Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who leads the one notable Republican bright spot on the map, referred to the wipeout as “close to an extinction-level event” for the GOP.
It was the worst midterm defeat for one party in over a half-century.
asserted
It → lead → century
Much of the postmortem conversation has focused on why this massacre happened.
asserted
massacre → focus → conversation
The answer is both simpler and more sweeping: The MAGA movement, which has defined the GOP during the Trump era, forgot what populism means in practice — and requires in governance.
asserted
populism → define → governance
When Donald Trump rode down the Trump Tower escalator in 2015, he launched a populist revolution.
asserted
he → ride → revolution
His message was simple: An elite ruling class has sold out the country, and the MAGA movement is here to finally listen to the people.
asserted
movement → rule → people
Trump largely delivered during his first term.
asserted
Trump → deliver → term
He cut taxes, tamed inflation and oversaw a booming job market and a surging stock market.
asserted
He → cut → market
He became the first president since Richard Nixon to begin to reset our relationship with Communist China.
asserted
He → become → China
In exile during the Joe Biden interregnum, Trump promised to close the border, get inflation under control and bring back general sanity and stability if he returned to the White House.
asserted
he → promise → House
To be sure, Trump’s second term has had its successes.
asserted
term → have → successes
Violent crime has fallen to the lowest rate in 125 years.
asserted
crime → fall → years
The Justice Department’s fights with the Ivy League yielded real concessions.
asserted
fights → yield → concessions
The raid to extract Nicolás Maduro from Caracas was bold and masterful.
asserted
raid → extract → Caracas
But somewhere along the way, the MAGA movement forgot what it was.
asserted
it → forget → way
Some in and around the administration have engaged in the most brazen corruption — pardons, access, illicit cryptocurrency enrichment, real-estate side deals — Washington has seen in a century or more.
asserted
Washington → engage → century
When Americans see “special envoys” Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner negotiate with wealthy Arab states while padding their bank accounts from those same states, they understand what’s going on.
asserted
what → see → states
On economic policy, the administration dramatically expanded its tariffs, including its “universal tariff” policy.
asserted
administration → expand → policy
Strategic, focused tariffs can work — but this was something else entirely: Fact is, Joe and Jane in flyover country didn’t vote for a trade war with Canada.
Even more to the point: Why did Trump’s economists assume tariffing everything that moves is “populist” in the first place?
asserted
that → focus → place
Reshoring supply chains is important, but the tradeoff between production and lowering prices is real.
asserted
tradeoff → reshore → prices
Higher tariffs and more supply-chain reshoring means higher prices.
asserted
tariffs → mean → prices
But the American people have spoken, and they want lower prices over anything else.
asserted
they → speak → anything
So populism means winding the tariffs down.
asserted
populism → mean → tariffs
Isolationists complain that Trump reneged on his promise not to start any new Middle East wars.
asserted
Trump → complain → wars
That’s not quite fair: Trump already proved himself an Iran hawk when he withdrew from Barack Obama’s calamitous nuclear deal, and the United States and Iran have technically been at war since 1979.
Yet the administration never actually made the case for the war to the American people.
asserted
administration → ’ → people
At times, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth alluded to war aims, but we never heard the case from the commander-in-chief himself.
asserted
we → allude → chief
Populism means governing of, by and for the people: How could a purportedly populist president not even bother to try to sell a war to the public?
uncertain
president → mean → public
Finally, a true populist movement needs to focus on real-world concerns, not the conspiratorial rabbit holes of social media.
asserted
movement → need → media
And when White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles reportedly told the terminally online Vice President JD Vance to take a break from the internet, she was on to something.
uncertain
she → tell → something
Real populism means boosting wages and lowering inflation — not staying up to the wee hours of the night trying to crack the Charlie Kirk murder case (news flash: it was Tyler Robinson) or blaming the Jews for stabbing the GOP in the back.
asserted
it → mean → back
Above all, make life easier, not harder, for ordinary Americans.
asserted
life → make → Americans
If this happens, the GOP will have a chance in 2028.
asserted
GOP → happen → 2028
The MAGA movement died on Tuesday — but Trump’s final two White House years should still reflect the original MAGA spirit: governance for the people.
asserted
years → die → people
The Aporia
