2026 was a vibe shift election. You can sense it, right? After Democrats’ sweeping win, something feels different. The change is larger than a shift in governmental power, reverberating in the culture, shifting expectations. New possibilities opened up. There’s some generational turnover. Things that seemed indefinite now appear on their way out.
Politics never stops, the electoral high will wear off, and the frustrating reality of divided government with a lawbreaking president will settle in. But the vibe shift will carry forward. And it feels like such a big change because it’s the first real leftward vibe shift since 2008.
“Politics is downstream from culture,” wrote Andrew Breitbart. It’s a popular line to cite, especially on the right; the sort of adage that sounds smart until you think about it. Yes, elected leaders and platforms are of the culture that empowers them, rather than alien to it. The next Indian prime minister will not be a devout Christian who denigrates vegetarian diets, fails to recognize a single Bollywood actor, and conducts all public communications in Swedish.
But the problem…
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