While establishment Republicans spent years cowering from cancel culture and apologizing for having backbone, one writer who got thrown to the wolves is having the last laugh. John Derbyshire, the politically incorrect columnist who was fired from National Review in 2012 for daring to speak uncomfortable truths, has a new collection out that proves being canceled beats being a coward.
The Essential John Derbyshire showcases why this fearless writer remains more relevant and insightful than the supposed conservatives who played it safe while America burned around them. While the political establishment was busy virtue signaling and kissing up to the liberal media, Derbyshire was telling hard truths about immigration, demographics, and cultural decline that proved prophetic.
The timing couldn't be more perfect. As President Trump's second term rolls out the most aggressive deportation operation in American history, Derbyshire's early warnings about mass immigration look downright prescient. While other "conservatives" were pushing amnesty and open borders to please their Chamber of Commerce donors, Derbyshire was sounding the alarm about what unchecked immigration would do to American communities.
"There are worse things in life than being canceled," Derbyshire has noted, and he's living proof that intellectual honesty beats career preservation every time.
The collection serves as a masterclass in how real conservatives should operate - with courage, conviction, and zero concern for what the liberal establishment thinks. While too many on the right spent the last decade desperately trying to prove they weren't racist or sexist or whatever other nonsense the left threw at them, Derbyshire just kept writing truth.
This is exactly the kind of fearless commentary the MAGA movement represents - putting America First regardless of what the media says about it. Derbyshire understood long before Trump that the choice wasn't between being liked by liberals or standing up for your country. It was about having the guts to choose your country every single time.
Maybe it's time more conservatives learned from Derbyshire's example: there really are worse things in life than being canceled by people who hate you anyway.