Posted on 08/22/2025 5:17:46 AM PDT by Angelino97
Rep. Riley Moore (R-WV) sent a letter to President Donald Trump Thursday urging him to award Patrick J. Buchanan the Presidential Medal of Freedom, The American Conservative has learned.
“Honoring Patrick J. Buchanan with the Presidential Medal of Freedom would recognize his role as one of the truest patriots of the past century,” Moore told TAC in an exclusive statement. “His unrelenting focus on the forgotten men and women of America paved the way for President Trump’s America First Movement. He was right about pretty much everything 20 years before most people realized it and should be honored for defending the American worker, family, and our national sovereignty.”
In the letter, available in full here, Moore praised Buchanan for his “clear-eyed warnings about porous borders, deindustrialization, foreign entanglements, and the decline of traditional values” and detailed his storied career from young editorial writer to senior White House advisor to three-time presidential candidate. Moore highlighted Buchanan’s influence on U.S. foreign policy as both a voice for peace and an aide to the former Presidents Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan.
“Though he never held elected office, his influence in shaping public conversation and awakening the political consciousness of millions is undeniable,” Moore wrote in the letter to Trump. “He was the America First movement’s early watchman, sounding the alarm long before others could see the storm.”
“Through The American Conservative, the American Cause, and his decades of commentary, Mr. Buchanan helped shift the political terrain, bringing once-taboo ideas into the mainstream,” Moore continued in the letter. “Together with his wife Shelley, herself a longtime White House staffer, he has lived a life of service, principle, and unshakable patriotism.”
During his first term, Trump awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to more than 20 individuals, both posthumously and during their lifetimes. They included Elvis Presley, Tiger Woods, and Rush Limbaugh. Trump has yet to indicate who is on the short list to receive medals during his second term.
Moore is not the first person to call for Buchanan to receive nation’s highest civilian honor. Calls for Buchanan to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom have appeared on TAC’s own digital pages as recently as 2024. (Buchanan cofounded TAC in 2002.)
In January, First Things’ editor Rusty Reno declared that Buchanan should be at the top of Trump’s list for Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients: “He has been denounced as racist, fascist, and ‘extreme right’ by all the Good People—just like our incoming president.”
The commentator Auron MacIntyre praised Buchanan as “the most prominent paleoconservative in American politics” in a May podcast titled “Let’s Build a Statue Honoring Pat Buchanan.”
A prolific author who retired from writing in 2023, Buchanan has been identified by many Gen Z conservatives—who have no memory of his famous 1992 “culture war speech” at the Republican National Convention, as they weren’t even born—as a major influence on their political views.
Well deserved!
I hope he gets it!
He is a terrific writer, imo.
There are few at his level.
Yep. Pat was anti establishment. Gave 41 a real scare. Laid the ground work for the Tea Party and MAGA. He was great on Crossfire. His opposition to the Israel lobby got him into trouble.
A Classic!
“”Well deserved! I hope he gets it!””
Agree - He was our voice for many years!
I recall much Republican hand-wringing over Pat's speech. Some Republicans blamed Pat's speech for Bush's loss in November.
I voted in the primary for Pat when he ran for President.
He’s a great paleo-conservative.
“”Well deserved! I hope he gets it!””
Agree - He was our voice for many years - that would be a great tribute to him.
A time when RINO's were firmly in control. Pat helped start a reborn conservative movement.
I wanted to vote for Pat. But he was no longer on the ballot by California’s June primary.
PATRICK JOSEPH BUCHANAN, “CULTURE WAR SPEECH: ADDRESS TO THE REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION” (17 AUGUST 1992)
My friends, this election is about more than who gets what. It is about who we are. It is about what we believe, and what we stand for as Americans. There is a religious war going on in this country. It is a cultural war, as critical to the kind of nation we shall be as was the Cold War itself, for this war is for the soul of America.
What potential Republican voter would have listened to a speech by Pat Buchanan and then voted DEM instead or not voted? Any? Not seeing it.
What potential Republican voter would have listened to a speech by Pat Buchanan and then voted DEM instead or not voted? Any? Not seeing it.
It came from RINO's who realized the threat from the right, and they were correct. They have been trying to scare Republicans away from conservatism for years. It was the old establishment GOP, Bush, Cheney, Dole, McConnell, scared of losing their firm grip on the party. That was 1992 - it later spawned the Tea Party and what we have now, some 30 years later.
Pat was an unlikely populist.
Born in DC.
BA from Georgetown.
Pat got carried away the populism a bit when he famously said, “The peasants are coming with pitchforks.”
In many ways he laid the way for Trump.
He was anti-elitist which made him a populist.
In my view he was a true conservative although he worked for Nixon who was anything but, with his price controls and cozying up to the CCP.
Pat believed in CONSERVING military might unlike the Bush/Cheney crime families who were neocon warmongers.
Pat had the wonderful Irish sense of humor which came out when he took on the likes of Tom Braden, Michael Kinsley and Eleanor Clift.
The McLaughlin Group was must see TV as long as Pat was on the panel.
Notice the names, Musk was there too! So was ex-senator Rob Portman...Went to Ukraine 10 times since 2014 tells you every thing.
I like Pat. He ran on the campaign policies of David Duke when Duke ran for Senator and Governor of Louisiana in the late 80s and early 90s. Pat and Duke were great ideologists and advocates for White civil rights.
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