How the Truth Makes You Unstoppable 

By Tomi Lahren

Life begins when you live outside your comfort zone.

(Lahren 2019, ix)

However, I was lucky enough to be raised by two of the hardest-working people I know. My parents never complained and showed me how to work hard, aim high, and never take shit from anyone.The way they raised me gave me the courage to be fearless, and if not for their example I wouldn’t have the strength to stand up for myself. I was taught to question everything and never think that something was true just because someone said it was.

(Lahren 2019, x)

But how come we’re in an environment where women feel empowered to stand up and say #MeToo about things like harassment, sexual assault, and bullying, but conservatives can’t stand up and express who they are? Another thing I hear often is people saying that they’re afraid to add “Trump supporter” to their online dating profile because they’re worried that other people won’t want to date them. But if someone doesn’t want to date you because you’re a Trump supporter, do you want to date them? Probably not. Life is too short to care what people on a free app on your phone think of you!

(Lahren 2019, 8)

When you’ve been dropped on your ass, don’t sit in the corner and feel sorry for yourself. Square your shoulders and tell yourself that no one will get the better of you.You can be fragile like a flower or fragile like a bomb.The choice is yours! It reminds me of a quote I once saw somewhere and love: fate whispers to the warrior, “You cannot withstand the storm,” and the warrior whispers back, “I am the storm.” Amen!

(Lahren 2019, 22)

The biggest criticism I have of other people in the conservative movement is that they want you to walk away from the Democratic Party and the liberals and think like them instead. That’s not my goal. I just want you to stand up, speak out, find your voice, and use it. Take it from someone who is labeled “too controversial” on a daily basis. When you live, stand, and speak without fear, everything changes. If that’s “controversial,” so be it. I don’t care. I’m going to stand up for the average American, ranchers, farmers, veterans, the military, our flag, and, yes, our national anthem.

Why? Because a lot of times people think that just because they have a right to do something, it is therefore right. For example, let’s take NFL players not standing during the national anthem. I believe in Colin Kaepernick’s right to kneel and peacefully protest. But the left thinks that just because he has the right to do it, we don’t have to the right to comment on it, and that his right to free speech shields him from anybody else having free expression and challenging him. Wrong. I have the right to criticize him kneeling. You can say all day long that Kaepernick has the right to do it and people have fought and died for his right. Yes. They have! So I would never say he can’t kneel. But what I will tell you is why he’s picked the wrong battle. The terrorist attack of September 11, 2001, was a horrible tragedy but what stands out even more to me was the day after, 9/12, because the whole country came together under the flag and the national anthem. So, in my opinion, when people tear those things down, you are tearing down all the bonds that we formed after the greatest tragedy in recent memory. You are not trying to better this country. 

You are trying to belittle and demean what it stands for and the people who have fought for it. So I’m going to ruffle feathers and ignite debate.I’m going to speak my mind and I’m going to inspire you to do the same. But I’m not going to tell you how to think. I don’t even want you to think like me. I just want you to think for yourself.

I would never tell a kneeling football player that he can’t do it. But I hope I can show a lot of people including some of them—why they’re wrong.

(Lahren 2019, 28-29)

I’m just sharing my thoughts and maybe others will see an issue differently or have a reaction. In college, my goal was not to change my professors’ minds; it was to start a conversation so everybody else in the class would think about an issue a little bit differently. Why? Because if someone goes unchallenged, then everyone just follows along and you end up with a bunch of little clones who think the same. And yes, a bunch of conservative clones running around is just as bad as a bunch of liberal ones.That’s why I have such an issue with some of the new forces in conservative media. Instead of saying, “You’re no one’s bitch and no one’s victim,” they try to convince women and minorities that they are victims of the left.Here’s the deal: You’re only a victim if you allow yourself to be a victim. Yes, you may have been victimized at some point in your life but victimize is a verb. You can’t change the verb, but you can change the noun-victim.

(Lahren 2019, 34)

When I post on social media, write articles, or appear on TV, I’m not trying to persuade everyone to be like me. In fact, I encourage you not to. I encourage you to be you and that’s what I hope you get from watching and listening to me. To be bold enough to be authentically and genuinely you. To question everything. To find your own way. Your own path. Your own beliefs rooted in your moral fiber, your religion, your worldview, or whatever it may be. I find it frustrating when people say, “You’re so outspoken and you hurt people’s feelings. It must mean you’re a shitty person.” No it doesn’t mean I’m a shitty person. It means I have an opinion that might be different from yours and I’m not afraid to say it. Why does that make me bad? And the truth is this whether you love what I’m saying or hate what I’m saying, you’re having a reaction to it and that’s exactly what needs to happen in this country.

(Lahren 2019, 36)

… This demonization of the NRA does nothing to solve the problem. The NRA is made up of nearly five million fellow Americans, people who want what’s best for this country, too. The students and many other people may think the solution is gun control. And we can debate that. But they can’t blame law-abiding gun owners and NRA members for crimes they didn’t commit. You don’t get to self righteously demonize those who disagree with your gun control agenda. We all want to stop school shootings and gun violence. But if you think the solution is simply more gun control, you’re missing the mark, and ignoring the facts. If gun laws stopped crime and death, the city of Chicago-which once had the toughest gun laws in the country-would have been among the safest cities in America. But it wasn’t, and isn’t. Why? Because gangbangers, lunatics, and terrorists don’t care about gun laws. We don’t love our guns more than our kids or our fellow citizens. We don’t worship our guns, either. We simply believe in our constitutional right to protect and defend ourselves and our families. You don’t get to chip away at the Second Amendment simply because you don’t find it useful. I know some people think the U. S.Constitution is dated, old, and irrelevant. But I suggest you crack open your history books. Our Founding Fathers ensured our right to bear arms as a way to protect us from tyranny. And that’s as relevant today as it was when the Second Amendment was ratified—as part of the Bill of Rights—in 1791. The first step to oppression is disarming the citizenry. We’ve seen that pattern again and again throughout history. Our Second Amendment rights mean something, and we will not sit idly by and watch them be arbitrarily corroded. 

So, yes-march, chant, and protest.But remember, my First and Second Amendment rights do not end where your feelings begin. The bottom line?No one is going to tell me I can’t talk about something because I’m not fill-in-the-blank enough.

(Lahren 2019, 38-39)

… So if you say yougoing to put someone on the Supreme Court to interpret your religion and then place that on the country, that’s not what the Court stands for. That’s not what conservatism is about. You are trying to distribute your religion to everybody else and do it by dictate. You’re not doing it by putting your beliefs out there and then letting others draw their own conclusions. And you’re not doing it by being an example and living a life of godliness. You’re doing it by telling people they need to think like you do or else it’s illegal. That couldn’t be more contrary to what I believe conservative thought is. Conservatism is about freedom. Imagine that it’s one hundred years down the road. We’ve elected a devout Muslim to the White House and he appoints someone to the Supreme Court and starts legislating their religion. How are these conservatives going to feel? Trust me, they’re going to be the first ones to go into panic mode. I’m as conservative and Christian as anybody else, but this country is great because we are a nation about freedom, especially religious freedom. So live your life as an example. You can encourage people to live their life through Christ, but don’t you dare go to the government to mandate people think like you religiously.

(Lahren 2019, 41-42)

People want to segregate themselves into these little areas where their opinions are validated and their feelings never get hurt because everyone thinks like them. They don’t want to be challenged or to challenge anyone. But you can’t be afraid to have friends on the other side of the aisle. Who knows, you might help open their eyes and you might learn something. You also may be missing out on some really good people.

(Lahren 2019, 46-47)

We need to stand up against that regardless of party lines and candidates. You can go after liberals or conservatives as a group, and we can go after ideas and laws and policies. However, we shouldn’t make it about people. If you want to start a real movement, it always has to be about ideas and not people. We can’t forget all of our morals and values to defend someone because she’s kind of on “our side” or “our team.” I don’t like that mob mentality, and I don’t like teams.

(Lahren 2019, 54-55)

Never make it about other people. The only way to succeed is with ideas.

(Lahren 2019, 57)

All I can do is control what I do best. The truth is, you don’t want to be someone else. You want to be the best version of you. And you don’t have to cut people down to do that. Be yourself. Be the best you can be. There are other great women out there, and that’s okay. Don’t talk badly about them. 

Instead let them motivate you. Let them inspire you. Give them a smile and a handshake, Call them your sisters. If you ever get a chance to treat them how they treated you, I hope you choose to walk away instead,

(Lahren 2019, 62)

… Legal tradition makes it harder to overturn a past decision unless there are strong grounds for doing so and a departure from precedent like Roe v. Wade, which has since been upheld up by many other cases, is even harder to come by. Fighting for this and alienating Democrats, moderates, and libertarians only to lose in the end was a risk that I didn’t think was worth taking. And I was saying this as someone who would personally choose life but also feels like it isn’t the government’s place to dictate. I ended that “Final Thoughts” by saying that I believe the way to encourage anyone to choose life is to treat her with compassion, understanding, and love—not government regulation. After all, let’s be honest: the government does few things well, and I believe regulating social issues is an area where it fails. Let the churches, nonprofits, and community groups step in, not almighty Uncle Sam.

(Lahren 2019, 75-76)

… Maybe that’s why I am a conservative. I believe that, although the almighty (taxpayer funded) government can give you a lot of things, it can’t give you self-worth or a sense of accomplishment. You have to earn that yourself. And guess what? It feels damn good. The common misconception about Republicans is that we don’t care about poor people. Some people say we even hate them. Wrong.As a Republican, I want you to achieve for two reasons.One, the more people who earn their own way, the fewer my tax dollars pay to subsidize. Two, I want everyone to experience what a hard day’s work feels like. I want you to go to sleep at night not just feeling like you’ve done something, but knowing damn well you did. Few things feel better than that!

(Lahren 2019, 89)

I’m not going to have a bad attitude, because guess what? Whether people are watching you on TV or buying jeans from you, nobody cares even the tiniest bit that you’re having a bad day. So you’d better put a smile on your face and deal with it. You’re projecting what you want the world to think. If you’re not where you want to be in life, don’t sit there and complain. Ask yourself, are you really doing everything you can? Or are you holding back and phoning it in a little? Trust me, you’re not fooling anyone. People can tell. Are you working hard? Or are you talking about how hard you work? Be honest with yourself. How badly do you want it? Because I can guarantee you that I want it more. I’m going to go above and beyond.

(Lahren 2019, 91-92)

There is no time to feel sorry for yourself because the world is going to keep spinning. No one cares that your life is not perfect right now, so what are you going to do? How are you going to make it okay? How are you going to live with yourself? Often the next step is doing something scary. And you know what I say: if something scares you, run toward it as fast as you can. You don’t know what the future holds; none of us do. But isn’t that exciting? The exceptional never fear change, they embrace it.

(Lahren 2019, 96)

My parents were grateful for what they already had and taught me to be the same way, because someone somewhere is praying for the things you take for granted.

(Lahren 2019, 101)

Confidence isn’t something that you have because you are the best or because you feel like the best. Confidence is when you’re not feeling your best, but you’re going to go out and be your best anyway.

(Lahren 2019, 109)

This brings me to the reason why I’m frustrated with the feminist movement and why I don’t consider myself a feminist: this movement used to be for all women, like an umbrella we could all live under. It was about female empowerment, which I believe in. I love to be inspired by strong women and to inspire other women. However, that was hijacked by modern-day feminists who are wearing pussy hats and screaming at men in the streets. They’re protesting to get attention. I don’t think that’s empowering anybody. How is that helping the girl who is in her first job and is discriminated against because she is a woman? When she looks at women in the streets screaming with hats on, does that empower her? Does that make her part of a movement? I don’t think so, and I think that’s a disservice to all women. Female empowerment is wanting your fellow women to break through barriers. It’s wanting them not to feel limited and not to feel like victims.

However, I think that modern-day feminism is all about telling women they are victims and what you can get out of it. Just twenty years ago, feminism used to be about equality. Now it’s about special treatment, and I don’t think we should get special treatment. The fact that we’ve gotten to a point where feminism is about wearing pussy hats and how big a payout you can get is disgusting to me. Find your voice, not your pussy hats! Yes, maybe I get paid less than men doing the same job as me. And yes, it drives me crazy. But I’m going to keep working my ass off and one day I’ll be able to call my own shots.That’s going to be the best revenge, not begging for special treatment.

(Lahren 2019, 154-155)

Here’s the deal: Life is not about politics. Life is not about who you voted for or what political party you registered with. It’s not about any of that crap. Life is about people. Somewhere along the way, we’ve lost sight of that.

(Lahren 2019, 167)

I can tell you from experience, it’s not where you go to school, and it’s not the bogus extracurriculars you sign up for to pad your application. It’s your work ethic and your ability to talk to people.

(Lahren 2019, 176)

I grew up in the middle of the country in a place where it seemed like a lot of people just lived for the weekend.They hated their lives and just muddled through every other day to get to Friday. I’ve had similar thoughts. I’d think, I have work today so I can’t go out and have fun.Or when I was obsessive about my eating, I thought, I can’t eat anything bad on Sunday through Thursday. I can only do that on Fridays and Saturdays. But I think you start living when you realize that you can be happy every single day.

(Lahren 2019, 178-179)

… But where do I want to be a year from now? Two years from now? I don’t want to be in the same place or have the same goals. You have to keep moving the goalposts or otherwise you stay comfortable. To me, the definition of failure is not losing your job, going broke or student I didn’t complain to anyone because I got myself into that situation. I got me there, I chose it. No one sprung it on me at the last minute. And a side note to all those college students who bitch and moan about student loans. You insist higher education should be free? Then I’d better not see your ass headed to Cancun for spring break with a five-dollar Starbucks drink, hundre d-dollar Lululemon leggings, and some Apple AirPods in your ears! You need to think about what you want and then set those goals, I have gone through waves of that in my life where I have taken a step back and thought, What do I truly want? I’m doing everything and I’m chugging along, but what is my end goal? You have to do this even when you’re in a great place. For example, I got to Fox News, which was a huge accomplishment. I launched Fox Nation, another huge one. But where do I want to be a year from now? Two years from now? I don’t want to be in the same place or have the same goals. You have to keep moving the goalposts or otherwise you stay comfortable. To me, the definition of failure is not losing your job, going broke or bankrupt, or getting divorced. It’s sitting here in a year and being in the same position that I am in right now. Failure is staying in the same spot because it’s comfortable and safe to spin your wheels and simply go through the motions.

(Lahren 2019, 183-184)

… To me, religion isn’t about not eating this, not doing that, or even going to church all the time. I think man made rituals, not God. I don’t believe in the arbitrary rulebook set up by the religious hierarchy. That’s not God; that’s man pretending to be God. If that offends you, get used to it. That’s life. Not every Christian looks at life the same way. I won’t apologize for my faith and you shouldn’t, either.

(Lahren 2019, 217)

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References

Lahren, Tomi. 2019. Never Play Dead: How the Truth Makes You Unstoppable. N.p.: HarperCollins.

ISBN 978-0-06-288194-6