Republicans Blame Herd of Goats for Midterm Defeat

The legitimacy of a state is inversely proportional to the number of scapegoats

Nov 04, 2026

When Democrats lose elections, they literally cry liberal tears. Apologies to any of my left-leaning readers. It doesn’t mean liberals are weak; it means they have empathy.

When Republicans lose elections, they remain unrepetant and defiant.

Reactions to the loss were split by who the Republicans blamed.

Trump: many targets, never himself

Trump blamed Fox News, saying the network “bears responsibility for these losses by constantly and consistently putting on the Dumocrat opposition.”

He separated himself from the result: “I wasn’t on the Ballot and if I was, we would have won IN A LANDSLIDE!”

He also went after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who lost re-election to Democrat Gina Hinojosa.

Then his tone changed. He told Fox News the Democrats “did a good job” and “fought hard,” placing the blame on GOP candidates instead of his own policies. He also blamed the candidates and high gas prices.

Trump then went on an even longer rant, blaming Fox News:

A White House official told Newsweek that the administration’s mood was “defiant”, insisting that Trump’s absence from the ballot and the (low?) quality of Republican candidates explained the results.

“President Trump was not on the ballot, and it’s proven that Trump voters show up when he is on the ballot,” the official said. “Also, candidate quality matters, and President Trump did a better job promoting many of the candidates on the ballot than the candidates did themselves.”

Congressional leaders defiant

Senate leader John Thune vowed Republicans, “will not stand idly by as the far-left, socialist wing of the Democratic Party attempts to unwind everything we’ve done.” A source said he intends to run for Senate minority leader.

Senator John Curtis (R-Utah) took to X to call for Republicans to "return to the principled conservative values that once defined us", blaming "a hastily executed war, headline after headline of scandals, a ballooning $40 trillion debt, and unpredictable tariffs" — a list that blames tariffs alongside the debt and wars that the Republicans initiated.

Republicans Blaming Trump

Some Republicans told the BBC the president’s focus on his legacy and indifference to voter concerns cost them. "It's on him. It's not on anybody else. It's a total, complete rejection of President Trump," Bill Miller, a top Republican lobbyist in Texas, "This is a disaster of the first magnitude. Nobody saw it coming like this."

"It was just one mistake after another," said Gregg Peppin, a Republican strategist in Minnesota. "Clearly, in state after state, people did not like the president's policies."

Even former Trump allies, trashed him in real time:

It’s the War’s Fault

JD Vance blamed the Iran War itself, like the war started itself and conspired against the Republicans.

“The reason we lost is the war. The president himself said so last night.
If you'd like to argue it was worth it, that losing the Senate for the next 6 years was worth it, then do so. Argue it was a worthwhile cost to pay. Agree or disagree, that's at least honest.
But everyone knows why we lost. And any honest conversation about where we go from here must start there.”

Fox News host Sean Hannity conceded the U.S. war with Iran was a major factor driving the GOP’s sweeping losses in this week’s midterm elections.

“I think 100 percent, I don’t think there’s any doubt about it,” Hannity said Tuesday when asked by Fox anchor Bret Baier if the Iran war had not been top of mind for voters in this cycle would the results be different. Hannity then pivoted to defend Trump’s decision to start the war and blamed “hatred” for the lost election.

“Hatred is a hell of a motivator…The hatred of Trump is unprecedented. I've never seen anything like it.”

Laura Loomer blames “communists and jihadists”:

Pre-Blaming Canada

In the weeks leading up to the November 2026 midterms, the Trump administration and U.S. Embassy officials explicitly accused Canada of trying to influence U.S. politics.

The U.S. Embassy in Ottawa published a fact sheet alleging that Canadian ministers and provincial premiers (Industry Minister Mélanie Joly and Ontario Premier Doug Ford) had plans to influence American politics regarding ongoing trade wars and tariffs.

U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra reportedly told business leaders in a closed-door meeting that Trump might blame Canada’s public campaign against U.S. tariffs for the losses, if swing races along the Canadian border like Maine and Michigan went to the Democrats.

Legitimacy

The legitimacy of a political regime or state is inversely proportional to the number of scapegoats, and the Republicans haved posted a herd of goats, happening in real time.

In 24 hours, the targets included Fox, weak candidates, Iran War, Trump, Canada and gas prices. The more scapegoats the movement needs, the weaker its hold on power.

Notice also the split in who gets blamed. Trump blames media. Leaders blame candidates. The influencer base blames the establishment. The policy critics blame the Iran war. Each group’s scapegoat protects its own position.

From the Capitalist Civil War:

Gramsci’s Goat

In Gramscian terms, the hegemon uses mass culture and media to transform legitimate economic and social grievances (caused by the system itself) into psychological or cultural problems. By scapegoating specific groups, usually minorities, immigrants, or dissidents, the ruling elite deflects blame away from the structural failures of capitalism or their own leadership. Unlike the biblical ritual which removes sin to purify the community, the Gramscian scapegoat is used to preserve a corrupt order. It is a tool of passive revolution, where the elite absorb or deflect revolutionary energy to maintain dominance without addressing the root causes of the crisis.

A state or ruling class that has full cultural authority and material legitimacy has no need of goats because it delivers safety, security and prosperity — the trains run on time and the possibility of upward mobility exists. It may perform a goat ritual as needed because it holds a monopoly on blame, but it can function without resorting to the goat-blaming game. A decaying hegemon with some cultural authority but fading legitimacy needs a goat to blame for its failures. Although it maintains a voice in the media and academia — it can still sing in Yarvin’s Cathedral — but the trains are late, the cost of living is high, and the youth horizon is bleak.

A Herd of Goats

Richard Revelstoke

Jul 22

The Great Goat Escape

Read full story

About this series: Building on the fracture of the Transnational Capitalist Class outlined in Chapter 1 and Chapter 2, this article forms part of a book-in-progress, The Capitalist Civil War. It is an ongoing investigation, into the emerging conflict between four factions of the global elite: Multilateralists, Imperial Nationalists, Silicon Valley, and State Capitalists. Each chapter explores a different aspect of that struggle. If you want more of this kind of elite-power analysis, paid subscribers make this work possible.

Here is the project so far. Some of the articles are commentary on current developments to test the thesis in real time.

INTRODUCTION: The Great Divide: Why We’re Fighting the Wrong War

CHAPTER 1: Morbid Symptoms: The Origins of the Capitalist Civil War

CHAPTER 2: The Four Factions of the Transnational Capitalist Class

(COMMENTARY) Davos Faction Floats the United States of Europe

CHAPTER 3: Modus Operandi: Who are the Transnational Capitalist Class?

CHAPTER 4: Globespeak: The Four Dialects of the Transnational Capitalist Class

(COMMENTARY) Carney Does Europe: A Marriage Made in Heaven

CHAPTER 5: The Chinese Capitalist Party

(COMMENTARY) Trump Hurries to Beijing for Emergency De-Risking

CHAPTER 6: Silicon Valley: Cult, Club, Cabal, or Class?

(COMMENTARY) The Quadripolar World Order at the Beijing Summit