As you’d expect, the right is in a shambles right now.
asserted
right → expect → shambles
Elon Musk is making jokes about his “election-interfering space lasers” and pretending that he really, really doesn’t care that he threw away nearly half a billion dollars trying to influence the midterms.
asserted
he → make → midterms
JD Vance is writing long essays on social media about how he agrees the Iran war was a bit of an oopsie.
asserted
war → write → oopsie
Donald Trump, meanwhile, seems to be going through his own idiosyncratic grieving process about the Republicans’ historic midterm beating.
asserted
Trump → seem → beating
The president has skipped all the way past shock, denial and anger and landed at the “admiring my beautiful renovations” stage of grief.
asserted
president → skip → grief
In his very first public appearance after the midterms, Trump did not offer a path forward for the Republicans or unpack what went wrong.
asserted
what → offer → Republicans
Instead, he stood at the construction site where the new White House ballroom will be built and waxed lyrical about how incredible the building will be.
asserted
building → stand → site
“This has been a structure the likes of which has never been seen anywhere,” Trump told the press corps as a building crew prepared to install the final beam in the ballroom.
asserted
crew → see → ballroom
He then spent more than 20 minutes talking about “magnificent columns”, marble floors, cocktail rooms and Corinthian design.
asserted
He → spend → columns
Finally, in great detail, he explained what the public was so desperate to know: why were the ballroom’s kitchens going to be underground?
asserted
kitchens → explain → what
“If I put the kitchen on top, you would lose three walls, because a kitchen takes about 30% of the space,” Trump noted.
asserted
Trump → put → space
“I love construction,” the president added, before signing a beam with a black sharpie.
asserted
president → love → sharpie
The midterms did eventually come up, but only because reporters insisted on asking about all that nasty business.
asserted
reporters → come → business
“If I were on the ballot, I would have won,” Trump shrugged.
asserted
Trump → win → ballot
I guess he forgot the part where he told voters: “Just close your eyes and pretend I’m on the ballot.”
asserted
I → guess → ballot
According to a Washington Post analysis, he repeated variations of this statement 63 times.
uncertain
he → accord → statement
While Republicans may not have been rebuked quite as badly then as they were this year, they still lost the House of Representatives.
uncertain
they → rebuke → Representatives
In the aftermath of that defeat, Trump reacted with his characteristic conspiracy and anger.
asserted
Trump → react → conspiracy
He called the results a “tremendous success” and insulted his enemies.
asserted
He → call → enemies
“Mia Love gave me no love, but then she lost,” Trump said in the 2018 press conference, referring to a Utah Republican who lost her House re-election bid.
asserted
who → give → bid
Then again, Trump 2.0, as we have all come to painfully realize, is a very different beast from the first incarnation.
asserted
we → come → incarnation
While the president’s reaction to Tuesday’s defeat may seem bizarre, it is in keeping with the priorities of his second term.
uncertain
it → seem → term
Despite all his threats about running for president again, Trump seems to have accepted that this will be his last stint in the White House and is focused on leaving a legacy.
asserted
this → run → legacy
He wants to slap his name on as many things as possible, renovate whatever he can get his little hands on, and build a bunch of self-aggrandizing monuments.
asserted
he → want → monuments
“He’s got the White House looking like Saddam Hussein opened a Cheesecake Factory, just gold everywhere,” Barack Obama joked at a recent Ohio rally, in reference to Trump’s aesthetics obsession.
asserted
Obama → get → obsession
“He seems very focused on home renovations.
asserted
He → seem → renovations
Trump did not find this particularly amusing.
asserted
this → find → ?
“I paid for it myself.
asserted
I → pay → it
I fixed it, and now it’s more beautiful and in better shape,” the president said in defence of his White House upgrades.
asserted
president → fix → upgrades
Obama, he added, just didn’t get it because he is a man who “doesn’t understand that having asphalt going to your main entrance is not the right thing”.
asserted
asphalt → add → entrance
Trump’s construction projects may soon end up being undermined by more than just jokes.
uncertain
projects → end → jokes
Democrats are already scrutinizing the funding of the ballroom.
asserted
Democrats → scrutinize → ballroom
Now that they control the House and Senate, they could even move to block some of Trump’s building plans, arguing that they haven’t been authorized by Congress and are therefore illegal.
uncertain
they → control → Congress
And they could clamp down on some of the renovation excesses: despite all his guff about bringing jobs back to America, Trump has outsourced the carving of his ballroom’s Corinthian columns to Italy.
uncertain
Trump → clamp → Italy
But even if the Democrats manage to rein Trump in, he’s still made an indelible mark on Washington.
asserted
he → manage → Washington
Work on his 250ft “triumphal arch” could get started this week if a judge gives approval.
uncertain
judge → start → approval
And the president has just wrapped up a $14m project to clean up the “filthy” Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool and rid of the algae blooms turning it green.
asserted
president → wrap → it
It’s been a long and difficult battle against the algae but, in a press conference on Monday, the eve of election day, Trump declared “mission accomplished.”
asserted
mission → declare → day
In the last press conference before polls opened, Trump did not make a final plea to voters – instead he patted himself on the back about how wonderful the pool was looking.
asserted
pool → open → back
Standing in front of a sign that said: “Back, and more beautiful than ever!” Trump declared that the pool project should unite all Americans.
asserted
project → stand → Americans
…and 4 more, not listed.
The Aporia
