I had the pleasure of meeting Andrew Breitbart just weeks before he died. He was at a conservative conference where he gave a fiery speech. Most people came to see Michelle Malkin, the other conservative firebrand at the conference -- Andrew was not well known yet. I had come to hear multiple speakers, but the one I wanted to hear the most was Andrew. He was top billing for me, one of the most important people in the conservative movement. The short line at his book signing was surprising. I waited patiently as he signed books and chatted.

There was no one behind me. He shook my hand, and began to talk. I discovered he had four kids, an enthusiasm for people, and a passion for what he was doing. He confirmed my expectations -- those ten minutes were impressive. After signing his book, he went downtown to see if he could find Michael Moore. He wanted to congratulate him on camera for being such a good capitalist.

Perfect Breitbart.

Breitbart paved the road for Trump’s win and understood the stakes. He saw the battle clearly, knew intimately the left was an enemy to be defeated, knew up close and personal what needed to be done to defeat their “BS Alinsky tactics.” He was making alliances, stirring the pot, encouraging us all to join the fight. Fighting the left was an imperative for our time.

That day, he spoke of the right needing “a rock star”. He spoke glowingly about Sarah Palin, how she would go to a town of ten thousand and a hundred thousand would come there to see her. He admired her and wished she had run. He derided those in the GOP who piled on to her as she was savaged, calling them “animals with no souls”. He scorned the left, yet disdained the castrated GOP, hating how they let her be taken down by the leftist wolves. He despised how they sat on their hands as the left seized power. He implied that an establishment incapable of seeing its opponents clearly, incapable of fighting them, needed to be replaced.

He told us the importance of uniting during the 2012 race. He challenged us all to fall behind the candidate who won, no matter who it was. He wasn’t pushing a particular candidate. He simply wanted us to see the horror of the current left, perhaps the nastiest group to gain power here. He knew this wasn’t politics as usual, imploring us to see the left clearly, impressing upon us the consequences of being ruled by their power brokers another four years.

He had an instinct for finding the leftist media narrative of the day. He said you could locate the talking points each morning just scouring the news sites. He thought the GOP nominee had to understand this media method of collusion in order to expose the narrative, and to form better one. Years later, it was clear the Trump team used this idea.

Because he knew the power of the left, he knew you had to fight its methods. He was, first and foremost, a warrior who wasn’t going to give up. He never saw his plan come to fruition. He never saw the road he paved go on to victory. It took five years, and miraculously, it’s here. He had a vision for what was needed, but it took others to fulfill it. He never knew that Donald Trump would be his candidate, his rock star, the scourge of the left, the one who could form the narrative, the one who could defeat the media, the one who could bring America back. There is no perfect candidate, but for this time, Trump embodies everything that Andrew foresaw. Trump: a candidate who was not shackled by his party, his conservatism, or the media.

Andrew’s candidate won. This new administration will be working hard to correct the destruction the left has wrought. They are talented, and have great vision. I have soaring hopes, we’ve seen tremendous strides in barely a week. But far from being done, it’s just beginning.

The left has been beaten back, but it’s not yet done. It still owns our culture, it still owns the education system, Hollywood, and the media. The democrat/media complex is wounded, thrashing around, and it’s looking for ways to destroy its enemies. Andrew would never stop at one political win. The win is good, but resting is not an option.

Breitbart’s maxim: politics is downstream from the culture. The left lost this time because (apart from Hillary fumbling an almost sure thing, the same as she did in 2008) Trump woke America up. But Hillary came closer than she should have. She and her backers convinced a lot of voters that Trump was the most horrible human to walk the planet since Hitler. The good news: that narrative will not stick if it’s countered. The Trump team will fight back. But we need to fight with them. The left’s effort to delegitimize Trump has been ongoing since he won the nomination. It’s now over the top, every day another accusation, every day more hyperbole. Having noted before how stale the leftist narrative has become (Trump is Hitler), and how they are failing, let’s recall what happened to George W. Bush.

The methodology of daily accusing W of being stupid, incompetent, and an evil right-winger worked. It took years but it worked. W did not fight back -- he gave the left the sword that would kill him. Because he did not fight back, in our confusion, we on the right did not come to his defense. The left’s narrative won, bringing the most destructive administration ever into power.

The Trump administration does fight back, and it’s smart. The leftist narrative machine may be old, stale, worn, and pathetically crazy, but it’s still embedded in the culture. It still has power. More than ever, we need to be Breitbart. Yes, we are the culture. We can’t sit back and watch the Trump people fight by themselves. We need to engage. “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” We need to fight the narratives of the left however we can, with whatever influence we have. We do this by destroying the false, silly narratives of the left at every opportunity.

Politics is downstream from the culture. What’s most important now is not to be timid, nor to be intimidated by the left. They want you to be ashamed of your support for Trump. They want you to not respond when they call him a racist, a hater of immigrants, gays and women. They are setting the cultural marker with their claim that Trump is illegitimate. He is a racist Hitlerian, hater of gays, women; deplorable, incompetent, and rightfully hated. They are saying you are the same. If you do not respond, if you do not fight, if you do not insert yourself into the culture, they will succeed.

Trump said a remarkable thing in his inaugural address: “We, the citizens of America, are now joined in a great national effort to rebuild our country and to restore its promise for all of our people. Together, we will determine the course of America and the world for years to come. Today we are not merely transferring power from one administration to another, or from one party to another -- but we are transferring power from Washington, D.C. and giving it back to you, the American People.” What a wonderful view -- the world can be right again. This promise can only hold if we join the fight for the culture, doing our part the best we can.

I didn’t notice how Andrew Breitbart signed his book to me until a year later.

It said: “Fight the Man.”

Andrew, wherever you are, I am.