Armed with nothing more than a cheap wig and a pair of too-tight-for-comfort skinny jeans, Matt Walsh set out to mock the grift of identity politics. His satirical documentary Am I Racist saw The Daily Wire’s stone cold host unflinchingly confront so-called racial experts. Walsh’s purpose was simple: to expose their rhetoric by having them state their beliefs point blank. The results were shocking, humiliating, and outright hilarious.
Am I Racist debuted in theaters nationwide, fighting against attempts at suppression from liberal activists and companies. Upon release, it grossed $12 million dollars, making it the highest grossing documentary film of the decade. This was an outstanding triumph for both Walsh and The Daily Wire, but even greater, it was a triumph for comedy.
I saw Am I Racist in theaters on its opening weekend. The theater was full and that was made apparent by the thunderous bouts of laughter spurred throughout its feature-length runtime. Walsh’s interactions under the guise of an absurd DEI-expert warranted guffaws and gasps, but mostly bouts of deep belly-laughs. It was an incredible experience to sit in a theater, surrounded by people who were audibly in agreement that the woke agenda was worthy of mockery. After the finale, everyone stumbled out of the cinema with a mixture of horror and amusement. Glances passed between strangers silently saying, “Did we really just see that?”
However, everyone left with their head held high and their shoulders back. Viewers left with a bit more confidence than they entered with due to one decisive takeaway –their sneaking suspicions about the ridiculousness of identity politics had been confirmed. The left had exposed their own insanity. Walsh’s film gave conservatives permission to stand up against an indoctrinated culture. The result? A group of average Americans who left emboldened to confidently call out the woke agenda promoted by the left, the elites, and the media. They were vindicated.
This cultural shift also manifested itself this fall. Donald Trump’s victory in the 2024 election was not a fluke. His sweeping success in both the popular vote and all of the swing states proves this. A lot of time, money, and individual effort went into his landslide win, but there is a more general and intangible genesis which allowed the Republican party to prosper. The culture surrounding Donald Trump changed.
On July 13, 2024, moments after Trump survived his first assassination attempt, he leapt back up after his injury, shouting the now-famous slogan “Fight, fight, fight!” At this moment, many people were faced with the undeniably nasty hatred inflicted upon Trump from the left. They could no longer deny that liberal rhetoric had done bodily harm to the former President, as well as killed one of his innocent supporters, Corey Comperatore.
The nation was shocked and the culture could no longer buy into the lie that Trump was a threat to democracy, a tale the media tirelessly sold. His image simultaneously softened and strengthened. Americans became more sympathetic after seeing the constant hatred levied against Trump in the wake of the attack, while also viewing him as the man who powerfully rose up from the tragedy for the people. He was no longer the bullish, ruthless businessman in a gold tower. Instead, he had proven his humanity as well as his courage.
Democratic politicians were forced to publicly acknowledge how abhorrent the assassination attempt was. Yet, left-wing media outlets tried to downplay and justify it. This exposed their bias and hatred, which was so deep that it was attempting to defend a gunman trying to kill a man. First, the liberal media tried to pretend that it wasn’t truly an attempted assassination. When that failed, they shifted their narrative, and claimed that Trump had brought the atrocity upon himself. Fortunately, the American public didn’t buy it. Instead, they were offended that the supposed reporters of the ‘truth’ were outright lying to them.
In the wake of July 13, the cultural shift became palpable. The vilification of Trump gradually eased. He was endorsed by celebrities such as Hulk Hogan, Jake Paul, and Brett Farve. He appeared on some of the most popular comedy podcasts, including those of Andrew Shulz and Theo Von. Additionally, Trump’s three-hour long conversation with worldwide sensation Joe Rogan gave people a thorough opportunity to get to know the Presidential candidate as a person. At the Al Smith dinner, Trump came across as funny and relatable. All of these events allowed voters to see Trump and his message in a much kinder light. The stigma of being a MAGA-Republican slowly melted away. Trump signs popped up in front yards. Trump flags began flying on the backs of trucks and outside of citizens’ homes. People began wearing MAGA hats out in public, branding themselves as Trump supporters with the bright red cap.
Two months after that first assassination attempt, “Am I Racist” premiered in theaters and caused another groundswell of support for conservative efforts. It further propelled the cultural shift toward Trump by mocking liberal absurdity. The Daily Wire’s founder, Jeremy Boering, had always intended for the company to create and change the culture. Now Boering has certainly done so and has the box-office success to prove it. Matt Walsh drove the final nail into the coffin of the woke agenda as Am I Racist made it socially acceptable to not only reject their premises – but laugh at the total and utter absurdity of it all. It liberated conservatives. It empowered them to take back the power of humor that the left had previously stolen.
For many years, the liberal media has branded Donald Trump and his supporters as Nazis. In an odd twist of fate, this is perhaps the term that will succinctly remove a majority of the hatred surrounding Trump. Americans can now clearly see that the MAGA movement is not an off-shoot of nazism, but rather, that the left has abused its power and allowed for insanity to prosper at the expense of common sense. The threat to democracy ultimately came from the liberals, not the conservatives.
Thanks to this cultural shift, it’s no longer shameful to have voted for Donald Trump. It’s no longer “bigoted” to laugh at the preposterous woke agenda. Rather, it’s a badge of common sense and honor.
