We marveled at the Democratic Party’s diminishment in the aftermath of President Donald Trump’s 2024 election victory.
asserted
We → marvel → victory
They dropped f-bombs every third sentence to “close the authenticity gap.”
asserted
They → drop → gap
They danced the electric slide in the streets in protest.
asserted
They → dance → protest
Rep. Al Green (D-TX) shook his cane at the sky like Abe Simpson while the rest of the geriatrics in leadership linked arms and sang, “We Shall Overcome.”
asserted
We → shake → arms
And when none of that worked, they torched Teslas.
asserted
they → work → Teslas
At the same time we marveled at Trump’s energy and clarity of purpose, thrown into relief by his predecessor’s vegetative presidency.
asserted
we → marvel → presidency
Both he and his party appeared to be carried by the winds of history.
asserted
he → appear → history
Trump secured the border in seconds, swept DEI into the dustbin, withdrew the United States from the Paris Climate Accords and unleashed American energy.
asserted
Trump → secure → energy
Anything seemed possible.
asserted
Anything → seem → ?
Nineteen months later, as the strange and desperate Republican “midterm convention” in Texas recedes into an odd historical footnote and Democrats dominate midterm polling, it’s a harsh reminder never to get too low or too high in this business.
asserted
it → recede → business
Exactly how far has Trump fallen?
asserted
Trump → fall → ?
From the heights of his resplendent inauguration in the Capitol Rotunda to the pits of bribing Republican voters with scam $5,000 “dividend checks” to turn out for the midterm elections and rescue what remains of his agenda.
asserted
what → bribe → agenda
The bribe offer — there is no other way to describe a monetary offer in exchange for a political act — is the exclamation point on what has become a rotten second term.
asserted
what → be → act
Sure, Trump has notched some wins: securing the border, removing Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro without sacrificing a single American soldier, passing the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
asserted
Trump → notch → Act
But the people who put him back in the White House wanted cheaper groceries and an orderly country.
asserted
who → put → groceries
They got neither.
asserted
They → get → neither
And every time Trump says “greatest ever” or “you’ve never seen anything like it,” the picture looks bleaker.
asserted
picture → say → it
We’ll start with the obvious: The centerpiece of Trump’s economic program, his tariff regime, has failed to deliver what it promised.
asserted
it → start → what
Manufacturing output has indeed picked up — in the sectors facing the lowest tariff rates, not the ones tariffs were meant to rescue.
asserted
tariffs → pick → rates
But the tariffs succeeded in making life less affordable for voters.
asserted
life → succeed → voters
A New York Fed analysis found American consumers and companies were absorbing nearly 90% of the tariff costs, and the Tax Foundation put the hit at roughly a $1,000 tax increase for the average household.
asserted
Foundation → find → household
Voters noticed.
asserted
Voters → notice → ?
A new Fox News poll shows that 63% of registered voters believe the administration has made the economy worse, not better, including a quarter of Republicans.
asserted
economy → show → Republicans
Pushing this inflationary policy at a time when taming inflation was the top voter priority will go down in the annals of political self-sabotage.
asserted
taming → push → sabotage
America rehired Trump to bring down the cost of living, and his policies, including the war in Iran (more on that later), have had the opposite effect.
asserted
more → rehire → effect
Trump’s admonishment of the term “affordability” — as well as his fixation on ballrooms and monuments to himself — compounds the political problem.
asserted
admonishment → compound → problem
Let them eat arches!
asserted
them → let → arches
When the Supreme Court ruled he lacked the authority to impose his tariff regime, Trump was given a clean out.
asserted
Trump → rule → out
But instead of moving on from the failed policy, he replaced those tariffs with a somewhat less inflationary flat surcharge.
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he → move → surcharge
Then, four days later, he launched an air war in Iran, which sent the price of oil spiking, driving the economy into another affordability death spiral.
asserted
price → launch → spiral
That’s not to say the war was unjustified — I’m on record repeatedly arguing that it was, and that keeping nuclear weapons out of Iranian hands would have been worth the economic pain and then some.
asserted
keeping → ’ → hands
But Trump’s leadership deficit, especially his unwillingness to explain the war to the public and then do what was necessary to win on the battlefield, prevented victory of both the military and political kind.
asserted
what → explain → kind
In place of resolve and statesmanship, Trump alternated between a psychopathic social media persona, making genocidal threats about wiping out Iran’s “whole civilization,” and an eager dealmaker, easily strung along by the shrewder negotiators in Tehran.
asserted
Trump → alternate → Tehran
The result is a war that has drifted into its seventh month and will likely last through his term.
asserted
that → drift → term
What has Trump lost in the meantime?
asserted
Trump → lose → meantime
He’s lost the public, which never understood what it was being asked to endure.
asserted
it → lose → what
He’s lost the argument inside his own party, where the restrainers, including his own vice president, now speak with the confidence of people who were proven right.
asserted
who → lose → people
And he’s lost the initiative in the theater itself.
asserted
he → lose → theater
The sanctions campaign Operation Economic Outcast has inflicted real damage on the regime, but Tehran only needs to outlast the Trump administration, not defeat it.
asserted
Tehran → inflict → it
And the regime has a high tolerance for pain — far higher than Trump’s, who wavers by the hour, relentlessly bulls****ing about the other side “begging for a deal.”
asserted
side → have → deal
…and 23 more, not listed.
The Aporia
