Vik Ath

Executive Director, Edmund Burke Foundation (@NatConTalk) 🇺🇸 Catholic🇻🇦Outdoorsman 🏔️ Advisor @VitaetTerra 🏕️| Husband to @clareanneath

[Jon Schweppe 🇺🇸 @JonSchweppe]

I’m up in @theammind with a message for Republicans after our midterms defeat.

As the great Billy Beane once fictionally said, “Adapt or die.”

[Terry Schilling 🇺🇸 @Schilling1776]

When Democrats say oversight, they mean weaponizing the government against 74-year-old grandmothers who pray outside abortion clinics, and against parents at school board meetings. Americans elected them to fix the cost of living for their families.

[Vik Ath @vik_ath]

God is good

[Clare Anne Ath @clareanneath]

Ciarán Kennedy Ath made his grand entrance Friday morning! ❤️

God is so good.

[Clare Anne Ath @clareanneath]

Ciarán Kennedy Ath made his grand entrance Friday morning! ❤️

God is so good.

[Ryan Matthew Neuhaus @RyanMNeuhaus]

I am pleased to announce that I will be the President of a new 501(C)4, @AmAscent_.

America’s geriatric leadership class has presided over American decline for too long.

It is time to pass the torch to a new generation of Americans. We will scout, equip, and elevate a new generation of American statesmen capable of defending and advancing the American way of life under siege.

Nearly 60% of Americans believe the current share of elderly lawmakers in Congress is a major problem, while 80% of Americans support a maximum age limit for congressional candidates.

In March 2026, Americans told YouGov they would rather nominate the younger of two congressional primary candidates they liked by a margin of 46% to 11%.

Voters made that preference clear in the 2026 midterms. Currently in the 119th Congress, 70% of the Senate and 47% of the House are over 60 years old. Based on current election results, 63% of the Senate and 41% of the House will be over the age of 60 in the next Congress. 

Generational turnover is inevitable, and the coming years present extraordinary opportunities for those with the courage and fortitude to serve.

We have a powerhouse team, featuring @bradleydevlin, @poastgate, @jacksonhines57, and a great board, featuring @TomKlingenstein, @tylerbowyer, @DissidentClint, and Ben Judge.

I have full confidence that American decline will come to an end. The next generation will lead America’s ascent.

[American Ascent @AmAscent_]

Ending American Decline. Leading America's Ascent.

[Vik Ath @vik_ath]

Thank you everyone for your prayers! Baby Ath and mom are healthy and resting.

[Vik Ath @vik_ath]

Your prayers for the Ath Family are welcomed! My wife went into labor early this morning.

Baby boy is coming into the world soon.

[Vik Ath @vik_ath]

Your prayers for the Ath Family are welcomed! My wife went into labor early this morning.

Baby boy is coming into the world soon.

[Inez Stepman ⚪️🔴⚪️ @InezFeltscher]

We owe @HarmeetKDhillon an enormous debt of gratitude for the work she has done for the country. One of the brightest stars of this administration by far, she has been responsible for the stellar way this administration has enforced civil rights for ALL Americans, instead of just the left’s favored ethnic groups. Transformative work against anti-white discrimination and for true meritocracy and fair play. She will be sorely missed and I can only hope her successor can finish the job at the level she would have.

[Jon Schweppe 🇺🇸 @JonSchweppe]

Trump’s they/them ad was effective in 2024 because it showed voters that Kamala’s priorities were out of whack.

I think there’s a case that Republicans may have inversed that this year.

The trans ads obviously work. Many Dem candidates, including James Talarico, “moderated” their positions and put money behind counter-ads announcing their flip-flop. They only do that if the polls tell them they have to do it.

But a bowl of Frosted Flakes is only good for you as part of a complete breakfast. Hard to win an election talking only about one issue, especially when vulnerabilities loom large on other major issues.

[National Conservatism @NatConTalk]

This week on NatCon Squad:

2026 Midterm Elections Special

00:51 - Results
16:37 - Top Issues
29:16 - Turn Out
39:34 - Takeaway From the Midterms

With @willchamberlain, @InezFeltscher, @megbasham and @realJeremyCarl.

[Clare Anne Ath @clareanneath]

You can’t call it “clean energy” when there’s blood in the supply chain.

America has absolutely no business depending on Chinese solar panels linked to forced labor when we can build our own energy future right here at home!!

[Vita et Terra @VitaetTerra]

For years, Elizabeth prayed for a child, but as she grew older, motherhood seemed impossible.

Then an angel appeared to her husband, Zechariah, announcing that they would have a son. That child was St. John the Baptist, the man who would prepare the way for Christ.

God's plans are so much greater than our own.

And every child, no matter how unexpected, has an eternal soul created for Heaven.

Saints Zechariah and Elizabeth, pray for us!

[Yoram Hazony @yhazony]

1. Ted Cruz has now joined JD Vance and Ron DeSantis in forcefully criticizing the Iran war and refocusing our attention on the economic circumstances of working class Americans.

2. That’s basically the entire field of Republican candidates for President.

3. And guess what? Anyone else who wants a real shot at being the Republican nominee is going to have to adopt pretty much the same approach.

4. This dynamic has been clearly visible since April, when the Trump administration tacked toward peace talks with Iran in an attempt to save the elections.

5. That was seven months ago. For seven months, we’ve been watching the administration struggling to extract itself from the trap of an ongoing war that the voters didn’t want.

6. The attempt failed—and the voters went to the ballot box on November 3 feeling disgusted, alienated, and betrayed by the Republican Party.

7. Maybe the scale of the voters’ repudiation of the GOP is surprising. But the dynamic that brought about this result is *exactly* the same one that we’ve been watching and talking about for seven months.

8. Maybe you didn’t know that a bitter and alienated public was what the administration was dealing with? Maybe you didn’t know that this was why these hopeless talks with the Iranians were taking place?

9. But if you didn’t know this was the main thing happening in U.S. electoral politics heading into the midterms, it seems like you should be asking yourself: *Why* didn’t I know? How did it happen that I was so completely cut off from political reality in America?

10. And if you’re in an especially introspective mood, you might also ask yourself: How did I behave when people tried to tell me what was happening? Did I try to understand what they were seeing? Or did I just attack anyone who was trying to explain reality to me?

—end for now—

[Vik Ath @vik_ath]

Never black pill.

This is the way 🇺🇸

[American Moment @americanmoment]

The next two years will be the proving ground for those with the resolve.

There is still work to do. Now is the time to build.

[Jonathan Keeperman @L0m3z]

The MAGA agenda is pretty popular. That’s the silver lining.

Doing it well and without needless spectacle is the key.

The side of boring, ruthless competence will prevail.

[Clare Anne Ath @clareanneath]

“Abortion is so back, baby!”

That’s what young women were cheering at Keisha Lance Bottoms’ election night party in Georgia.

Our culture is so disordered that celebrating the killing of children has become a victory chant.

[Isabel Brown @theisabelb]

This is the type of evil we’re fighting against.

[Vik Ath @vik_ath]

@JaceYarbrough Congratulations!

[JD Vance @JDVance]

One of the things the data analysts on our side obsessed over was "composition"—whether the electorate looked close enough to 2024 for Republicans to win. And despite polls that showed a Democrat blowout, the data kept on telling us the same story: in some states turnout was merely OK, in other states it was downright amazing, and in no state was it catastrophic. There was a genuine sense of optimism on our team: our people were showing up.

So, I asked the smartest data guy I know, does that mean we're going to shock the world? "No," he told me. "We might do better than the polls suggest. But the data is telling us that a lot of Trump/Vance 2024 voters are pissed and planning to vote for the other guys. Our voters are turning out, but they may not vote for us."

Well, that looks prophetic now. Our voters did show up. In Florida, for example, the electorate was 9 points more Republican than Democrat, just a couple points worse than 2024. Undoubtedly there were places we could have done better on turnout. But the main problem is not turnout. The main problem is that many people who voted for Trump/Vance in 2024 voted for Democrats in 2026.

There will be a lot of infighting and arguing over what happened and why that is. One of the pollsters I really respect told me that our economic messaging wasn’t sharp enough down the stretch. I’m sure that’s true.

But the real reason we lost is obvious to almost everyone.

Another pollster—one of the smartest people I know in politics, told me yesterday we’d lose the generic ballot by 13 points. I felt negative going into Tuesday, but even I was shocked by this. In his polling, he saw that a lot of Trump 2024 voters were angry and planning to vote for Democrats. He asked those voters who had abandoned us what would cause them to come back on our team. The top four answers, accounting for nearly all of the responses were:

1) End the war
2) Focus on cost of living/inflation
3) Put America First
4) Change our relationship to Israel

Our voters showed up. And the above four reasons are why many of them voted for Democrats. This is according to a pollster who nailed the results. While many spent Monday attacking Rachel Campos Duffy for calling for a diplomatic resolution to the conflict, it turns out her political advice was sound. (She’s also a great person.)

In the next few months, there's going to be a lot of gaslighting. Expect to hear any number of establishment politicians say the solution to our woes is amnesty. I'm open to the idea that we should change enforcement—by focusing more on businesses that hire illegal labor, for instance. But anyone pushing amnesty is lying to you.

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.

I remain hopeful about our country. To the people who are pissed off and want to say, “I told you so”: you’re right, you did tell us so. Take that energy into electing Republicans who share your worldview. To the people who are just pissed at the results, you should be. Let’s take that anger and get back to the work of saving our country.