The Washington Examiner launched the Restoring America project during a crisis — not merely for the conservative movement, but for the nation. In October 2021, the COVID pandemic was a year old, but it continued to sow paranoia and division. The chaotic withdrawal of U.S. forces from Kabul was little short of a rout, and it shook the nation’s confidence in its ability to project power. Massive migrant caravans streamed across a wide-open southern border. Inflation roared. Meanwhile, a malignant cultural revolution ripped through America’s institutions. Radical teachers force-fed leftist ideology to school children. Hollywood churned out agitprop dressed as entertainment. Corporate America pledged fealty to DEI initiatives. The military brass deemphasized combat readiness in favor of political correctness. The legacy media traded the pretense of objectivity for the thrill of activism.
This conglomerate imposed itself on the lives of ordinary people with uncompromising zeal. Dissenters were threatened with career and reputational cancellation, and those who persisted faced brazen censorship — the result of behind-the-scenes collusion between President Joe Biden’s administration and social media giants determined to silence dissent. Holdouts faced a simple choice: Recant publicly, perform the prescribed act of contrition, and promise to “do better” — or be destroyed. Indeed, you may be destroyed anyway.
