, insane, bat-feces crazy thing they say and do now reflects the Democratic brand. Because YOU welcomed them into the party!
In hindsight, the Dems would’ve still won a majority in both houses if they disavowed the DSA, condemned socialism, and had the moral courage to refute an ad that blamed Jews for the price of bananas. Yeah, they’d have lost a few extra seats, but numbskulls like El-Sayed would no longer be able to hijack the DNC’s messaging. There would still be a concrete wall between the Democratic Party brand and the DSA brand.
But Schumer and Jeffries panicked. They welcomed the DSA and Islamic socialist groups with open arms. And now, the brands are blurred.
The GOP must take advantage.
Wedge issues that expose the DSA’s extremism and bigotry — Israel, police, border enforcement, Islamism, military, the free market — are perfect. We want to pick at these scabs, jostle their coalition, and provoke as much Democrat-on-Democrat warfare as possible.
It’s a simple gameplan: Rebuild President Trump’s popularity. Seize a popular, untapped issue. Wait for the Dems to overreach — and counterpunch like hell. Reposition MAGA to recapture the “affordability” argument. And then split the Democrats into warring factions, branding them as un-American extremists.
Trump might be a lion in winter, but he still has fangs and claws. And even an old lion can devour a donkey.
Especially if the donkey is dumb enough to attack it.
“I got no respect for a man who won’t hit back,” said Ali. “You kill my dog, you better hide your cat.”
I’m sure the president agrees.
Rumble, young man, rumble!
One Last Thing: We lost the midterms, but our fight continues. In many ways, our real fight is just beginning: The radical left has never been so emboldened — or their goals so ambitious.
We need your help to fight back!
As a PJ Media VIP member, you’ll receive exclusive access to our behind-the-paywall content, commenting privileges, and an ad-free experience. VIP Gold gets you the same level of “insider access” across our entire family of sites (PJ Media, Townhall, RedState, twitchy, Hot Air, and Bearing Arms). That means: More stories, more videos, more content, more fun, more conservatism, more EVERYTHING!
And if you CLICK HERE and use the promo code FIGHT you’ll receive a yuuuge 60% discount!
Thank you for your consideration.
Recommended: Marco It Down: The 3 Telltale Signs That Rubio WILL Be Running for President in 2028
Join the Conversation
VIP members get the ability to comment on articles.