The Midterm Postmortem
5th November 2026
Curtis Yarvin (Mencius Moldbug)
Republicans can win easily. They can win the next election easily. They could have won this election easily, if they were living in reality. Instead, from top to bottom, from voters to pundits to politicians to donors, they decided to live in la-la land. With what results, we see.
The whole theory of the postwar Republican Party is that Republicans take governance seriously, whereas Democrats only care about power. True enough. But not true enough to win. Just true enough to lose.
Republicans win a little bit of power and do some small things. The second Trump administration is real. It has done real things. Some have been screwups. Most have been good things. Yes, the White House actually needs a ballroom. Obviously our informed, concerned citizens can see that, and vote for the President who finally gave America the ballroom it deserves.
But all the pundits who blame this on “the divisive MAGA agenda,” and all the other pundits who blame it on “not executing the MAGA agenda,” are profoundly out to lunch. There is no “agenda” that will fix this. There are no “issues,” like “affordability.”
Republicans lost this election because they believe that elections are won by motivation, and motivation is about “issues” and “agendas.” This is indeed how a republic works.
The reality is that the United States is not a republic—a “res publica.” It is not a government of informed, concerned citizens coming together to govern themselves better. It is a Third World democracy in which parties are armies. It is the late Roman Republic.