Now that the dust has started to settle after the blue tsunami that swept through the country, Americans are being reminded that no matter what, politicians never learn.

On the back of this electoral humiliation, President Donald Trump has responded by ignoring that the country rejected his economic platform (which involved sparking trade wars with everyone except China and sticking tariffs on anyone who looked at him the wrong way) and ignoring that he launched the war in Iran without first making his case to the American people (let alone going to Congress). Instead, Trump is now looking to torpedo the only real successful part of his second term in office by telling the media that his own immigration policy was "too tough" and that he's open to deals with Democrats.

The problem was not that his immigration policy was "too tough." The problem was that it was deeply unserious.

The American people gave Trump a mandate to fix the country's broken immigration system, and while much of that was achieved (including deportations, which people voted for and yet did not want to actually witness), this was partnered with a juvenile social-media-focused campaign by clownish figures such as Kristi Noem, who were more focused on Botox and cosplaying as cops than getting on with the job.

The American people want seriousness in office, and that's not what they got from the Trump administration. After all, in the hours following the midterms, Trump was more focused on the infamous White House ballroom or "joking" about hiring Dana White as his press secretary than trying to stop the blood that was gushing from the twitching corpse of the GOP.

Yet again, Trump did not learn a single thing. But neither, it seems, did the Democrats.

In 2024, the Democrats were rejected on the basis of their economic failure, their obsession with Trump and their deeper obsession with wokeness. Prior to the election, they made all the right noises about the economy (particularly under the banner of affordability), told us that "woke one was crazy," and presented themselves as the adults in the room who just wanted to get back to running the country. Even the antisemitic messaging on behalf of Abdul El-Sayed that blamed Jews for the price of eggs was focused on the economy.

But the second they won control of Congress (let alone numerous wins on the state level), all of this went out of the window as they sharpened their favorite guillotine, making it clear that their sole objective for the remaining two years of Trump's lame duck presidency is to throw as many members of his administration and family into jail as possible, all while rushing to break ground on what will inevitably become known as Woke Two: Judgment Day.

One of the foundational problems with the American political system is that elections usually descend into a way to express your support or disdain for those currently in office, making the views or competence of the alternative candidate almost inconsequential. If the incumbent sucks, even a bag of rotting potatoes has a chance, and the country just voted for a bag of rotting potatoes.

The only problem? We've seen this all before, and we know exactly where this goes.

Ian Haworth is a syndicated columnist. You can find his work on Substack and follow him on X (@ighaworth). To find out more about Ian Haworth and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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