Do what you say and say what you do.
This, no doubt, is a simple principle of integrity and accountability. Of course, nothing is simple when it comes to the messy and distorted world of politics. Principles are readily bent for expediency. Other times they’re twisted for no good reason at all.
Last week’s midterm elections delivered a decisive political realignment. Democrats took control of both the House and the Senate. Some traditional red state strongholds saw their governorships turn blue.
The legacy media erupted with familiar rhetoric surrounding a blue tsunami. But beyond the predictable partisan commentary and media posturing, the results reveal a fundamental truth.
The electorate judged the administration not by media propaganda or ideological fervor, but by performance relative to core campaign commitments made in 2024: stabilizing the economy, controlling government spending, and avoiding costly foreign conflicts.
These are the things Trumps said he would do. But, alas, he didn’t.
Instead, voters have faced elevated consumer price inflation, a national debt expanding past $40.5 trillion, tariff-induced household cost increases, and a major war of choice with Iran. Big losses at the ballot box are what happens when promises go unfulfilled.
In today’s guest article, Joel Bowman, of Notes From the End of the World fame, zeroes in on the primary factors behind this electoral shift and the broader economic and foreign policy missteps that have prevailed.
Enjoy!
MN Gordon
P.S. After reading, head over to Mr. Bowman’s website and subscribe to his fantastic newsletter. This will ensure you receive all his latest musings on money, politics, and Western civilization. By way of full disclosure, we have no financial arrangement with Mr. Bowman and do not profit from publishing his work. We’re simply sharing this interesting note with you because we find his unique perspectives to be valuable and believe you will too.
—
The Blue Tsunami
On promises broken, two types of TDS, mainstream media slop and plenty more…
“Falsehood flies, and the Truth comes limping after it.”
~ Jonathan Swift, The Art of Political Lying (1710)
Joel Bowman with today’s Note From the End of the World: Buenos Aires, Argentina…
Hark, dear reader! For the people have spoken!
With hope in their hearts… wax in their ears… and pegs on their noses… wide-eyed voters headed to the polls earlier this week to participate in that most time-dishonored tradition: choosing between the lesser of two evils.
As expected, the Democrats took both the House and the Senate, as well as a slew of key gubernatorial victories deep into red territory. The papers were soon awash with news of the “blue tsunami”…
A blue tsunami crashes down on Donald Trump ~ Bloomberg
A blue tsunami drowned the GOP Congress ~ MS Now
The blue tsunami sparks joy, hope and mockery in Europe ~ Politico
Ah, not so fast! So cautioned the mirthless tsk-tskers over at, of all outlets, the New York Times…
Everyone’s Talking About the ‘Blue Tsunami.’ In Japan, It’s Complicated.
Even in victory, the paper scolded, we must abide by the iron-clad laws of cultural sensitivity. The Old Wet Blanket took the opportunity to castigate the New York Post for featuring on its front page a depiction of the president being swamped by the iconic Hokusai masterpiece, “The Great Wave.”
Most likely, they were just jealous they didn’t think of the gag first. Not wishing to offend readers, the paper carried an image (of the very same image) in its own story…
…before continuing its habitual finger-wagging.
“The rendering came as a surprise to the staff of the Sumida Hokusai Museum in Tokyo on Thursday,” the article explained.
“That’s not really how these pieces were intended to be enjoyed,” a museum spokesperson told the paper of record, before presumably being inundated with disinvitations to parties where people are allowed to have fun.
“Hokusai depicted a powerful, dynamic wave, so to see that transformed into a parody – a kind of ironic subversion – is something we cannot view favorably,” the spokesperson intoned. “Ideally, we would prefer that his art not be used as a form of satire intended to disparage others.”
So, there you have it, dear reader…. The NY Post lambasting Trump for an epic loss… the NY Times remonstrating their rival paper for cultural insensitivity… before running the exact image themselves.
All the news that’s fit to print, indeed! But let us return to the underlying story…
Two Types of TDS
Once again, Trump has defied the odds and achieved what many thought impossible: losing “bigly” to a new wave of “Democratic Socialists” who think the jury is still out on “seizing the means of production” and that “homeownership is a weapon of white supremacy.” (That’s Cea Weaver, Mayor Mamdani’s Housing Tsar. Really. Google it.)
For the millions of Americans suffering Type I TDS (Trump Derangement Syndrome), the election results represent a pivotal victory in the eternal struggle of pure good versus evil incarnate.
For those with Type II TDS (Trump Devotion Syndrome), it was a slap in the face with a cold, wet fish.
In truth, and to the disappointment of many, Donald Trump is neither demigod nor fallen angel. He is but a man… a featherless biped like the rest of us… apt to put his pants on one leg at a time… then fall flat on his face anyway.
But let us not judge him by impossible, Biblical standards. Nor by the lowly measures of the long-disgraced popular press. Nor even by the democratic “will of the majority,” for as we have seen time and again, human beings are no less fallible simply because they form a consensus, a mobjority.
Let us instead examine the man by his own words… and see how he has measured up to the promises that fell, like so many bombs from the deep blue yonder, from his presidential lips.
Objective readers (we know you’re out there!) will recall, with crystal clarity, Trump’s key promises on the campaign trail, back in 2024. Herewith, a few worth reprising…
By Their Deeds…
On July 18, 2024, during his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, the party’s new old nominee stared down the teleprompter and boldly declared…
“I will end the devastating inflation crisis immediately, bring down interest rates, and lower the cost of energy…”
“Prices will start to come down.”
And yet… according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, prices did no such thing. In fact, they rose 6.1 % during Trump’s first 20 months in office. The latest inflation print (from September), came in at 3.7% year-over-year… higher than the 3% he inherited in January 2025.
As for energy costs, they are up 20.4% over the year to September. Not down, just to be clear. Up.
Now, your editor is no math whizz… but some quick, back-of-the-envelope calculations suggest that Pledge No.1 was… not fulfilled.
Next…
Having wooed and dazzled those gathered with one bold promise, Mr. Trump moved swiftly onto another, even more impressive target…
“And we will reduce our debt, $36 trillion. We will start reducing that, and we will also reduce your taxes still further…”
“We’ll start paying off debt and start lowering taxes even further.”
How the conservative hearts must have been set aflutter! How the small government libertarian knees must have trembled!
And yet…
According to the Congressional Budget Office figures, the national debt went (can you believe it?) UP during the past two years.
Again, for avoidance of doubt, that’s up… as in, “not down.”
And it didn’t just inch higher, either. From January 2025 through November 2026, the federal debt surged from $36.2 trillion… to $40.5 trillion. A non-trivial $4.3 trillion increase, in other words, or roughly 12%.
Federal deficits also went up. At $1.99 trillion, this year’s shortfall represents the largest annual deficit in five years, since the dark days of pandemic hysteria. Meanwhile, interest payments alone this year reached $1.36 trillion, an all time record.
As for reducing taxes, what are tariffs if not a tax on the end user? Producers aren’t idiots, after all. (Even foreign ones!) When slapped with additional taxes, duties, and tariffs, manufacturers merely shunt the extra load down the line… until it lands in the consumer’s lap.
The figures vary, of course, but estimates from the Tax Foundation, Tax Policy Center and Yale Budget Lab suggest somewhere in the range of $1,800–$2,200 was added to the average American household’s expenses over 2025 and 2026 as a direct result of Trump’s tariffs.
In other words… as long as 40.5 is bigger than 36.2… and 2,000 is bigger than zero… the numerate observer would have to deliver a “not fulfilled” verdict on Pledge #2.
But it was perhaps the third strike that was the fatal blow…
Bombs Away
Here’s a smattering of relevant quotes from the Peacemaker in Chief…
At the Republican convention in July 2024:
“With our victory in November, the years of war, weakness, and chaos will be over. I don’t have wars.”
At a Pennsylvania rally in August 2024:
“Under Trump, we will have no more wars, no more disruptions, and we will have prosperity and peace for all.”
And from another rally in Georgia, November 2024…
“I’m the only president in 82 years that had no wars. […] My attitude is going to keep us out of wars. And that’s what happened because they respected us.”
No messy foreign entanglements. No costly military misadventures. No more world policing. It sounded sane enough…
… until the skies began to darken.
Tens of thousands of US military missiles later… tens of billions of dollars for the military industrial complex so far… 18 American military personnel killed… 824 more wounded… thousands of dead Iranian civilians, including at least 120 children in the Shajareh Tayyebeh Primary School attack alone… and untold others killed, many of whom counted themselves among the brave resistance against Iran’s brutal regime.
Whatever one calls this, it’s not “no more wars.” It’s not “prosperity and peace for all.” And one gets the feeling the chaos has only just begun.
Here’s how Vice President JD Vance summed it up on X:
“The reason we lost [the midterm election] is the war. The president himself said so last night.
“If you’d like to argue it was worth it, that losing the Senate for the next 6 years was worth it, then do so. Argue it was a worthwhile cost to pay. Agree or disagree, that’s at least honest.
“But everyone knows why we lost. And any honest conversation about where we go from here must start there.”
So let’s see… vowing to lower the cost of living, then delivering higher prices at the store and the pump… pledging to pay off the debt, then blowing it out of the water… promising peace, then letting loose the dogs of war…
Heading into the election, prominent Republican strategists were worried their voters wouldn’t show up. Unfortunately for them, they did. And they happen to be the kind of people who don’t take kindly to broken promises.
Stay tuned for more Notes From the End of the World…
Cheers,
Joel Bowman
founder of Notes from the End of the World
P.S. Tired of mainstream partisan slop and broken political promises? Subscribe to Joel Bowman’s free newsletter, Notes from the End of the World, for sharp, unfiltered commentary on money, politics, and the flux of Western civilization. Get his latest dispatches delivered straight to your inbox here!
