“The left” Lost.

The left is defeated and nationally irrelevant; the new-age Republican Party controls every lever of the federal government and is tightening its grip. “The left had its ass kicked on the playground,” the story goes—still bloodied outside while the bell rings. Recess is over, we’re back in school, and the right is running the class.

Getting here took mastery of awareness and execution. Republicans read the electorate more accurately, speaking to anxieties about cost, culture, and competence. People who never cared about politics have put on the jersey. The right dominated legacy outlets, learned the algorithmic game, and made its message native to a new generation.

Yet dominance of discourse isn’t the same as a governing program. The strategy has crushed the Democrats’ brand and wins the daily news cycle—often all that seems to matter to officeholders.

So what’s next? What is the new-age Republican plan beyond playing victim and ducking responsibility? The prevailing line—“the world is messed up, and it’s the left’s fault”—is a potent rallying cry, not a prudent blueprint. If the era truly belongs to the GOP, then power demands policy: growth, energy, immigration, education, AI, the hard stuff. If we’re all Republicans now, the bill for victory is governing.