For as long as I can remember, Republicans have been on defense.

We never seem to be able to own the national conversation on anything. “He didn’t mean binders of actual women! Abortion is not health care! There’s no such thing as an assault rifle!” None of it ever works out in our favor. The minute the Left decides on a pet issue, they pounce with terrible ferocity and anyone who gets in their way gets slaughtered.

With the “drive-by” media on their side, there was no way for any conservative to fight back against the narrative of the Left. As defined by Rush Limbaugh, the “drive-by” media comes to the scene of some event, blows it up, angers everyone, then moves on — leaving destruction and ruined lives in its wake.

But President Trump flipped that playbook on its head — with 140 characters or less. The Left has lost its ability to control the narrative, and they are reeling. Limbaugh expertly described the chaos plaguing the media in a recent monologue:

The Drive-Bys and their agents on the Left are used to getting their way. They get to write the narrative of the story; they get to decide who gets punished. They get to decide who gets harmed — and then they’re done, on the road, down to the next event to cause the same type of thing. Trump is keeping them at the scene of the crime. Trump is not letting them define things. For example, Donald Trump is not going to let the Colin Kaepernick-inspired anthem inspired protest go until he’s good and ready to let them go. And because Trump is not done with them, there is a better chance of a long-term resolution to this rather than a continued deterioration. Because Trump stays on it. Because Trump doesn’t let go and doesn’t let others up for air. The league is going to be forced to do the right thing and deal with this and shut it down so people can return free and able to watch a football game without being preached to by a bunch of radicals.

Just two weeks ago, it looked like the NFL would doggedly refuse to honor our flag and respect its customers. The media obediently jumped in and enraged everyone — as usual — by spreading falsehoods. Like pretending “hands up, don’t shoot” was real, and that black people are under assault by police in America, and that the protests were against Donald Trump himself instead of what we all knew they were about — our flag and America herself. They screeched about First Amendment rights, ignoring the fact that private companies do not have to honor free speech among employees. They carried the water for activists who hate football and want to see another great American institution destroyed.

But something new happened. Something the “drive-by media” has never seen.

They were not allowed to control the message this time. President Trump refused to allow them to move on to their next event by keeping the national conversation right where he wanted it.

Americans who followed Trump to the polls followed him into the fray with the NFL and refused to back down. We turned off Monday Night Football, burned jerseys, called advertisers, and mocked protesting players. Injured vets circulated photos of themselves standing for the flag without legs or arms. We changed the narrative.

I’ve been waiting for this for 30 years.

I hope you know how important this moment is. For the first time in my memory, we took one of the media’s big lies — that kneeling during our anthem is patriotic — and destroyed it within days. Spearheaded by a president who knows how to lead, it wasn’t hard to do.

The American people were assured that what they were thinking was supported by the president, and all fear of retribution for stating it disappeared. This man will fight for us! We are free to speak up again! So we shouted: “Get off your knees, you bums! Americans fought and died under that flag so you brats can play a game for a living!”

I left today's Colts game because @POTUS and I will not dignify any event that disrespects our soldiers, our Flag, or our National Anthem. — Vice President Mike Pence (@VP) October 8, 2017

The stage was set for the final nail in the coffin. Mike Pence’s glorious walkout from the Colts game was epic. When our vice president left immediately following the anthem because several players refused to stand, he signaled to the country that America’s interests do come first for this administration.

When Trump told us the forgotten man will be forgotten no longer, he meant it. The fans of the NFL are the forgotten men and women of this country. We are the ones sending our kids off to war, losing our jobs, houses, and health care while prissy, prancing prima donnas are whining about oppression before driving home in their Bentleys. Vice President Pence stood in for every one of us forgotten people who couldn’t attend a game to show the NFL how we feel. He did it for us. When he walked out it was as if America walked out with him, turning our backs on the disrespect happening on the field. BRAVO!

That moment shifted the rancid house of cards the race hustlers built on top of our leisure time. President Trump then tweeted that Pence had walked out at his request, showing that he has been in charge of this from the beginning, lest anyone forget.

The very next day, Roger Goodell sent a letter to NFL owners empowering them to put penalties in place for refusing to stand for the anthem:

I asked @VP Pence to leave stadium if any players kneeled, disrespecting our country. I am proud of him and @SecondLady Karen. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 8, 2017

He said he was going to put us first and he’s done it. He pried from the grasping, murderous hands of the Left that which it would have killed — and gave us back football! Everyone wants to complain about POTUS’s use of Twitter, but the reason the NFL is now signaling that their players will stand or face penalties is a direct result of our “modern presidential” president, his masterful use of social media, and his ability to lead the conversation.

It wasn’t the art of the deal, it was a bloodbath — and I’m not tired of winning yet.