The Tidings of March
A March 2026 Roundup
Dear Readers,
In February I said I would start doing a monthly roundup of my articles and other work. Well, more accurately polled you all on it and was given an affirmative by those proud few who participated. However, I had written two very long articles for this Substack in fairly close succession and there was not much worth adding. I believe the only other thing I had published in February was a single Libertarian Institute article, which does not a roundup newsletter make. I have only done somewhat better this month, though at least have things to share.
Still, what a month for news it has been, since Donald Trump’s insane and disastrous attack on Iran. All of the things I successfully got published this month were on that topic, which was not my intention, but who can even remember what else has happened in the last month besides Trump’s increasingly unhinged statements and high gas prices. In future months it will hopefully be the case that I can give some sort of interesting summary of monthly events or talk about the diverse themes on which I wrote.
I suppose, though, if I am going to be writing a monthly newsletter in the real sense of compiling stories I have written I should include some sort of introductory note about my own life, beyond just generally that my children are insane and devoted enemies of quiet and concentration.
It turns out that, to no one’s surprise, trying to freelance full time is also a tempestuous mistress, if more straightforward than a vague push for audience growth. At the same time though, I have been in a pretty serious decompression mode after 4~ years of grinding so audience growth would move fast enough that I could survive selling things and taking on debt and the like so income could increase before it reached a tipping point, which it of course it did not. I mean, I did at least accept defeat in that sense early enough that I should ultimately be fine and still manage to make a career as a writer. Regardless, I have been taking it a bit easy, since beyond that I wrote way too much in January and February. Now, as well as sending out endless pitches and working hard to make new contacts with editors and the like, I am also trying to catch up on life generally. It was the case that I spent all of my time working- or trying to unsuccessfully and thus wasting my time. For years, I did a quite bad job at setting aside time to spend with my family or to work on my home and yard and vehicles and the various other responsibilities of a man who cannot afford to hire people. It has been delightful to have something more like a “work-life balance” and have times where I am neither working nor feel like I should be working, nor feel that all I am doing is taking enough of a break that it will allow me to be productive.
As far as the writing goes, it hasn’t all been bad news. I recently had my debut at Unherd, which should be a regular thing going forward, and both of my Libertarian Institute articles this month are wonderful. I also did some good work on Twitter that I will include. This is of course very feast or famine sort of industry, so part of the thing is keeping my mind clear to get new ideas and then be capable of getting a lot of work done at once if I should happen to have multiple deadlines close together. I am hopefully about to get a commission for a feature I really want to do, and also expect to be back in the forthcoming issue of The American Conservative. I am, however, also growing quite desirous to write one of the long Substack articles for which I am known, I didn’t expect to go through March without one. I came close to going on a topic, but decided against the story and got caught up on other things.
Anyway, With no further adieu, and apologies for the fact that this is all the better I could do at this newsletter given my son’s constant screaming, I will share my meager output for the month.
At the Libertarian Institute I wrote “What Is ‘Freedom’ and Do Iranians Want It?” This falls into my long-term goal of finding a way to make libertarians learn about the classical political theorists that the early libertarians actually read themselves. The gist of the whole thing is that the meaning of freedom is not at all agreed upon. The most common definition is simply being ruled by your own people instead of by foreigners, which is true of at least the main Persian part of the Iranian population, and even for many of the minorities they have lived there since time immemorial and they are still ruled by their own people in the sense of “the people who, like myself, live here.” As I say in the article, I don’t doubt that many Iranians would prefer to not be ruled by elderly clerics, but I don’t think many want the “freedom” that is a Zionist government with Onlyfans and sportsbetting supremacy, which is at best what the US would deliver to them.
This essay was particularly good, “Trump’s American Tragedy.” In this, I look at Trump’s political career as a tragedy in five parts, with us at the end, and Trump in the role of the mad king. This is what you get when a literature major becomes a political writer, I suppose. It is really holding up as the days pass (I should note that it was submitted some time before it got published, as it sometimes goes, it seems a little silly to say something has held up which came out a week ago.)
Most exciting for this month, my debut at Unherd! The article is “The Myth of Emirati Neutrality” and is about how the UAE’s “foreign policy” has come home. As my readers will know, while the Emiratis may try to take something of a middle ground between the three major global powers, in their own neighborhood it is hard to find a conflict they are not involved in. I don’t think the “dream of Dubai” is shattered, but its vulnerability has been shown…still, there is much more to Dubai that “influencers” encouraging people to live there. But, moreso than some rockets scaring tourists, if they can’t trade through Hormuz that is a real problem.
I didn’t happen to do any interviews this month, in fact I don’t know that I have all year, but I did find more time to do some good Twitter content. I guess for this section I will go back to the end of late February, since I didn’t manage to make a February newsletter. It is this sort of content, that I think is valuable, that I find much more time and energy to do not throwing myself into 10,000+ mega articles all the time. Of course, there is the added advantage that anything worth writing a thread on is a theme that could be adapted elsewhere.
On February 26th I wrote a thread on a Foreign Affairs article about how Ukraine is losing the war and should “Trade land for peace.” I wanted to write an article about this, and how Ukraine has already demonstrated that you do have to pay a high price for invading a country it was just one Russia was able and willing to pay, which few countries could or would. As Zelensky knows, interest in Ukraine is quite low since Trump attacked Iran, but I still hope to find a publisher for such an essay, as I have not seen one on that specific topic anywhere.
Also, this Feb 27th thread on horrifying documents about the establishment of Israel. Conceptually, it is little we didn’t know, but there are awful specifics (including “decimating” villages in the actual Roman sense.)
This essay, on the end of the Hereditary Peerage, could have been its own piece published somewhere else (and is about 1000 words) but it is just something I wrote quickly while procrastinating writing the above Unherd article:
Mid-month, I got a couple more summary threads in.
March 15th, on the bleak assessment of the US’s Atlanticist class about Trump’s prospects in Iran. Almost all people who are hostile to Iran but can’t look past the incredible flaws with all of this.
This one, from the 17th, I am just now reminded that I could not get Twitter to show to anyone. Pathetic numbers. Nevertheless, on how this war that Gulf States didn’t want is impacting them.
This is, I believe, more or less what I’ve got done this month, which kind of makes me panic that I have done little in the last two weeks. However, plenty of that time as been devoted to editing and pitches and various home and vehicle projects and drinking too much, so I guess it isn’t all bad.
Anyway, I very much hope to have much more work to share next month, and also to work on finding some sort of engrossing format for this as a monthly newsletter. I really struggled to find time to work on it the last few days. I may or may not have a more unique article out here within the next week or so, depending on what I hear from an editor. Regardless, I feel the need to write one of my long articles that no editor will pay for which is a unique talent that I can only get away with publishing on Substack.
I hope you all have a lovely April, and are willing to stick around as a subscriber for what is hopefully April’s much better newsletter and some original Substack content.
I should mention while I am here, Alexis is not particularly enthusiastic about being a podcast hostess, and never asked to be, I more or less just conscripted her. I may be looking for a new format for the podcast, particularly as it always seems to lose, instead of gain, subscribers when podcasts go out! On the other hand, if it does start paying money, I can keep the lovely hostess more easily. I kind of miss not recording weekly, but the real issue was grief it caused with my wife, which is not as much better as I would have thought moving it to bi-weekly when her preferred frequency is zero.
Also, moreso than usual, please leave a comment with feedback about this new real newsletter format and how it should be improved.
Thank you for reading! The Wayward Rabbler is written by Brad Pearce. If you enjoyed this content please subscribe and share. I am available for freelance work and can be contacted here, on Twitter, or by emailing me at pearcebrad@hotmail.com. My main articles are free but paid subscriptions help me a huge amount. I also have a tip jar at Ko-Fi. My Facebook page is The Wayward Rabbler. You can see my shitposting and serious commentary on Twitter @WaywardRabbler.
I am one of your biggest fans and think you've written some of the best things I've read on substack. I'm also a former uber-libtard who has hated Trump since the 1980s. But I'm happy he's president and think he's the change agent we need, even though I cringe at a lot. I can honestly say he's made my life a lot better since he's been back in office. I'm a little bummed this (and other things you've written) come across as a bit TDS. Won't stop me from subscribing or reading, just putting it out there.
Keep going, Mr. Pearce! (however you feel, however suits you) In 1923, Mikhail Bulgakov wrote in his diary: “In my hypochondria and melancholy over the past, sometimes, as now, in this absurd state of temporary confinement, in a shabby room in a shabby house, I happen to have bursts of confidence and strength. And now I feel the thought surging within me, and I believe I am infinitely stronger as a writer than all those I know.”
And Bulgakov continued to write, thank God!