The path to power starts with fighting your own side

The real political divide isn’t left vs. right. It’s insider vs. outsider, and it explains the current state of politics at the national level and in North Carolina

There’s a theory of politics that Ben Shapiro mentioned on his podcast today that explains a lot about what we’re seeing play out in North Carolina.

Shapiro attributes it to Matthew Continetti of the American Enterprise Institute: Successful presidential candidates run against their own party first, before pivoting to face the other side.

Barack Obama fit this pattern in 2008, when he ran as a transformational figure against Clintonism. Of course, Donald Trump is the most obvious example — torching the GOP’s neoconservative wing, attacking its own leaders, and blowing up the establishment playbook. The power didn’t come from policy details. It came from creating a foil.

We’re already seeing the next generation pick up the playbook for 2028. California Gov. Gavin Newsom launched a podcast and brought Charlie Kirk on as his first guest— an explicit move to signal independence from the hard left. Meanwhile, Bernie Sanders and AOC continue to draw massive crowds by running directly against t…