Political battles used to be just that: political — and fought only in the arena of ideas.

Candidates and nominees would step forward, present their credentials, background, and beliefs — then the public would decide.

Campaigns were simply the effective communication of a platform to earn votes on Election Day.

Now American politics is horrifyingly different, but only if you’re in one party.

For Republican candidates or nominees, American politics is total war these days. Yet most in the GOP have not effectively engaged in responding to the character assassination and scorched-earth tactics of the Left.

Conservatives must accept that there is no daylight between mainstream media and Democrat leadership. Liberals are afforded enormous protections, plus given assurances that the press will turn any and all accusations (no matter how spurious) into rock-solid “facts” overnight.

It’s a well-oiled machine, which we saw on full display during the Brett Kavanaugh hearings in the summer of 2018.

Related: Republican Susan Collins Stands by Her Kavanaugh Support

Enter Pushback PAC. It was formed to ensure that any Democrat trafficking in rumors, lies, or innuendo is held accountable. And to be perfectly clear, accountable means being put on the record, exposed to voters, and facing drastic possible legal and political repercussions.

Politics is now a full-on assault against conservatives in a highly toxic and 24/7 media landscape. Democrats employ any and all manner of manipulation and deceit to attack Republican candidates. They knowingly push the most heinous rumors imaginable to render our side “morally unfit” to hold office, which is a stunning double standard that ironically would disqualify most they caucus with instantly.

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A complicit media acts in conjunction with Democrats in promoting outright lies based on anonymous, unsubstantiated rumors to drive our best candidates and nominees not only out of political life, but also away from everything they’ve spent a lifetime building, in my view. Inflicting pain and creating pariahs is the name of the game. Conservatives have yet to adapt to this new environment.

Our candidates are left defenseless to react, refute, retaliate or reclaim the narrative once the opposition starts attacking in an endless pile-on that’s also a race to the bottom.

Pushback PAC is founded on the twin bedrocks of truth and protecting our center-right “brand” from falsehoods, slander and the personal destruction of our members, candidates and judicial nominees.

Pushback PAC will ensure our candidates and nominees are not left for dead.

The liberal media dominate our airwaves with the steady drip, drip, drip of derision and the relentless erosion of our candidates because their bosses embrace leftist viewpoints and work hand-in-glove to help Democrats maintain power. Any Republican political scandal increases their advertising bottom line. It’s a risk-free investment on their part — and it translates directly to clicks and profits.

And today, the often amnesiac public doesn’t get the benefit of due diligence on baseless charges thrown about — because the GOP never demands it.

Pushback PAC will employ an aggressive playbook to win the information battles of the future.

We will engage directly and confront head-on.

Massive funds will be raised for a well-planned effort to fight back against the political and media narratives fixated on destroying the very lives of our best and brightest.

Resources will be deployed against elected Democrats, candidates, members of the press, and accusers who attack our members, candidates, and judicial nominees. There currently exist rich, untapped veins and mines of accepted facts about dozens of the most vocal against us today. Much of this data has been in the public domain for years but has never been employed for maximum exposure. Many of the loudest Democrats have never faced true opposition research or public revelations of their personal records.

The Pushback PAC approach won’t be your standard “compare and contrast” election-year fare. It won’t be about how any generic Democrat voted on issue X or issue Y. We will go on the offensive, be excruciatingly thorough, and ensure that if a Democrat member of Congress, media representative, or Big Tech head chooses to stand as a moral judge, that person will be investigated.

Pushback PAC will be proactive. We will exercise caution in obtaining and handling information, but won’t hesitate to use it when and where it hurts the most. The only way to put an end to the freewheeling corrosiveness currently contaminating our system is to subject grandstanders to the same kind of invasive scrutiny of their personal pasts they prescribe in full view of the public eye.

This will be Pushback PAC’s straightforward mission.

It will be implemented again and again — until the lesson is learned among our so-called elites and the price tag for their actions is fully understood.

Once they understand that they will be held to account for their past actions and behavior via the blanketed advertising of it in their districts, states, and across the nation, they may not hold themselves up as paragons of virtue.

Pushback PAC will do what conservatives have never done: Respond accordingly. Team GOP will finally be able to examine the validity and character of each one of their accusers.

Pushback PAC will deliver the same scrutiny insisted upon by Democrats in each and every circus of their own creation. Their hypocritical high ground may shift when the skeletons in their own past begin to be unburied.

It’s time to stop letting progressive media drive all the narratives without legitimate cross-examination and powerful challenge.

It’s time to stand up and push back for the future of our party.

It’s time to fight.

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