Nicole Shanahan has released a brilliant ad -- emotional, impactful, and just a bit over the top for RFK., Jr. and a little light on Trump. But brilliant nonetheless.

I have never been a big fan of JFK or RFK. I was born a little late for that, in 1966. But oh how my mother and grandmother loved Camelot and Jackie, even to their dying days. There are still a lot of JFK/RFK voters out there, even now, and if they see this ad, well, they will pull the lever for DJT. I will be making sure I send it to all of those voters I know. 

Meanwhile on to the substance of the ad. Mostly drawn from 60s footage, and heavily weighted towards the RFK, Jr. candidacy (I think it is an adaptation of what was originally going to be an RFK, Jr. ad), it is evocative and heartwrenching. The overall message focuses on health and unity. 

But for me, the takeaway line was this statement from RFK, Jr.:

“The trick to life is to not have expectations, but just to know what your duty is, and to do it. You become relentless, and nobody can defeat you.” 

Even if this is a recycled ad, remade for the Trump campaign, it is a poignant and a sincere appeal to health and unity. Shanahan clearly knows a thing or two about marketing, and I’m thankful that the RFK, Jr/Shanahan team is now on the Trump Train.

Something else needs to be addressed here, and it goes directly to the quote above. That something is the hysteria coming from the allegedly “right-wing” purists. These are the people supposedly on our side, who, literally every election cycle, scream bloody murder about their “principles” and their “integrity.” They beat their chests, rend their garments, and howl to anyone who will listen that we can’t, simply can’t, align with the “enemy.” Not all are NeverTrumpers, but many are.

Apparently, they have a different definition of “enemy” than most rational people do. While it is always suspect when a former foe decides to lay down his arms, pledge his allegiance, and join in your cause, it is the height of arrogance and stupidity to reject such an alliance out of hand. 

Principles, integrity, compassion, and tolerance got us here. And while on an individual level basis, in a properly functioning western civilization, none of those things are less than moral and correct. On a societal level however, especially one obsessed by diversity rather than commonality, they are a pipe dream, undercut by human nature on every front, and ultimately deadly.

You may stand upon them only for as long as your enemies allow, before they cut the feet from beneath your legs and remove your heads, often quite literally, from the clouds of lofty moral righteousness and willful blindness. 

You cannot eat principles (based on only some ephemeral high road); integrity (without action) will not prevent you from becoming a victim of crime; compassion (misplaced all too often) is seen as weakness and ruthlessly exploited; tolerance (which never stops until celebration is the order of the day), will only ever be expected from you, never extended to you. 

The easy lives we in the West have mostly lived (and take wildly for granted) are only available because strong men fought to keep them, once upon a time, and built so mighty an edifice that it has taken decades for the lack of maintenance to show.

But we misrepresented the past to the younger generations, and now seem doomed to repeat the mistakes of history. Unless we seek out the strong: good men like Donald J. Trump, J.D. Vance, RFK. Jr., and good women like Melania Trump, Usha Vance, Tulsi Gabbard, and Nicole Shanahan. We must fight, it is now or never. 

So for those of you who are willing to cut off your noses to spite your faces, please, for once in your fence-sitting, what-iffing, but, but, mean tweets-fainting, muh “principles” and “integrity” pedestal riders, for once just do the right thing. Vote for Trump/Vance, because we must win, or only the principles and integrity of our enemies will matter, and they possess neither. 

Image: Donald J. Trump 2024