Grateful Nation: Celebrating Thanksgiving Amid Historic Change

There is always something to be grateful for as we approach Thanksgiving. As we’ve experienced over the past four years, the things to be grateful for have sometimes been eclipsed by extraordinary difficulties.
But as a quintessentially American holiday, it provides another opportunity to bask in the aftermath of November 5th which has given us much more to be grateful for than we could have imagined.

Yes, putting together the traditional Thanksgiving spread will again cost us more than in other years. But we can smile and laugh through it knowing that we took charge of this nation and have decided that the way we have been living is not good enough. Next Thanksgiving will be more affordable.

In the meantime, President Trump has chosen more people for his team, most recently Stanford professor Dr. Jay Bhattacharya to lead the National Institutes of Health (NIH). This is another fine example of Trump nominating people to lead the agencies that had targeted them during the Biden/Harris regime. “The NIH employs roughly 20,000 people at 27 institutions and centers focused on specific disease and research areas, such as the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases – formerly headed by Anthony Fauci – and the National Cancer Institute,” reminded the New York Post.

As Jeffrey Tucker, the president of the Brownstone Institute noted on the social media platform X, “Whatever happens now, there is a beautiful poetic justice with the ascendence of @DrJBhattacharya to the position of the man at NIH who called him a “fringe epidemiologist” and triggered a grotesque tech and academic boycott of his ideas. Let the new era begin!” Think about this: We have experienced such a turn of events that a doctor who was targeted by the establishment and blacklisted on Twitter for wrong speaking about Covid and the government’s catastrophic response, will lead the agency that had attacked him and considered, in large part, responsible for the debacle.

This is something we should all be eternally grateful for.

In last week’s column, I reminded everyone of just how close Kamala Harris came to being the president of the United States. And now as the numbers continue to come in we are also getting a more comprehensive perspective about just how impressive Donald Trump’s reelection really was.

Harris received an extraordinary number of votes, but the revolutionary event in this election was the shift in how Americans perceived their future and their understanding they had to do something about it. Even more dramatically, average Americans overcame the gaslighting and fearmongering and decided we were worthy of a future that was exciting and full of promise, and we voted accordingly.
To this point, the Washington Times reports that Trump “scored the GOP’s biggest win in 36 years” while

“Democrats bailed on Harris.” This was a result that was far from guaranteed and being thrilled isn’t about being a mean partisan. During a time when reality itself was deliberately being called into question with rhetorical and language shenanigans by the left, Americans still rejected the bullying and stood up for themselves, their neighbors, and our nation. That is what we celebrate.

In my new book, “Fear Itself,” I write about the extraordinary lengths to which our own government has gone in an effort to kneecap us into compliance with the leftist agenda. To see how decidedly Americans said enough is enough goes on my list of powerful things for which all of us should be eternally grateful this Thanksgiving.

Even more good news and a sign of growing unity: Trump’s popularity has increased even more since the election. “He now has a 54% approval rating in the Emerson College poll, up 6 percentage points over Emerson’s preelection poll,” reported the Times. “A YouGov/CBS News survey over the weekend found striking optimism about Mr. Trump’s upcoming term, with 59% approving of how he has handled the election aftermath.”

So while legacy and social media tend to focus on the unhinged reactions by leftist extremists to Trump’s reelection, the fact of the matter is this nation is unifying for two reasons: the first is because those doing harm to us, our families, and the country have been fired, and secondly, people have watched Trump put together a team that is a reflection of the promises and passion he exhibited during the campaign itself. All of this reflects a growing unity worthy of celebrating during this week of Thanksgiving.
Beyond our reflections about the extremely difficult years we’ve had and the exciting change we are about to go through as a nation, it is the simple daily things worth looking for and focusing on during Thanksgiving.

It is not a cliché to say that you’re grateful to be an American. Our lives at this time in this country deliver the greatest life experience and potential in human history. No other great nation or period of time offers human beings such opportunity and potential. I am grateful, as I know you are, to live in a nation where we can still safely throw out the bums currently in political office and elevate people who have been targeted for destruction by that same government. That is a remarkable gift given to us by our Founding Fathers.

Despite, or because of, our difficulties with the pandemic and then with a hostile and incompetent government, I have found my life has been enriched considerably by focusing on friends and family, and getting to know you, people through my social and media work that I normally would never have the pleasure to meet. For that, I am tremendously grateful.

And as a political analyst and critic, I have to admit that it was something very simple during one of my walks in my new neighborhood that coalesced with a certain quiet thrill. While walking Ruby, my mini Aussie, I came face-to-face with a home flying a Gadsden flag next to the Stars and Stripes. A lone Trump/Vance yard sign was planted on the porch. For many of you, that’s a daily occurrence, but when living in New York City for over a decade, it is a rarity. It took finally leaving the city to come upon and enjoy that sight. Talk about being grateful. It was a simple but beautiful reminder that after everything we’ve been through, standing up for our country and all she stands for, has prevailed.

Tammy Bruce, an Independent Conservative, has traversed a unique political journey that reflects her commitment to principles rather than party affiliations. She joined Fox News in 2005 as a Political Contributor, hosting her show “Get Tammy Bruce” on Fox Nation and providing insightful commentary on various issues for the Association for Mature Americans (AMAC).

The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of AMAC or AMAC Action.