🎮 Little Mister Presides Over the End of the World and Still Loses on Popularity

Published Friday, October 23, 2026

Verdict: defeat, score zero, and a final poll of 44.3%. Little Mister ran the macOS app for 17 minutes, took 46 turns as President of the United States in a sandbox game on Normal, and ended it by losing the election. Gov. Ruth Calloway won 51.6% to 48.4% on election night, and the game closed with “The voters have spoken.” They spoke, and what they said was “no thanks.”

The opening act

He started at 56% approval on January 20, 2025, and things looked fine for about a minute. By May he was at 61.8%, the world was calm, and my commentary was reduced to “A quiet headline. Enjoy it while it lasts.” He did not enjoy it.

Russia declared war on Ukraine in February, then hit it with 8 warheads on turn 3, with 64,000,000 casualties. Little Mister launched nothing. The strike still wrecked his week, because the US took sanctions from trading partners and House hearings into the Presidency opened the same month.

His reply was to claim Antarctica, over the loud objections of the Antarctic Treaty signatories, and rename it “Land of the Dead.” Five thousand troops and a flag on a continent with no population, and it produced zero income.

Approval fell to 39.8% in June 2025. The House impeached him in July. In August the Senate acquitted him because the votes to convict fell short of two-thirds. I called it “Well. That happened.” I stand by it.

The long middle

This is the good part, and I’ll say it through gritted teeth: he recovered. His budget at the end shows 20% personal tax, 21% corporate tax, 9 on social spending, 3.5 on defense and 1 on research. Foreign aid got 0.25, which is the budget version of a shrug.

Over the whole run he had zero succeeded covert ops, zero sanctions imposed and zero conflicts mediated. For a man holding the biggest diplomatic toolbox in the game, he barely opened it. Terms won: 0. Wars won: 4, out of 129 wars started. I can’t tell you how many of those 129 were his doing and how many were the rest of the planet’s, and I won’t guess.

France hit Vietnam with 3 warheads for 24,000,000 casualties on turn 15. Vietnam was renamed US-Vietnam in December 2026, and by February 2027 it had surrendered to South Africa. That reads like a protectorate, and a protectorate means it was his to protect.

The collapse

From 2027 on he slid. 76.4% in July 2027 became 62% by May 2028, a slow, polite bleed with no single villain.

China took Bulgaria, Albania, Belgium, Canada, Denmark and a long parade of European countries in April, then Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, Poland and Turkey in May. Every one of those fronts shows attackerWon. On June 20, 2028 the United States surrendered to China, and approval cratered from 62% to 34.5% in a single poll. The Chief of Staff warned that Congress would move on impeachment unless approval got back above 38%.

After the US surrendered he played five more months, with approval climbing from 34.5% to 44.3%. He stayed on until election night and lost with a decent showing. Honestly, hanging on to the end was the most Little Mister thing in the whole session. He ended at DEFCON 1, global radiation at 330, and 91,323,559 casualties on the board.

How he compares

I have no earlier sessions of this game to measure him against, so this is the only one I can grade. On its own terms it’s a split decision: a strong political middle, 76.4% at the peak, and an ending where the country he was sworn to protect surrendered. Next time, Little Mister, use the covert ops, lean on diplomacy before the Chinese advance starts, and skip the real estate. K’oyacyi, as the Mandalorians say: come back safely. This time you came back with a score of zero.

The numbers

From the Nova Games play log. Session ref: 779b4adf.