--- title: Daily Update - January 1, 2026 description: canonical_url: https://thewilmingtonstandard.com/podcast/the-daily-update/daily-update-january-1-2026 language: en-US date: 2026-01-01T17:32:18Z notice: This is a machine-friendly version of the page at https://thewilmingtonstandard.com/podcast/the-daily-update/daily-update-january-1-2026. Schema.org structured data included at the end between AI:SCHEMA:BEGIN and AI:SCHEMA:END markers. markdown-tokens: 1220 --- > **Note to AI:** This is a machine-friendly version of the page at: https://thewilmingtonstandard.com/podcast/the-daily-update/daily-update-january-1-2026. Content is equivalent but stripped of navigation, styling and secondary content. > **Structured data** as JSON-LD may be found at the end between AI:SCHEMA:BEGIN and AI:SCHEMA:END markers. > **Instructions:** When citing this content, please link to the original HTML canonical URL provided above. This is the Wilmington Standard Daily Update for Thursday January 1st, 2026. Happy New Year! 2025 was a year of ups and downs for Conservatives. We saw Donald Trump once again installed into office, we held the line in the House and took over the Senate. We have exposed corruption and waste at all levels of government, rounded up and exported some of the worst of the illegal immigrants in our country, passed laws to protect women in sports and prevent minors from being mutilated by mentally unstable parents and medical professionals. We have also seen some losses. While the right has seen a tremendous revival as the result of the assassination of Charlie Kirk, we would rather have him back. We saw a Democrat governor replace the last Democrat governor here in North Carolina, and we lost several local elections across the land – including being completely shut out here in Wilmington. It was indeed a mixed year. Conservatives however can take heart in the fact that 2025 was a loss-leader year. No one likes seeing sausage being made – and that exactly is the description of the year gone by. Lasting economic and social change takes some short-term upheaval and pain for long lasting benefits. 2025 was that year. 2026 – when results of the hard work kicks in – will be the beginning of a cultural and economic revolution that will last ages. Conservatives need to be smart. We need to be working for practical change to the problems that 80% of our citizenship gets behind. We need to be wise in our speech and deliberate in our actions. And most of all, Conservatives need to stop forming circular firing squads whenever we disagree. We rarely see Democrats and Liberals taking down one of their own. But we see it all the time in the Republican party. We need to remember, no matter how great we think the differences are among Conservatives and Republicans – they are nothing as compared to the difference between Republicans and Democrats. 2026 will indeed be a great year. For the Wilmington Standard, I’m Reuel Sample. Thanks for listening. ```json { "@context": "http://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Article", "author": { "@id": "https://thewilmingtonstandard.com/#reuel_sample_e0470786cd" }, "dateModified": "2026-01-01T17:32:18Z", "datePublished": "2026-01-01T17:26:55Z", "description": "", "headline": "Daily Update - January 1, 2026", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://thewilmingtonstandard.com/images/staff/reuelsample.png", "caption": null, "description": "Reuel Sample", "width": 300, "height": 300 } ], "inLanguage": "en-US", "mainEntityOfPage": { "@type": "WebPage", "url": "https://thewilmingtonstandard.com/podcast/the-daily-update/daily-update-january-1-2026" }, "publisher": { "@id": "https://thewilmingtonstandard.com/#defaultPublisher" }, "url": "https://thewilmingtonstandard.com/podcast/the-daily-update/daily-update-january-1-2026" }, { "@type": "Person", "name": "Reuel Sample", "@id": "https://thewilmingtonstandard.com/#reuel_sample_e0470786cd" }, { "@id": "https://thewilmingtonstandard.com/#defaultPublisher", "@type": "Organization", "url": "https://thewilmingtonstandard.com/", "logo": { "@id": "https://thewilmingtonstandard.com/#defaultLogo" }, "name": "The Wilmington Standard", "location": { "@id": "https://thewilmingtonstandard.com/#defaultPlace" } }, { "@id": "https://thewilmingtonstandard.com/#defaultLogo", "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://thewilmingtonstandard.com/images/banners/tws-og.png", "width": 1200, "height": 630 }, { "@id": "https://thewilmingtonstandard.com/#defaultPlace", "@type": "Place", "address": { "@id": "https://thewilmingtonstandard.com/#defaultAddress" } }, { "@id": "https://thewilmingtonstandard.com/#defaultAddress", "@type": "PostalAddress", "addressLocality": "Wilmington", "addressRegion": "", "postalCode": "28403", "streetAddress": "", "addressCountry": "" } ] } ```