“Truly ending a war of choice is hard. Anything short of total victory, especially for the American psyche, is unsatisfying. If the home front can be insulated from its consequences, the temptation is strong to wade deeper into a no man’s land between peace and war in search of a more palatable outcome. With Venezuelan oil on the way to rescue gas prices, perhaps just a few more months of conflict with Iran could secure a more face-saving end?a The hard-learned answer is no. Allowing the White House to continue to wage a conflict in the background, with no pressure to meet deadlines or clear metrics of victory, is like ignoring a steady drip from a pipe and acting surprised when the basement is eventually flooded.” (11/04/26)
“Democrats secured an overwhelming victory in the midterm elections on Tuesday in a stunning rebuke to President Donald Trump’s first two years in office, winning majorities in both the Senate and House of Representatives. By midnight Democrats flipped six Senate seats — including in reliably red states like South Carolina, Texas, and Kansas. As of this morning, they added Michigan and Maine. In a rare inversion of historical trends, foreign policy played a serious role in the results of Tuesday’s midterm elections. Exit polling showed 74% of voters said the Iran War was a ‘crucial’ or ‘major’ factor in their vote. Exit polling also found that 62% of voters believed using military force against Iran was the ‘wrong decision.’ This all jibed with polls leading up to the midterms.” (11/04/26)
“House Speaker Mike Johnson privately told staff he is not planning on running for minority leader or any other leadership role in the next Congress, according to people familiar with the comments. His decision will kick off a scramble among House Republican leadership contenders in the aftermath of their sweeping losses Tuesday night. Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and current Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., are launching leadership bids on Wednesday. … Republicans could see other shakeups further down their leadership chain. Rep. August Pfluger, R-Texas, currently the Republican Study Committee chair, announced in a letter to GOP colleagues Wednesday that he’d run for the second-ranking position.” (11/04/26)
“Congress was not designed to be a parliament where parties vote in lockstep with their party leader in the White House. But that’s how it’s worked for decades. Starting in the 1970s, Congress was quietly revolutionized from within. It was all done in the name of ‘reform,’ but the better word is ‘deform.'” (11/04/26)
“The MAGA movement is fully rooted in the promotion of ignorance and demonization of knowledge. That’s why it’s failing now. That’s why it will fail in the future.” (11/04/260
“‘Pretend I’m on the ballot’, said Trump, as he held rallies across the country. Yes, that’s what many did yesterday – they saw the midterms as a referendum on Trump, and they voted to give him a bloody nose. It was no big mystery what they didn’t like about Trump and his party. As exit polls showed, inflation, gas prices and the cost of living were top of mind. And voters blamed Trump for their unhappy circumstances, drawing a straight line between his policy choices – tariffs and the Iran war – and the tough cost-of-living situation they face. Whiffs of corruption (like the Qatari jet and Trump family deals) and bizarre preoccupations (like the ballroom and reflecting pool) just added to the sense that the president and his party are not focussed on people’s everyday concerns.” (11/04/26)
“Government lawyers told Australia’s highest court on Wednesday that a world-first ban on children younger than 16 from holding social media accounts was necessary to protect developing brains. The Australian government is fighting in the High Court two constitutional challenges to the ban that took effect last year on young children holding accounts on Reddit, Facebook, Instagram, Kick, Snapchat, Threads, TikTok, X, YouTube and Twitch. The challenges were brought by Reddit, a U.S. online forum, and Sydney-based rights group Digital Freedom Project.” (11/04/26)
