It's been a while.

A message on conservatism and media.

I know it has been a while since I’ve used this Substack to express myself, so long in fact some of you may have even forgotten you were subscribed! Living in Tampa with a business to run and a new book this September has kept me quite busy, and thus I have neglected some of the other pieces of content I used to do so regularly. But even with all that, I have never been one to shy away from hard work in the face of a country crumbling, so in reality, it is more than just other projects that have kept me away from the same content stream I previously created.

Many creators talk about burnout. They are burned out from creating content every day and the constant push of work. But I do not have burnout. I love hard work, I love getting lost in a passion and I love the moments of inspiration. I love when the work I have is meaningful and it changes people’s minds or lights up a spark in someone to question reality or change the course of their life to a path of the good. So this is where we come to the problem; the fact that much of the politics I see around me is not inspiring, it is not helpful, and it is not good.

After seven years in this business, for me, much of the video content and things I was talking about began to seem like a rat race. Every story or leftist debacle I spoke on or made a video about was BREAKING, or so crazy you had to watch! I was always searching for that metaphorical “high” of the next big thing to talk about. It was reactionary. It was me scouring the web to find the latest story to showcase and be the first to talk about it, or give an opinion on it that was “more based” than everyone else’s. It was me finding the latest leftist video, posting it, and watching the views roll in. There was no artistry, no deeper thought, just a reaction. The evil and stupid in this country were being exposed to be sure, and I am proud to bring that to so many people’s attention, but it was hard for me to appreciate that fact when as soon as my video was posted, it was on to the next to do it all over again.

Politics is a business, plain and simple. It makes lots of people a lot of money. The more viral a political video goes or a tweet is, the larger your brand becomes, and the more potential revenue you have. This is basic economics, and inherently there is nothing morally wrong with this. But I believe much of the conservative media/influencer “movement” has transformed itself from a legion of dedicated individuals focused on the preservation of the country we love to a media empire that sees fame and money as its primary modes of operation. Instead of a fight with the left, we are now in a war of virality between each other, and I think somewhere along the way have forgotten many of the reasons we got into this arena in the first place.

I am not here to admonish those who have made a life off of sharing political memes and viral leftist videos, America is the land of the entrepreneur, and it is no fault of theirs to see trends in media and capitalize on them to achieve success. I am just talking about myself, and I saw in my future a hole I was descending down. I cannot say what the future holds for me in the political/conservative world, and I do not expect much to change by my substack here to you all, I just write this as a means for you all to understand the problems I see within it.

My pastor here in Tampa changed my life when I was talking with him a few months ago when he told me that he lives his life for the people at the first two rows at his funeral, and that was most important to him. I think many of us have lost sight of what matters and why we fight, and have abandoned the fight of making good people for the job of trying to make other people think we are good. At the end of the day, God knows what sort of integrity you live with in your life and no one else, and that is who we should be looking to live for, not the likes and retweets online.

There are so many brilliant and good and joy filled people out there in this movement, and my goal now is to elevate all of these people to the highest, and with my content, speak on the things that I really believe in and that I believe to be true and good, not just making it because I am supposed to as some conservative pundit in 2023. I appreciate all the people who have supported me all these years and will continue to do so, and rest assured, I’m not going anywhere in this fight, just more focused and dialed on what really matters and the real means necessary on how we can win.

God bless you all, and thank you for everything.

-Will Witt