{"id":2696332,"date":"2026-11-03T00:14:02","date_gmt":"2026-11-03T05:14:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/today-is-the-end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it\/"},"modified":"2026-11-03T00:17:31","modified_gmt":"2026-11-03T05:17:31","slug":"today-is-the-end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/today-is-the-end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Today Is the End of the World as We Know It"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ftoday-is-the-end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2696332&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>I\u2019ve followed politics since the Clinton years, adn most midterms blend into memory-the big ones fade, as do the personalities involved. Today feels different.I\u2019ve argued elsewhere that these midterms won\u2019t change governance much: Republicans lack a clear legislative program, the governance\u2019s major moves have been executed through executive power (the war, trade tinkering, attacks on institutions like the Kennedy Center), and even a Democratic congressional victory wouldn\u2019t produce veto-proof majorities. Oversight fights and impeachment theater are familiar territory.<\/p>\n<p>Yet these elections are notable for another reason: they mark the end of the Trump era as the dominant force in Republican politics. Trump won\u2019t again command the party the way he did; whatever happens tonight will kick off intense battles over the GOP\u2019s future. He<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/white-sox-shortstop-tim-anderson-suspended-3-games-for-bumping-umpire\/\" title=\"White Sox Shortstop Tim Anderson Suspended 3 Games For Bumping Umpire\">\u2019ll remain active<\/a> and influential for a time,and he can still shape foreign policy for two more years,but his grip on party nomination dynamics has already weakened,and the question of continuity versus break with his style will be fiercely contested.<\/p>\n<p>Watch Ted Cruz: he\u2019s reshaped his image to fit the Trump-era party\u2019s tone while remaining ideologically conventional on trade and national policy, putting him in a good spot to unify populist style with establishment substance. Other contenders include Pete Hegseth, who would argue for an even tougher approach, Marco Rubio (whose team suggests he may sit out 2028), and J.D. Vance,who presents himself as someone who could actually deliver on promises the current administration talked about.<\/p>\n<p>How the ongoing war ends will be a decisive variable for the post-Trump Republican coalition. Conflict affects the economy-energy disruptions raise costs and ripple into credit-and americans tolerate foreign adventures only so long as the economy functions. Vance, in particular, needs a credible end to the war to be a viable 2028 candidate.<\/p>\n<p>America First conservatism looks both more defensible in theory and harder to realize in practice after the Trump years. Its advocates must now argue for paths not taken and promises left unfulfilled-a tough task, especially for those who were part of the recent administration\u2019s performance.<\/p>\n<p>Michael Anton\u2019s 2016 \u201cFlight 93\u201d argument still resonates for the right: supporting an outsider like Trump was, in his view, a necessary challenge to systemic problems-deindustrialization, loss of national identity, and imperial overreach-not mere team loyalty. That rationale made sense in 2024 and still does now, but without Trump as the unique, if inconsistent, standard-bearer, the movement\u2019s future is open. Starting now, the GOP will decide whether it reverts to familiar faces like Cruz or embraces a more substantial break from the past.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"c-blog-post__content s-wysiwyg s-wysiwyg--blog\">\n<div style=\"margin-bottom:30px;\" id=\"elevenlabs-audionative-widget\" data-height=\"90\" data-width=\"100%\" data-frameborder=\"no\" data-scrolling=\"no\" data-publicuserid=\"cb0d9922301244fcc1aeafd0610a8e90a36a320754121ee126557a7416405662\" data-playerurl=\"https:\/\/elevenlabs.io\/player\/index.html\" >Loading the <a href=\"https:\/\/elevenlabs.io\/text-to-speech\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Elevenlabs Text to Speech<\/a> AudioNative Player&#8230;<\/div>\n<p><script src=\"https:\/\/elevenlabs.io\/player\/audioNativeHelper.js\" type=\"text\/javascript\"><\/script>                            <\/p>\n<p class=\"has-drop-cap wp-block-paragraph\">I\u2019ve been following politics in some form or other since the Clinton administration (imagine my parents\u2019 discomfort on being asked what \u201cthe Lewinsky scandal\u201d was after some poorly supervised family viewing of <em>PBS News Hour<\/em>), and it\u2019s safe to say that midterm elections don\u2019t tend to leave much of an impression. Even the big ones\u2014the 2006 GOP massacre, the 2010 Tea Party rebellion\u2014fade pretty quickly from mind, not to mention their characters. (When\u2019s the last time you thought about Kevin Yoder?)<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Today\u2019s elections are different. I have said on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=ir53sp41NJk\">the tee vee<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theamericanconservative.com\/whos-afraid-of-losing-midterms\/\">elsewhere<\/a> that these midterms don\u2019t matter. As regards actual governance and policy, I still believe that. The Republicans have no legislative agenda to speak of; the SAVE Act is still vaguely floating around as a kind of fetish object, but, strange to say, nobody really seems to be talking about it anymore. The administration\u2019s signature policies are all executive-branch shows: the war, monkeying with trade policy, annihilating the Kennedy Center. Even if the Democrats take both chambers of Congress, they will fall well short of veto-proof, impeach-and-remove majorities. They will doubtless make nuisances of themselves with oversight and impeachments, but we\u2019ve seen that movie a time or three before.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But these elections are different, and will be memorable\u2014not because anything will happen, but because they constitute the last contest of the Trump era. Donald Trump will never lead the GOP to the polls again. Whatever happens today\u2014and it\u2019s probably not going to be very pretty for the Republicans\u2014will set the stage for a year and a half of vicious infighting over what the post-Trump party is going to be. Analysis, spin, and recrimination will be the order of the day.<\/p>\n<p>                         <!-- \/22404337467,3946880\/theamericanconservative-Leaderboard-Top -->                         <\/p>\n<div id='div-gpt-ad-1742316429780-0' style='min-width: 300px; min-height: 50px; max-width: 100%; '>                         <\/div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Of course Trump will still have two more years to inflict war and\/or peace on the rest of the world. And of course Trump is going to keep his hand in GOP politics as long as he\u2019s alive and able to get a television crew out to wherever he\u2019s living and golfing. But this is the day from which his power will wane. In 2024, efforts to break with him were comically doomed; nobody with an ounce of political brains thought the nomination and party leadership would go to anyone else. He had the effective power of life and death over everyone below him on the ticket. Now, the terms of rupture or continuity are themselves going to be the subject of contention.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas is the man to watch. He has adapted his public persona to the downmarket aesthetics of the Trump-era party, but has not indulged in the policy heterodoxy of industrial policy, trade protectionism, and less war. As Trump plumbs new polling depths, Cruz will be well positioned to be the unity candidate, bringing together populist style and Chamber of Commerce content. For those who prefer their nihilism neat, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth will make the case that what the country really needs is a top policymaker who is even more thuggish and less restrained. Secretary of State Marco Rubio\u2019s office is constantly putting out the word that he is not going to run in 2028\u2014and who could blame him?\u2014but, of course, there will be Vice President J.D. Vance, making the case that, maybe, we could actually do all the things that the administration in which he has served said it was actually going to do.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It barely requires comment that the fundamental variable for the post-Trump combination is going to be how the war is resolved. There is a linear relation between the war and the economy: Kinking the hose on Middle Eastern energy exports makes everything more expensive, including, indirectly, the cost of credit. The American people are pretty tolerant of foreign-policy antics so long as the money-machine keeps purring along, but this war so far has not been such a low-cost adventure. As I <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theamericanconservative.com\/j-d-vance-is-the-man-to-end-the-war\/\">wrote<\/a> last week, Vance in particular needs a decent resolution to the war to be viable in 2028. <\/p>\n<section class=\"c-subscribe-email\" >\n<div class=\"l-container\">\n<div class=\"c-subscribe-email__wrap\">\n<div class=\"c-subscribe-email__head\">\n<h4 class=\"c-subscribe-email__heading\">Subscribe Today<\/h4>\n<h5 class=\"c-subscribe-email__subheading\">Get daily emails in your inbox<\/h5>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"c-subscribe-email__form-wrap\">      <!-- Begin Mailchimp Signup Form -->      <\/p>\n<div id=\"mc_embed_signup\">\n<form id=\"mc-embedded-subscribe-form\" class=\"validate\" action=\"https:\/\/theamericanconservative.us4.list-manage.com\/subscribe\/post?u=442e644c01f8e54e26e4ff3f8&#038;id=f7b67cac40\" method=\"post\" name=\"mc-embedded-subscribe-form\" novalidate target=\"_blank\">\n<div id=\"mc_embed_signup_scroll\">\n<div class=\"c-subscribe-email__fields\">              <label for=\"mce-EMAIL\" class=\"u-screenreader-text\">Email Address:<\/label>              <input id=\"mce-EMAIL\" class=\"c-subscribe-email__field\" name=\"EMAIL\" type=\"email\" value=\"\" placeholder=\"Your Email\" \/>              <input id=\"mc-embedded-subscribe\" class=\"c-subscribe-email__submit o-button o-button--red-500 o-button--solid\" name=\"subscribe\" type=\"submit\" value=\"Subscribe\" \/>            <\/div>\n<div id=\"mce-responses\" class=\"clear\">\n<div id=\"mce-error-response\" class=\"response\" style=\"display: none;\"><\/div>\n<div id=\"mce-success-response\" class=\"response\" style=\"display: none;\"><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>              <!-- real people should not fill this in and expect good things - do not remove this or risk form bot signups-->            <\/p>\n<div class=\"u-screenreader-text\" aria-hidden=\"true\">              <input tabindex=\"-1\" name=\"b_442e644c01f8e54e26e4ff3f8_f7b67cac40\" type=\"text\" value=\"\" \/>            <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/form>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>      <!--End mc_embed_signup-->          <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And Vance remains the best option on the table for something like America First conservatism. As the Trump administration has fallen into <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theamericanconservative.com\/the-seductive-charm-of-being-a-boring-republican\/\">boring Republicanism<\/a>, and reminded everyone how unpopular and unsuccessful elements of that policy suite are, America First conservatism has become both more obviously theoretically justified and more difficult to pursue. The America First candidate must make the case for paths not taken and promises unfulfilled. This is a far more difficult trick, especially for someone who has been part of this circus.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Michael Anton\u2019s 2016 essay, \u201cThe Flight 93 Election,\u201d remains the seminal text for the American right in its current situation. The underlying argument is that voting for Donald Trump may not guarantee a good outcome, but it at least challenges the basic dysfunctions at the heart of the American order: deindustrialization, the collapse of national identity, imperial adventurism abroad. This is what sets it apart from the team-sports philosophy of voting red no matter who: The \u201cFlight 93\u201d framing applies only if the red team is in fact rushing the cockpit, is in fact challenging these dysfunctions. If it\u2019s business as usual but with some tax cuts, <em>who cares?<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That was true <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theamericanconservative.com\/a-burgum-vice-presidency-will-undercut-a-second-trump-administration\/\">in 2024<\/a>, and it\u2019s true now. The difference now is that America First will not have this past decade\u2019s unique and often faithless champion. The new world begins today. Will it look like something old\u2014\u00e0 la the smirking, inescapable Cruz\u2014or will a real rain come and wash all this scum off the streets?<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I&#8217;ve tracked politics for a long time, and midterm elections usually don\u2019t leave a lasting mark. Even the big ones fade quickly, along with their players. This year feels different. I\u2019ve said these midterms don\u2019t matter much for policy-the Republicans lack a real agenda, the SAVE Act isn\u2019t being debated, and the administration\u2019s big moves are mostly executive: war, trade tinkering, and cultural clashes. Even if Democrats win both chambers, they won\u2019t secure veto-proof majorities, so there\u2019ll be pushback, investigations, and impeachments, but nothing astonishing.<\/p>\n<p>What makes this election memorable is that it marks the end of the Trump era. Trump won\u2019t be the GOP\u2019s go-to candidate at the polls again. Whatever happens today will set off a year and a half of brutal infighting over what the party looks like after Trump. He\u2019ll still influence foreign and domestic policy for a while, and he\u2019ll stay involved as long as he can get air time. But his grip on the party is waning. In 2024, attempts to break with him were doomed; he effectively controlled the ticket. Now the question is whether the post-Trump coalition will rupture or endure.<\/p>\n<p>Ted Cruz is the standout figure to watch. He\u2019s adopted the Trump-era populist style without embracing the more radical economic or foreign-policy shifts. As Trump\u2019s popularity sinks, Cruz could emerge as a unifying candidate, blending populist flair with business-friendly content. Others offer sharper appeals: Pete Hegseth would push for a tougher, less restrained policymaker; Marco Rubio\u2019s team keeps hinting he won\u2019t run in 2028; and Vice President J.D. Vance might argue we can actually achieve the administration\u2019s goals. The big variable is how the war ends: foreign conflicts shape energy costs, borrowing costs, and the economy, and the public tolerates foreign policy only if the money keeps flowing. For Vance to be viable in 2028, the war needs a credible resolution.<\/p>\n<p>Vance remains the strongest option for an America First conservatism. As the Trump era devolves into standard Republicanism, America First becomes both more defensible in theory and harder to pursue in practice. Running as America First requires arguing for untried paths and promises not yet kept-hard for someone who\u2019s been in the Trump show. Michael Anton\u2019s Flight 93 Election still provides the right\u2019s core frame: voting for Trump, imperfect as it may be, challenges the deep dysfunctions in America-deindustrialization, national identity erosion, and overseas overreach. It\u2019s different from simply \u201cvote red no matter who\u201d unless the red team is truly challenging those issues. That was true in 2024 and remains true now. The real question is whether the post-Trump era will resemble the old Cruz-like style or something transformative that sweeps away the current mess<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4458,"featured_media":2696333,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/tac.imgix.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/GettyImages-2245571885-scaled-e1763750900422.jpg?auto=compress&#038;crop=faces%2Centropy&#038;fit=crop&#038;fm=jpg&#038;h=630&#038;ixlib=php-3.3.1&#038;q=80&#038;w=1200","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[548],"tags":[22398,11381,87438,7845,87439],"class_list":["post-2696332","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-conservative-news-daily","tag-apocalypse","tag-doomsday","tag-endoftheworld","tag-survival","tag-world-ending"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/tac.imgix.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/GettyImages-2245571885-scaled-e1763750900422.jpg?auto=compress&#038;crop=faces%2Centropy&#038;fit=crop&#038;fm=jpg&#038;h=630&#038;ixlib=php-3.3.1&#038;q=80&#038;w=1200","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2696332","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4458"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2696332"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2696332\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2696336,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2696332\/revisions\/2696336"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2696333"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2696332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2696332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2696332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}