I Think It's Time

First, pray for our President who has COVID. Scripture tells Christians to pray for the Emperor and leaders. What’s notable is that such a passage was written about Nero, who was using Christian bodies to light the streets of Rome. We may disagree with President Biden, but let’s keep some perspective and recognize he is our President, and he could use our prayers.

Second, Nutroots Nation is happening in a few weeks in Pittsburgh. Nutroots is the leftwing highly online activist conference. One of their topics, hilariously, is how progressives can talk conservatives out of voting. For all their screaming about voter suppression, they’re going to do a panel designed to teach skills on voter suppression, or as they put it, “This workshop will show you how to have cooling conversations with people who strongly disagree with you to help them process their negative emotions and reduce their hostility. The purpose of these dialogues isn’t to persuade red voters to vote blue, but to reduce their activism on behalf of extreme right-wing candidates and causes.” Good grief.

Lastly, I have had a lot of meetings this week with my team doing future planning. My radio show is growing, and the growth rate is about to pick up. At the same time, I find myself speaking into a world that, even on the right, is vastly more divided than it has been.

As I’ve noted, I think the quest to end Roe long united a fractious group, and Roe’s end means an end to the prevailing forces that kept conservatives on the same page. So what does the future look like?

How does conservatism speak into the twenty-first century? How does the GOP move beyond the Reagan era and also the Trump era, where we seem doomed to constant, chronic relitigation of 2020? How do we rebuild a country broken by Biden and the left?

After a lot of urging, I think it is time to fire back up the Gathering.

We are looking at a date in late summer or early fall next year to start doing what we had been doing before COVID — having conversations with conservative and Republican leaders from the elected in Washington and the states to the unelected policymakers in the think tank world.

I’m going to start reaching out soon. Mike Pompeo, Ted Cruz, Tom Cotton, Josh Hawley, Nikki Haley, Tim Scott, Rick Scott, Rand Paul, Mike Lee, Chip Roy, Dan Crenshaw, Ron DeSantis, Brian Kemp, Bill Lee, Glenn Youngkin, Chris Christie, Kristi Noem, Mike Pence, Donald Trump, Mitch McConnell, Steve Scalise, Jim Jordan — they’re on my shortlist to touch base with and invite.

If you’re reading this and your organization wants to sponsor, let me know.

The format will be as we have done — a thirty-minute conversation with me working your questions into the conversation. There aren’t going to be speeches and filibusters but real conversations.

We need to talk about technology. We need to talk about energy. We need to talk about education. We need to talk about culture. We need to talk about foreign affairs. We need to talk about the military. We need to talk about China. We need to talk about the future, rebuilding in a post-Biden environment.

We need to gather together in person again in Atlanta in 2023 and chart the future.

Those of you who are paid subscribers to this list will get invited as attendees before everyone else and offered an initial 50% discount off the early bird rate. Keep your eyes out for details to follow.

The Gathering is back.