Over the last three and a half years, our government has delivered a series of body blows to the American republic. On his very first day in the White House, for example, newly elected President Joe Biden issued executive orders, proclamations, and memoranda that, among other things, reenlisted the United States in the Paris Climate Accords, ordered federal agencies to advance “equity for all,” included illegal immigrants in the national census, shut down the Keystone XL pipeline project, terminated the building of a wall on the southern border, and strengthened the power of the government to enforce COVID regulations. 

From that point on, the punches came thick and fast. The COVID crackdown with its manifesto of lies. The Afghanistan debacle. The countless hordes of illegal immigrants streaming across the border. The institutionalization of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI). The celebration of transgenderism. The law used as a bludgeon against political opponents. The deterioration of our military. The overseas wars. Ordinary Americans could scarcely catch their breath before the next left hook smacked them in the ribcage.

Corporations, universities, Big Tech, and our elites and glitterati all jumped into the ring to use American principles and traditions as their punching bag. The heavyweight in this crew was corporate media, outfits like The New York Times, The Washington Post, and CNN, that kept up a steady rain of blows, substituting propaganda for real news.

All of these aggressors were particularly good at feints, a mock attack designed to distract an opponent before striking a real blow. Deception for them was the name of the game. If you didn’t take the COVID jab, you were going to kill Grandma. If you thought DEI training was a bucket of hogwash, you were a racist. If you stood before your school board and protested its transgender policies, you were a fascist. Despite what you knew to be true, they told you the border was under control, the COVID vaccines were safe and effective, equity topped meritocracy, and American exceptionalism was a myth.

And then something happened.

In the Rocky movies of the 1970s and ’80s, there always comes a moment in the climatic fight when the tide of the fight turns. Up until then, Rocky absorbs blow after punishing blow. He’s a tough fighter, but his defense is lousy. But then comes that split-second when he throws a punch that strikes home, that tells his opponent and the audience that the real fight is only beginning.

That moment occurred at 9 p.m. Eastern Time on June 27, 2024 when President Joe Biden debated former president Donald Trump and in a matter of minutes revealed, once and for all, the lies and guises that had hidden his incompetency and senility from the American public.

Before that dramatic turning point, some opponents were jabbing back against the behemoth that threatened to crush liberty and justice. Some physicians and commentators, for example, opposed the misguided COVID regulations, and often suffered opprobrium and job loss as a result. Individuals and groups like Moms for Liberty fought for parental rights in schools. The Bud Light boycott struck a blow against the transgender corporate crowd. Congressional hearings this past winter exposed the radicalism of schools like Harvard.  

But the June debate was that Rocky moment when the opponent was sent bloodied and reeling back to his corner. And right on the heels of that punch came two more, the failed assassination attempt on Donald Trump, followed almost immediately by the Republican National Convention. The failed assassination gave us a man with blood on his face and an upraised fist who urged Americans, “Fight! Fight! Fight!” The convention gave voice to ordinary Americans who showed joy and fire as they gathered to celebrate the nomination of Donald Trump and the beginning of a new Republican party.

Just as in the Rocky movies, the fight is by no means over. Because of their educations and their biases, most reporters in the mainstream media will continue twisting the news just as they have, an unintentional and ironic mutating of The Washington Post’s slogan that “Democracy dies in darkness.” Politicians, not all of them Democrats, will continue to play their shell games. The self-anointed elites, the university professors, public school leaders and librarians, and all the rest have been bloodied, but they’re still in the fight.

Yet the tenor of that fight has changed, and more and more of the American people know it. Black and Hispanic voters are exiting the party that has abused their loyalty, that promised so much and delivered little. Young people are waking up to the evils of leftism and embracing freedom. More working class Americans than ever know that the federal government is an enemy, not a friend.

The fight for liberty will go on—tomorrow, next week, 10 years from now—and that battle in the ring may get tougher but giving up or complacency can’t be options. So, when you’re feeling beaten down in the public arena, listen to the words Rocky Balboa spoke to his son in the film: “It ain’t about how hard you can hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward; how much you can take and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done!”

After taking the hits for four years, now’s not the time to coast. Let’s keep our hands up, bob and weave, throw our punches, and keep moving forward.