Are You Predator or Prey?

Charlie Kirk is dead. Shot in the neck at a college campus. He was 31.

Donald Trump lived because he turned his head at the last second. An inch the other way and we'd have buried him too.

And I watched progressives celebrate both of those moments. I watched them wish the bullet hadn't missed. I see it every day in my comments. I see the bloodlust behind their eyes and their words when I make an argument or ask a question they can't answer or don't like the implications of. I feel it. You'd have to be asleep not to. These people hate us. Truly. They do not mean us well. I pray for them.

Most of them won't pull a trigger. They're prey, not predators. But when someone else does? They feel a little glee. They look the other way. They say "oh dear" with half a heart and then they move on. At least it wasn't their guy. They'll even rationalize it and say we attacked ourselves. Jimmy Kimmel will announce it to the sound of claughter. Laughter + clapping, if you are unaware.

You've seen it. I've seen it. That's the world we're actually living in.

So let me tell you how I think about politics now.

Not as a Republican or Democrat. Not as a conservative or liberal. Not as a communist or a capitalist, even. Those categories still matter, but they're not the ones that decide who wins anymore. There's a deeper frame, and once you see it, you can't unsee it.

Predator and prey. That's it. Study this, understand your role in this thing and you will become dangerous.

Every politician is one or the other. Every movement. Every voter. Every commenter in my feed. You reading this right now. And before you ask about their policies, their voting record, or their position on anything, you need to ask one question: can they fight? Or will they fold? Are they on someone's leash, or do they put others on leashes?

Because a politician with all the right opinions who folds under pressure is worse than useless. He'll lead you into the lion's den and surrender at the gate. He'll get your people hurt. He'll get your nation killed. But he sounds good. He looks good. He'll say all the right things. This one is actually more dangerous than your enemies.

Pierre Poilievre, the Canadian Conservative leader, for example, had the right opinions. Then he sat on Joe Rogan's podcast and when asked about his opposition he said "I won't criticize him on foreign soil. We have a mutual respect." That's prey. He handed Carney a majority government with those words. The policies didn't save him. The politeness got him eaten. And now he wants you to keep following him. Worse than useless.

If you have to choose between a predator who agrees with you 50% and prey who agrees with you 100%, you pick the predator. Every time. The predator at least gets something done. Prey gets your side massacred with their principles intact. This is why I have no problem saying I support Trump, even when he does things I hate, and he does.

He's not Kamala Harris or Hillary Clinton. That's enough. He's an apex predator who shares many of my same enemies. That's enough. I don't need a perfect libertarian, or else I have a hissy fit. I am an adult. I've read my Thomas Sowell and internalized the lessons. "There are no solutions, there are only tradeoffs."

Now here's the hard part:

Not everyone is built for this fight. Most people aren't. That's not an insult. It's reality. And I want you to hear me clearly: being prey is not a shame. Prey is precious. Our mothers. Our children. Our sick and old men. They are what we fight for. They are the whole point. Raising kids is more important than politics. Building a business to serve your community is more important than politics. Tending a garden is more important than politics.

If that's you, understand this. You are everything. You are what young men are willing to die for. Do not waste the security that brave men offer you. Build things, nurture life, follow Him.

But if you're prey and you insist on being in politics pretending to be a predator, you are a danger to all of us. Every time you fold, you teach our enemies that we break. Every time you apologize for a fighter on our side, you tell them they can push harder. Every time you tone-police the people defending you, you hand them the bat.

So ask yourself honestly. Are you predator or prey?

If you're prey, find your champions. Support them. Amplify them. Pray for them. I aim to be one of them for you.

If you're a predator, or you want to become one, I've got something for you.

I'm writing a book. It's called Stop Being Prey. It's a weapon. It's going to teach conservatives how to fight the way our enemies fight, but with something they don't have. Grace. Soul. The willingness to pray for the people we're dismantling.

The stakes are simple. You get eaten or you don't. Your nation survives or it doesn't. Your children grow up free or under the control of people who hate them.

I know which side I'm on.

Are you with me?

~ Clay