Farewell to Pat Buchanan, a Great American

If you’ve read my articles for a while, then you should know that I am huge fan of Patrick J. Buchanan. I’ve talked about Pat Buchanan in multiple articles on RVIVR (here, here, and here), and I have read seven of Buchanan’s books in the past few years. So, Pat Buchanan has played a huge role in forming my personal “America First” political philosophy.

In unfortunate news last week, Newsmax announced Pat Buchanan’s retirement from political writing after decades of writing his weekly syndicated column. Here are some of Pat Buchanan’s most popular columns from over the years: 9/29/2006, 8/11/2016, 2/6/2004, 9/1/2006, and 10/11/2016.

While Pat Buchanan’s columns were popular for many years, his column writing was just one aspect of his illustrious political career. Buchanan served in the Nixon and Reagan administrations, wrote over a dozen books, ran for President multiple times, founded The American Conservative magazine, and appeared as political commentator on Newsmax, Fox News, CNN, and MSNBC. Quite an illustrious career indeed!

Despite his success in political media and writing, Pat Buchanan’s chief accomplishment was laying the foundation for the current America First/MAGA movement–eventually leading to Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential election victory.

As much as I complain about all of the RINOs and Establishment Republicans in DC, I still firmly believe that Conservatives have much more influence on the GOP than in the 1990s and 2000s. Just look a the Republican presidential candidates from those decades: George HW Bush in 1992, Bob Dole in 1996, George W Bush in 2000/2004, and John McCain in 2008. The GOP fielded some pretty terrible presidential candidates before 2016, and we can thank Pat Buchanan for playing a role in changing this dynamic.

So, how did Pat Buchanan lay down this foundation for future success?

When Pat Buchanan ran for the Republican Presidential nomination in 1992 and 1996, he was the only person discussing the effects of mass immigration from the 3rd World, the “Forever Wars” of the 1990s/2000s, the outsourcing of American manufacturing overseas, and the looming “Culture War” in American society. In essence, Pat Buchanan popularized the “America First” nationalist political agenda that most of the current GOP voting base now adheres to in 2023. He completely re-oriented how GOP politicians viewed trade, mass immigration, and foreign policy

While Buchanan did not win the GOP Presidential nomination in either 1992 or 1996, he galvanized millions of grassroots conservatives across the country. In fact, Buchanan garnered over 20% of the popular vote during the ‘92 and ‘96 Republican primaries–even winning 3 of the first four states during the 1996 primaries (including my home state of Louisiana).

Certainly, the enthusiasm found among Pat Buchanan’s supporters was truly palpable in the 1990s. Just listen to the raucous RNC crowd during Pat Buchanan’s legendary 1992 “Culture War” speech. Millions of Republican voters supported Buchanan in 1992 and 1996, and this groundswell of support showed that not all Conservative voters wanted to play ball with globalist, Establishment Republicans.

Without Pat Buchanan, there would have been no Trump presidency. Without Pat Buchanan, we would have to still have to deal with Jeb Bush, Mitt Romney, and Nikki Haley as serious contenders for the GOP’s presidential nomination. Without Pat Buchanan, there would be America First movement.

In a sense, Pat Buchanan was ahead of his time. The American electorate of the early-1990s was not yet ready to hear out Buchanan’s authentically conservative, America First vision for our nation. Fortunately, the American people were ready to embrace the America First platform in 2016. However, we all need to keep supporting America First candidates and policies in the coming years.

Overall, I am thankful for Pat Buchanan’s service to our nation. He positively impacted the lives of millions of Americans–including my own life–through his writing, media appearances, and political campaigns. Pat helped the lay foundation for the revival of our nation. Now, it is up to the younger generations to build on Buchanan’s work and put America First once and for all!

May God Bless Patrick J. Buchanan: one of the greatest Americans to ever live.

Here are few iconic videos of Patrick J Buchanan to check out as well: