The ideal of the American political system is checks and balances. This ideal is more true in textbook than in reality. With the results of the 2026 mid-term elections, that ideal will be put into practice starting in 2027 but let’s not forget that checks and balances have been completely missing in the last two years.

You get checks and balances when the government is divided and it works in a circular manner: Congress checking the president, the judiciary checking both, and the judiciary at the federal level being checked by the confirmation power of the Senate.

But there is a fundamental defect with this design: electoral politics is often—not always--procyclical, while checks and balances require countercyclicality. When voters favor one political party, they often give that party control of both the presidency and Congress. Since 1948, roughly 43% of the time, the president’s party has controlled both chambers of Congress. Instead of performing checks and balances, Congress may in fact reinforce and amplify the executive power.