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The Trump administration has launched a counterrevolution in American culture and government. As much as the credit for this sudden and dramatic reversal belongs to the president, it is further being fueled by larger changes in the conservative movement. These changes were set in motion in part thanks to the annual National Conservatism Conference, initially created by Yoram Hazony, author of “The Virtues of Nationalism,” and hosted by the Edmund Burke Foundation. The conference first launched in 2019 and just wrapped up its fifth such gathering on Thursday. As a disclosure, I’ll note that my wife Inez Stepman is one of the hosts of the “NatCon Squad” podcast, an excellent weekly show that provides some of the most insightful analysis about contemporary politics. (Yes, I’m biased, but it’s true.) The National Conservatism message has largely “won” on the Right. That’s in part because it’s strongly aligned with President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance. Vance has spoken several times at the conference, including in 2024, when he spoke about how America is a “homeland” and not just an idea. But in a certain sense, the movement has run alongside Trump and Vance’s success. It has thrived because it filled the vacuum of where the pre-Trump conservative message failed. Addressing What Matters Most Too often there was talk of liberty and the Constitution, of how the government had infringed on the rights of citizens. There was a clear understanding that the Left had gone too far, but little clarity about what to do about it. The first National Conservatism Conference set the tone of how the Right needed to act if Western civilization was to survive and not either disintegrate or become a twisted, villainous version of itself, powerful but wretched. The conference was met with a certain degree of scorn when it began, as many elements of the traditional conservative movement denounced it for embracing ideological heresies. But it succeeded in large part because it was addressing the issues that the American people cared deeply about—issues the Republican Party and conservative institutions ignored or didn’t seem to be taking seriously. For instance, why should Americans extol the virtues of free trade when it seemed to mean the disintegration of jobs, the breakup of communities, and the destruction of the “good life” at the heart of the American dream? Pointing to national economic growth or the benefit of cheaper consumer goods wasn’t good enough when communities were dying and local schools were allowing biological males in girls locker rooms. Unsettled arguments had been treated as settled; dissent or second-guessing was looked upon as a betrayal; and any suggestion that the institutional Right had missed some things in the lead up to Trump taking over the Republican Party was often lambasted as a “sellout” of principles. ‘The Kingdom of God Must be Defended Like Any Other’ Much has changed now. The existential threat the Left poses to our way of life is more widely understood and acknowledged. The Right is more focused on issues directly related to the concerns of millions of forgotten ordinary Americans who are forgotten no more. There is a much stronger focus on culture and the family. Cultural issues are in the driver’s seat, not the backseat—or in a ditch by the side of the road. There is a more widespread belief that political and institutional power is a necessary component of change and success. The National Conservative movement reminded the Right that a great moral and spiritual deficit will bankrupt the country just as much as a fiscal one. What National Conservatism brought to the larger Right is the mentality that the good things at the heart of Western civilization could not be defended by creating small islands of liberty in a sea of hostile leftism. It wasn’t sufficient to just explain the virtues of free speech, to demand religious liberty, and to extol the virtues of the Constitution and limited government. The institutions and changing culture of Western societies controlled by the Left had not only ghettoized traditional cultural and religious ideas, but they had also set them on a path of ultimate annihilation. National Conservatism took hold because it embraced a maxim excellently conveyed in the 1964 movie, “Becket,” which is about the 12th-century Archbishop of Canterbury who defended the church against a corrupt and hostile state. When Becket, played by Richard Burton, decides to excommunicate a state official who killed a priest—thereby angering the ruling regime—three court bishops begged him not to take that action because it would “strike a blow that will split Church and State for a generation.” Becket rebuked them sharply, saying, “If I do not strike it now, the Church as we know it now will not survive a generation.” The bishops answered back, “God will see that it survives.” But Becket had none of it and concluded in a spirit that I think is emblematic of the mindset of National Conservatism: “No, the kingdom of God must be defended like any other kingdom.” It’s not good enough to accept being a “remnant,” mere dissenters clinging to a handful of battered, infiltrated bastions just waiting out the clock and hoping that something will change. It’s About the Institutions, Stupid What was needed was an aggressive counter, an attitude that the institutions of Western civilization do not belong to the Left. We can build and use our own political and institutional power to ensure that we live in a good society of human flourishing. That mindset has produced tangible results.  For instance, the second Trump administration has done something that Republicans had never seriously attempted to do regarding higher education. Instead of just grumbling about the loony Left that’s taken over college campuses and turned them into woke madrassas, as conservatives have done for more than half a century, the administration defunded or threatened to defund them. No longer could schools actively violate the law with impunity and carry out policies that discriminated primarily against white and Asian students. By doing so, colleges risked losing in some cases hundreds of millions of dollars. States followed suit with their own demands that higher education change its ways—or else. And for the first time in a long time, even elite universities such as Harvard must take the Right’s demands seriously, because conservatives are serious about using real political power against them. Even long-standing demands such as defunding the ideologically compromised NPR and PBS, long talked about by conservatives but seemingly never taken seriously by Republicans in office, have suddenly come to pass. It turns out, you can just do stuff. There are other big changes, too. The Trump administration hasn’t just secured the border, it’s deporting thousands of people who have come here illegally, and taking amnesty off the table. The United States is a nation, as National Conservatives have argued, not just an economic zone. With limitless illegal and even legal immigration, it becomes impossible to maintain the cultural bonds that are necessary for a healthy and thriving people. The emphasis has moved away from raw economic competition to family-building and uplifting the American citizens that the state has a duty and obligation to. The challenge now is to keep the momentum going. Trump and the Right’s more confrontational attitude have thrown the Left and its disgraced, untrusted institutions into disarray. That doesn’t mean that a “Retvrn”—“reject modernity, embrace history“—is guaranteed and that the West has been fully restored. Far from it. It’s going to take a generation—or likely generations, plural—to rebuild what has been lost. All that it means is that we are at the beginning of the beginning. We have a new lease on life, so to speak. And that’s thanks in large part to the changes that National Conservatism has brought to America and other Western nations. The post How ‘National Conservatism’ Has Changed the Right appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Indiana Lieutenant Governor Micah Beckwith faced immense backlash for appearing to support granting asylum to 40,000 Haitians. “Yesterday, I sat with Haitian pastors from Marion County. Their people have endured earthquakes and violence, and now more than 40,000 are seeking asylum here in Indiana. We spoke about barriers of language and culture while also discussing the power of faith and family,” Beckwith said. “What I saw was not a community asking for a handout, but people determined to work hard, raise their children to become contributors to the great Hoosier state, and assimilate to the American way of life,” he added. Yesterday, I sat with Haitian pastors from Marion County. Their people have endured earthquakes and violence, and now more than 40,000 are seeking asylum here in Indiana. We spoke about barriers of language and culture while also discussing the power of faith and family. What I… pic.twitter.com/SqlI3QJcu5 — Lt. Governor Micah Beckwith (@LGMicahBeckwith) September 5, 2025 Beckwith turned off the comments to his post. “Indiana’s Republican Lt. Governor shuts comments off after this post about 40,000 Haitians ‘seeking asylum’ in Indiana,” Fox News national correspondent Bill Melugin said. Indiana’s Republican Lt. Governor shuts comments off after this post about 40,000 Haitians “seeking asylum” in Indiana. https://t.co/JfvGeAjCRy — Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) September 6, 2025 Here’s some of the criticism the Republican politician faced: America is not a global refugee camp. https://t.co/Z1zMZfB7wL — Sean Davis (@seanmdav) September 6, 2025 Incredible that Trump was elected on a grassroots platform of "we don't want Haitians in America" and the GOP leadership of a deep red state has turned that into trying to settle even more Haitians in the Heartland https://t.co/QYbWCrxlsu — Will Tanner (@Will_Tanner_1) September 6, 2025 It appears Indiana Republicans have learned nothing from Ohio. Don’t betray your constituents for a check from the Chamber of Commerce. https://t.co/w9IZUya86V — Gabe Guidarini (@GabeGuidarini) September 6, 2025 This is the REPUBLICAN Lt Governor of Indiana trying to settle FORTY THOUSAND ILLEGAL HAITIANS in Indiana. We simply cannot have these traitors in our party anymore. https://t.co/2mEX2T4PCu — john jackson (@pvtjokerus) September 5, 2025 40,000 in Indiana…Haiti is not at war. How low is the bar for ‘asylum’? Gangs? Natural disasters? That is not how asylum works. https://t.co/Em35jkvL19 — Dr. Naomi Wolf. 8 NYT Bestsellers. DPhil, Poetry. (@naomirwolf) September 6, 2025 “If you know my stance on immigration, you should also know the sentiment behind this. I have said time and time again that our borders should be shut down, and we need the federal government to halt any more asylum seekers until we can get a handle on the current crisis. If people come in through the front door and legally enter the country with the intent to assimilate and raise their children as hardworking Americans, we should be open to helping them,” Beckwith wrote. “I am not advocating for us to have Haitians come to America or Indiana. I am saying that if Haitians come to our state, they must do it legally, learn English, and assimilate to our culture,” he added. If you know my stance on immigration, you should also know the sentiment behind this. I have said time and time again that our borders should be shut down, and we need the federal government to halt any more asylum seekers until we can get a handle on the current crisis. If… https://t.co/i37wj7kfoM — Lt. Governor Micah Beckwith (@LGMicahBeckwith) September 5, 2025 Haitian migrants in Ohio became a hot topic during the 2024 presidential election, with Trump saying he would revoke their Temporary Protected Status if elected. CNN wrote last year: Many Haitians came into the country under a Biden-Harris administration parole program that gives permission to enter to vetted participants with US sponsors. And many have “Temporary Protected Status,” as CNN has previously reported, which shields them from deportation and allows them to live and work in the country for a limited period of time. Some received that protection after the Biden-Harris administration expanded the number of Haitians eligible in June. Others have been living in the US with Temporary Protected Status since before the Biden-Harris administration. Trump, pressed in the Wednesday interview on what would happen if Haiti refused to receive them, said: “They will,” without providing additional details. “Well, they’re going to receive them, they’ll receive them. If I bring them back, they’re going to receive them,” Trump said. During the Trump administration, the Department of Homeland Security was aggressive in ending a number of temporary protected status designations that had been on the books, in some cases, for decades. A federal judge ruled this week to block the Trump administration from ending the Temporary Protected Status for over one million Venezuelan and Haitian nationals in the United States. Federal judge blocks Trump admin from ending TPS for 1.1 million Venezuelans, Haitianshttps://t.co/7KearvwV6u — The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) September 7, 2025 More from The Post Millennial: According to the Associated Press, TPS protections apply to about 600,000 Venezuelans and 500,000 Haitians. The ruling came from Judge Edward Chen of the Northern District of California, who said that ending the program was “unprecedented” and that DHS Secretary Kristi Noem’s actions violated the law. “This case arose from action taken post haste by the current DHS Secretary, Kristi Noem, to revoke the legal status of Venezuelan and Haitian TPS holders, sending them back to conditions that are so dangerous that even the State Department advises against travel to their home countries,” Chen wrote. TPS for Venezuelans and Haitians was granted under the Biden administration, which cited ongoing crises making return unsafe. The program allows nationals from countries in conflict, or facing public health or humanitarian disasters, to remain in the US temporarily. “For decades, the TPS program has been abused, exploited, and politicized as a de facto amnesty program. Its use has been all the more dangerous, given the millions of unvetted illegal aliens the Biden Administration let into this country,” a DHS spokesperson told Fox News.

America’s “$150 Trillion National Inheritance” could be one step closer to its rightful owners – the American people. Thanks to Trump’s recent Supreme Court victory, (Jim Rickards, who served 4 presidents over the last 50 years) reveals how this ‘National Inheritance’- as he calls it – could transform every investor’s financial future. While this “inheritance” was buried in government records for 163 years, billionaires aren’t waiting – they appear to be positioning now in sectors that could benefit when this massive wealth transfer potentially unfolds. The question is – will you be ready? (Note: Thank you for supporting businesses like the one presenting a sponsored message in this article and ordering through the included links, which benefits WLTReport. We appreciate your support!  MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!)

The Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against the City of Boston, Massachusetts, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, and the Boston Police Department and Police Commissioner over its sanctuary policies, claiming that it interferes with the federal government’s enforcement of immigration laws. “The City of Boston and its Mayor have been among the worst sanctuary offenders in America – they explicitly enforce policies designed to undermine law enforcement and protect illegal aliens from justice,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said. “If Boston won’t protect its citizens from illegal alien crime, this Department of Justice will,” she added. “Michelle Wu is one of the worst offenders in the entire country. She says Boston is safe, but it’s not. A Haitian national was charged with raping a child in a migrant center, an 18-year-old illegal alien from Haiti molested a 10-year-old child, and an illegal immigrant from El Salvador faced 11 counts of rape against a child,” Bondi said in an interview. “If she’s not going to protect the people of Boston, we are,” she continued. Check it out: AG Pam Bondi slams Mayor Wu, announcing the Justice Department lawsuit against Boston: "Michelle Wu is one of the worst offenders in the entire country. She claims Boston is safe, but it’s not. A Haitian national was charged with raping a child in a migrant center, an… pic.twitter.com/yUbWXv0b1w — Sean Hannity (@seanhannity) September 6, 2025 More from the Justice Department: Not only are Boston’s sanctuary city policies illegal under federal law, but, as alleged in the complaint, Boston’s refusal to cooperate with federal immigration authorities results in the release of dangerous criminals from police custody who would otherwise be subject to removal, including illegal aliens convicted of aggravated assault, burglary, and drug and human trafficking, onto the streets. On her first day in office, Attorney General Bondi instructed the Department’s Civil Division to identify state and local laws, policies, and practices that facilitate violations of federal immigration laws or impede lawful federal immigration operations. On Aug. 5, Attorney General Bondi published a list of sanctuary jurisdictions, which included the City of Boston, and vowed to bring litigation to end these policies nationwide. Today’s lawsuit is the latest in a series of lawsuits brought by the Civil Division targeting illegal sanctuary city policies across the country, including in New York, New Jersey, and Los Angeles, California. “This unconstitutional attack on our city is not a surprise,” Mayor Wu said, according to CBS News. “Boston is a thriving community, the economic and cultural hub of New England, and the safest major city in the country-but this administration is intent on attacking our community to advance their own authoritarian agenda. This is our City, and we will vigorously defend our laws and the constitutional rights of cities, which have been repeatedly upheld in courts across the country. We will not yield,” she continued. The US Justice Department sued the city of Boston and its Democratic Mayor Michelle Wu to challenge an ordinance that restricts police from cooperating with federal immigration enforcement carrying out US President Donald Trump's agenda https://t.co/2cW45DC9il — Reuters (@Reuters) September 5, 2025 CBS News provided further info: In August, Mayor Wu responded to an ultimatum from the government over city policies, saying Boston “will not back down.” The DOJ wrote in the lawsuit, Wu’s “resistance endangers public safety, resulting in a number of criminals being released into Boston who should have been held for immigration removal from the United States.” The lawsuit targets the Boston Trust Act, which limits the role of the city in enforcing federal immigration laws. The DOJ said the policy, “discriminates against the Federal Government.”

Senator Mike Lee went on Charlie Kirk’s podcast to discuss Utah’s electoral system which is under attack by Democrats and their allies in the Utah courts. Democrat judges are turning the Utah votes over to outside commissions. In the end, it reduces voter participation in the electoral system. In the clip, Mike Lee discusses the […] The post “A Kind of Judicial Takeover of Utah’s Electoral System “ appeared first on www.independentsentinel.com.

Japan launches unprecedented space defense initiative as Russia and China deploy sophisticated satellite-killing weapons that threaten to cripple critical infrastructure and national security systems across the free world. Communist Powers Target Space Dominance Russia and China have accelerated development of anti-satellite weapons systems designed to neutralize American and allied space capabilities. Russia’s May 2025 launch of Cosmos 2588 positioned a suspected kinetic kill vehicle in close proximity to U.S. reconnaissance satellites, demonstrating Moscow’s ability to destroy critical intelligence assets. China’s People’s Liberation Army has simultaneously deployed advanced ground-based laser systems capable of blinding or damaging satellite sensors, with intelligence officials warning of more powerful weapons expected by the late 2020s. The communist regimes’ coordinated assault on space security represents a direct challenge to Western technological superiority and military readiness. U.S. Space Force officials describe China’s counterspace buildup as a “grave threat” while highlighting concerning funding gaps in American defensive capabilities. Russia’s suspected nuclear ASAT program, including the Cosmos 2553 satellite launched in early 2022, adds a catastrophic dimension to the space warfare threat that could devastate global communications and navigation systems. Japan Develops Revolutionary Defense System Recognizing its vulnerability as a key U.S. ally heavily dependent on satellite infrastructure, Japan has initiated development of an innovative “bodyguard” system to protect its space assets. The Japanese Ministry of Defense acknowledges the nation’s critical reliance on satellites for missile warning, disaster response, and economic operations makes it a prime target for Russian and Chinese aggression. This defensive initiative represents Japan’s commitment to maintaining technological independence while strengthening alliance cooperation against authoritarian space warfare capabilities. Japanese defense officials emphasize the urgent need for resilience and redundancy in space systems as both Russia and China continue testing proximity operations and physical interference techniques. The bodyguard concept would create protective barriers around critical satellites, potentially using decoy systems, jamming countermeasures, and early warning networks. This approach demonstrates how free nations must innovate rapidly to counter the growing sophistication of communist space warfare programs that threaten fundamental infrastructure supporting democratic societies. Strategic Implications for American Security The escalating space arms race poses severe risks to American national security and economic stability, as satellite disruption could cripple military communications, financial networks, and civilian infrastructure. Russia’s 2021 destructive ASAT missile test created thousands of debris pieces that continue threatening all space operations, while China’s 2007 satellite destruction established precedents for kinetic attacks. Legal scholars highlight the dangerous ambiguity surrounding counterspace activities, as existing international law provides insufficient deterrence against these destabilizing weapons programs. The potential deployment of nuclear-armed satellites represents an unprecedented threat that could trigger electromagnetic pulse attacks devastating entire continental power grids and communication systems. Security analysts warn that the combination of kinetic kill vehicles, directed energy weapons, and nuclear capabilities gives adversaries multiple options for attacking American space infrastructure while maintaining plausible deniability. Japan’s protective satellite initiative offers a model for allied cooperation essential to preserving Western space dominance against authoritarian aggression that undermines global stability and threatens constitutional freedoms dependent on secure communications. Sources: SWP Berlin: Russian Nuclear Weapons in Space? Defense One: How China is expanding its anti-satellite arsenal NSSA Space Threat Fact Sheet The Army Lawyer: Countering Space-Based Weapons of Mass Destruction Lieber Institute, West Point: Shadows in Orbit—Unpacking Cosmos 2588

The Trump administration has launched a counterrevolution in American culture and government. As much as the credit for this sudden and dramatic reversal belongs to the president, it is further being fueled by larger changes in the conservative movement. These changes were set in motion in part thanks to the annual National Conservatism Conference, initially created by Yoram Hazony, author of “The Virtues of Nationalism,” and hosted by the Edmund Burke Foundation. The conference first launched in 2019 and just wrapped up its fifth such gathering on Thursday. As a disclosure, I’ll note that my wife Inez Stepman is one of the hosts of the “NatCon Squad” podcast, an excellent weekly show that provides some of the most insightful analysis about contemporary politics. (Yes, I’m biased, but it’s true.) The National Conservatism message has largely “won” on the Right. That’s in part because it’s strongly aligned with President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance. Vance has spoken several times at the conference, including in 2024, when he spoke about how America is a “homeland” and not just an idea. But in a certain sense, the movement has run alongside Trump and Vance’s success. It has thrived because it filled the vacuum of where the pre-Trump conservative message failed. Addressing What Matters Most Too often there was talk of liberty and the Constitution, of how the government had infringed on the rights of citizens. There was a clear understanding that the Left had gone too far, but little clarity about what to do about it. The first National Conservatism Conference set the tone of how the Right needed to act if Western civilization was to survive and not either disintegrate or become a twisted, villainous version of itself, powerful but wretched. The conference was met with a certain degree of scorn when it began, as many elements of the traditional conservative movement denounced it for embracing ideological heresies. But it succeeded in large part because it was addressing the issues that the American people cared deeply about—issues the Republican Party and conservative institutions ignored or didn’t seem to be taking seriously. For instance, why should Americans extol the virtues of free trade when it seemed to mean the disintegration of jobs, the breakup of communities, and the destruction of the “good life” at the heart of the American dream? Pointing to national economic growth or the benefit of cheaper consumer goods wasn’t good enough when communities were dying and local schools were allowing biological males in girls locker rooms. Unsettled arguments had been treated as settled; dissent or second-guessing was looked upon as a betrayal; and any suggestion that the institutional Right had missed some things in the lead up to Trump taking over the Republican Party was often lambasted as a “sellout” of principles. ‘The Kingdom of God Must be Defended Like Any Other’ Much has changed now. The existential threat the Left poses to our way of life is more widely understood and acknowledged. The Right is more focused on issues directly related to the concerns of millions of forgotten ordinary Americans who are forgotten no more. There is a much stronger focus on culture and the family. Cultural issues are in the driver’s seat, not the backseat—or in a ditch by the side of the road. There is a more widespread belief that political and institutional power is a necessary component of change and success. The National Conservative movement reminded the Right that a great moral and spiritual deficit will bankrupt the country just as much as a fiscal one. What National Conservatism brought to the larger Right is the mentality that the good things at the heart of Western civilization could not be defended by creating small islands of liberty in a sea of hostile leftism. It wasn’t sufficient to just explain the virtues of free speech, to demand religious liberty, and to extol the virtues of the Constitution and limited government. The institutions and changing culture of Western societies controlled by the Left had not only ghettoized traditional cultural and religious ideas, but they had also set them on a path of ultimate annihilation. National Conservatism took hold because it embraced a maxim excellently conveyed in the 1964 movie, “Becket,” which is about the 12th-century Archbishop of Canterbury who defended the church against a corrupt and hostile state. When Becket, played by Richard Burton, decides to excommunicate a state official who killed a priest—thereby angering the ruling regime—three court bishops begged him not to take that action because it would “strike a blow that will split Church and State for a generation.” Becket rebuked them sharply, saying, “If I do not strike it now, the Church as we know it now will not survive a generation.” The bishops answered back, “God will see that it survives.” But Becket had none of it and concluded in a spirit that I think is emblematic of the mindset of National Conservatism: “No, the kingdom of God must be defended like any other kingdom.” It’s not good enough to accept being a “remnant,” mere dissenters clinging to a handful of battered, infiltrated bastions just waiting out the clock and hoping that something will change. It’s About the Institutions, Stupid What was needed was an aggressive counter, an attitude that the institutions of Western civilization do not belong to the Left. We can build and use our own political and institutional power to ensure that we live in a good society of human flourishing. That mindset has produced tangible results.  For instance, the second Trump administration has done something that Republicans had never seriously attempted to do regarding higher education. Instead of just grumbling about the loony Left that’s taken over college campuses and turned them into woke madrassas, as conservatives have done for more than half a century, the administration defunded or threatened to defund them. No longer could schools actively violate the law with impunity and carry out policies that discriminated primarily against white and Asian students. By doing so, colleges risked losing in some cases hundreds of millions of dollars. States followed suit with their own demands that higher education change its ways—or else. And for the first time in a long time, even elite universities such as Harvard must take the Right’s demands seriously, because conservatives are serious about using real political power against them. Even long-standing demands such as defunding the ideologically compromised NPR and PBS, long talked about by conservatives but seemingly never taken seriously by Republicans in office, have suddenly come to pass. It turns out, you can just do stuff. There are other big changes, too. The Trump administration hasn’t just secured the border, it’s deporting thousands of people who have come here illegally, and taking amnesty off the table. The United States is a nation, as National Conservatives have argued, not just an economic zone. With limitless illegal and even legal immigration, it becomes impossible to maintain the cultural bonds that are necessary for a healthy and thriving people. The emphasis has moved away from raw economic competition to family-building and uplifting the American citizens that the state has a duty and obligation to. The challenge now is to keep the momentum going. Trump and the Right’s more confrontational attitude have thrown the Left and its disgraced, untrusted institutions into disarray. That doesn’t mean that a “Retvrn”—“reject modernity, embrace history“—is guaranteed and that the West has been fully restored. Far from it. It’s going to take a generation—or likely generations, plural—to rebuild what has been lost. All that it means is that we are at the beginning of the beginning. We have a new lease on life, so to speak. And that’s thanks in large part to the changes that National Conservatism has brought to America and other Western nations. The post How ‘National Conservatism’ Has Changed the Right appeared first on The Daily Signal.

ERIE, Pennsylvania—Few outside of those who live there understand what the county of Erie’s future holds for its economic future. Is it rural? A port? A city? A college town? A beach town? A faded Rust Belt hub for industrialization? Drive around the county and you’ll soon find that it is all those things. And while the bulk of the population (80%) lives in more urbanized areas, the 38 municipalities of Erie County comprise two cities, 22 townships, and 14 boroughs. There is still a significant number of people in the rural landmass of the county, which makes up 93% of the county’s total land area. They still need the same services as their urban cousins, including what they can get from retailers. Amazon, the largest online retailer in the country, recognized this gap across thousands of other rural ZIP codes nationwide. Its $4 billion investment in rural America was first announced in April, not only expanding its delivery networks in rural areas but also ensuring those deliveries are made faster. It also created 100,000 new jobs across the country in total. In the Millcreek suburb of the city of Erie, a brand-new delivery station is bustling with individual delivery stations—think of them as small businesses inside a larger business—where workers are loading a fleet of Amazon trucks for delivery across the rolling hills where few brick-and-mortar retailers are located. Holly Sullivan is visiting the facility from Amazon’s Nashville, Tennessee, office. She’s the vice president of worldwide economic development at Amazon and led the development of the Tennessee office. It’s no accident that the location is in the middle of the country—Sullivan says it’s important to have that kind of connection with customers and employees. Sullivan calls facilities like the one in Erie their last and most important mile. “Let me work backwards from the customer, which is what we do. We have within our fulfillment network our larger Amazon robotics, which is our smaller items. We have sortation centers, which is our middle mile, and then we have our last mile, which is our delivery stations,” she explained of the logistics. “We started our delivery stations primarily in more urban areas where the larger fulfillment centers were, but we kept hearing from our customers and our drivers of the distance having to be driven to some of the rural areas,” she explained, adding that it was a problem they wanted to solve that led to the rural delivery stations like the one in Millcreek. The building is not new, per se; it is a retrofit placed inside a former industrial site that produced chemicals. It was 2020, and the company wanted to see if the plan would work. “We tweaked some things,” she explained, “learned as we went, and by 2026, we plan on having over 200 rural delivery stations and, in total, a $4 billion investment in rural America.” Sullivan pulled up a map showing they will be in all 50 states, once Vermont finally makes it over the permitting threshold. “It’s fine. We like to follow the rules, and this goes into part of our bigger network,” she said. Underscoring her point, a recent economics study showed that when an Amazon fulfillment center or delivery station is located in a community, it increases the median income by $1,200 a month, according to Oxford Economics. The small businesses within Amazon are the delivery service partners, which operate their own delivery businesses within Amazon, explains Danielle Whitlock, who, along with her husband, Army reservist Victor Whitlock, operates their logistics business across rural Erie. “We’ve been here since July of 2021, and it has grown a lot. We started with a total of seven routes, and now we constantly run around the 40 range in a day, and it is a pretty wide rural territory that runs to the Ohio border,” she explained, adding that they started with a handful of employees and are now over 100. What is great about the program is that it creates small businesses within Amazon, which in turn creates good-paying jobs for people in rural areas, she said. “But it also provides an overnight service that people in high-population areas take for granted but had been considered a luxury in retail deserts in rural America. Pull it all together, and it is a very good thing for everyone.” COPYRIGHT 2025 CREATORS.COM We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Daily Signal. The post Amazon Expands Jobs and Services in Rural America appeared first on The Daily Signal.