Flotsam and Jetsam - An Overview of the Wreckage

At substack, Insty does a big piece on Trump’s Next Act, "And America’s." Cynical Publius @CynicalPublius, "When you lose a battle, you do not retreat in disarray. You conduct an orderly tactical withdrawal, refit and rearm, and COUNTERATTACK." PJM's Athena Thorne says Meh. 2008 Was Worse. At NYPo Michael Goodwin claims How Trump reacts to this shellacking will determine his legacy Joel Pollak @joelpollak, "Trump was elected to do politically difficult but necessary things. Securing the border is ugly. Fighting Iran is costly. Taking on special interests upsets donors. Backing AI scares people. Tonight, Republicans paid the costs. The benefits will be with us for many generations." and Most of the takes today are wrong and you can ignore. What to know: 1. Reagan lost both houses and 8 Senate seats in 1986. 2. Bush did the Iraq surge *after* losing 2006 midterms. 3. Oversight won't be pretty but accountability is useful. 4. Have a good day. It's a great country. At Hat Hair, Mark Judge calls it The End of Trump’s Punk Rock Presidency. Cecile Shaw @CecileShaw, "What happens if Trump loses the House and Senate? Clinton & Obama already set precedent. They weren't done at all in their last 2 years. Victor Davis Hanson explains: Clinton fell to 37% approval but left office at about 66%. ..." Sundance at CTH hosts President Trump Delivering Remarks from White House Following Midterm Election and A Midterm Election Message from Vice President JD Vance. Capt. Ed at Hat Hair cites Trump: 'I Thought They'd Do Better,' but I'll Work With Democrats. 

News Wax cites Vance: Iran War Drove Trump Voters to Democrats and hears Trump Blames Fox for GOP Losses, Hits Democrat Donations. At Althouse, "Vice President JD Vance, a potential 2028 presidential contender, broke sharply with the president in owning the failures of the administration’s policies.", "That's the WaPo subheadline, under the headline "Vance blames Republicans’ midterm losses on Iran war, cost of living" (gift link). Here, read Vance's post. It doesn't strike me as a "sharp break" from Trump. I see it as just analyzing the substance of yesterday's big losses:" At Insty, Vodka refers to JEN VAN LAAR: Vance’s Explanation for the GOP’s Midterm Disaster Is a Little Too Neat and Tidy. At Chapter and Verse, Dana Loesch explains What J.D. Vance Gets Wrong. At Hat Hair Dave Strom sees Vance Comes Out Swinging: End the War, Abandon Israel, and Love or Hate Trump, Candidate Selection Was a Problem – Again.

CBS crows about Trump asking advisers if Hegseth should stay after midterm losses, sources say. Beege Welborn at Hat Hair calls it Sacrifices to Angry Gods Time: Are They Going to Send Pistol Pete Packin'? Did he make major wrong choices in his pursuit of the Iran conflict? If so he should go, but don't do it just to assuage the mob. They won't be assuaged, they'll just taste blood. 

To be fair to Trump, the Republican congressional majority wasn't a lot of help. News Wax reports Johnson Stepping Aside, Setting Up House GOP Leadership Fight. Leader John Thune @LeaderJohnThune, "Over the last two years, Senate Republicans have put up a strong record of accomplishment that’s created safer streets, more money in Americans’ pockets, and new opportunities for families and businesses to get ahead. After fighting Democrat obstruction at every turn, we prevented the largest tax hike in American history, secured our border in an unprecedented way, confirmed the president’s Cabinet at the fastest pace in two decades, and put strong conservative judges on benches across the country faster than we have since the Reagan administration. ..." From Twitchy, Sen. John Thune Gets a ‘Hello’ From DataRepublican Over His Tone-Deaf Pep Rally Post. Harold__Finch @HaroldWren22, "No recess appointments. 230 outstanding appointments to confirm. Huge backlog of judges you failed to confirm. Failure to pass the save act. Six HUNDRED house bills sitting on your desk with no action. You’re a failure. And a disgrace." Matt Van Swol @mattvanswol, "Remember when the GOP gave Elon Musk a standing ovation in front of the American people... ...and then only voted on 1 DOGE cut, didn't defund the Taliban, gave $315 MILLION to a far Left group that DOGE defunded, and NEVER passed the SAVE ACT? I don't understand the GOP..." The Patriarch Tree @PatriarchTree, "Trump’s veto pen is now the only thing that stands between us and the complete Californication of America."

From Ace, The Wreckage, "Sorry for bailing last night. It was painful. It was a bloodbath. We're in a tough position now" and The Brutal Shifts in Demographic Groups That Doomed Us, "I started bolding the important parts but I stopped because it's all bold-faced important. Dmitri Bolt:" Sundance has some Initial Perspectives on Midterm Election Outcome. Conrad Black at RCP, Few Will Lament the End of This Midterm Campaign. Eric Florack at PJM, 'Marvin, What Do We Do Now?': Dems Wake Up to Their Bill McKay Moment. Hat Hair's John Sexton tells What the Exit Polls Say About Why Republicans Lost. Democrats did a good job of selling the affordability story. I doubt they can make good, but they'll blame Trump. Alexandriabrown @alexthechick, "(Long tweet warning) In which I anger everyone. 1. The Democrats won because the Democrat candidates persuaded more people that the Democrat positions would answer the problems that those people have. I can hear the instant but that's not true, those answers are not answers, they are actions that will compound the problems! Agreed. And the Republican candidates failed to persuade people that was the case..." Inez Stepman @InezFeltscher, "My only shred of hope to offer tonight: the left got wiped out this bad in the midterms multiple times and kept marching right through the institutions. So must we." 

Bill Melugin @BillMelugin_, "Understand the implications of what happened in Texas last night. Gina Hinojosa has called on Gov. Abbott to end state & local cooperation with ICE & she can order that on day one. Hinojosa voted against the 2017 SB 4 as a TX state rep. The bill was essentially a sanctuary cities ban and required TX law enforcement to cooperate with ICE detainers. She then voted against another SB 4 in 2023, which made it a state crime to cross illegally into Texas...."

Kyle Becker at RedState hears Abdul El-Sayed Gave His Victory Speech. He Said Something Absolutely Chilling. Roger Simon says Welcome to Europe!, "Not the one in your guidebooks."

TownHall's Jeff Charles predicts Democrats Have Some Horrible Things Planned for Trump Next Year. Ya think? Dave Strom hears Lawyer Up! Mark Hemingway @Heminator, "Guy who broke the law to come to America now wants to use the law to punish his political enemies. Sounds about right." Quote Congressman Robert Garcia @RepRobertGarcia, "LAWYER UP." John Sexton, Get Ready for the Investigations and cites Scott Galloway: We Should Execute Traitor Elon Musk. Ian McKelvey @ian_mckelvey, "This is what national socialism looks like." Quote Matt Binder @MattBinder, "arrest Elon Musk seize his factories nationalize SpaceX." The Manhattan Contrarian has "Saving Democracy" By Prosecuting Political Adversaries: A Roundup. Cam at BA worries about The Blue Wave's Hidden Threat to Gun Owners. It's not so hidden. PoIiMath @politicalmath, "The big headline is the GOP collapse but this is also the first big election where AI policy went to a vote and AI lost big." Quote Brad Carson @bradrcarson, "So the 41 datacenter moratoria across the country are, I predict, going to go 41-0. In nearly every case it's about 67-80% opposing datacenters. True in California, Ohio, everywhere. Read all the results here: https://dashboard-production-c2fc.up.railway.app."

Charles C. W. Cooke @charlescwcooke, "There is a very interesting mismatch between the elections for *candidates*, which effectively yielded a massive and historic sweep for the Democrats, and the *ballot initiatives*, almost all all of which yielded conservative outcomes, even in the deep blue states (but not VA)." Capt. Ed says Hmmm: Eight States Elect Dems – and Overwhelmingly Pass Voter-ID, Citizenship Laws. At Da Caller, Ohio Enshrines Voter ID Into State Constitution — And Elects A Democrat Who Opposes It. John Sexton, The California Wealth Tax Looks Dead. Dave Strom sees a Bright Spot in the Election: Biological Reality Won When It Was on the Ballot  So voters rejected conservative politicians, not conservative principles. Good to know.

Driscoll at Insty wishes GOODER AND HARDER, LA: Raman ousts Bass as Los Angeles mayor. "In other words, Los Angeles citizens have chosen the socialist who massively inflated their homeless population, rather than the socialist who burned their city down:" At Hollywood in Toto, How Hollywood Helped Fuel Tuesday’s Blue Tsunami. "Breitbart warned us politics is downstream of culture (did we listen?)."

John Lott at Da Fed notes The Media Won’t Tell You Felony Violent Crime Is Plunging Under Trump. From Shooting News Week, Trump Admin Experiment in Jailing and Deporting Criminals – While Gun Ownership Soars – Has Made Americans Safer. 

Driscoll calls it UNEXPECTEDLY: "Crude oil prices plummet a day after the election. And: Dow Jones surges 1,500 points in best day of 2026, S&P 500 and Nasdaq rally after historic midterm election." Businessmen like divided government; they do less to interfere. Breitbart Bus Dig reports Factory Demand for U.S. Labor Is Rising Sharply. 

Abroad, Northern Barbarian @xnoesbueno, "The Bundeswehr in Poland? If I were commanding so much as a platoon of the Polish Army, I’d make it my business to put as many German “soldiers” upside down in garbage cans. Give them swirlies.* Pull their flecktarn jackets over their heads, and boot their heinies in the direction of Der Sausageland. Go full high school jock on them. This is not the Wehrmacht. And yes, the Russians are watching. * Polish soldiers. DM me if you need to know what a swirly is." Quote Konrad Berkowicz @KonradBerkowicz, Translated from Polish, "Democracy according to the European Union. German army in Poland. Ursula von der Leyen sends the German army to Poland. Donald Tusk gave his consent. The media are silent about this. The world must see this."  Beege Welborn is Paging Hank Johnson - Guam Flipped and Greenland Ratified the Trump Treaty, but can the Democrats still fuck that up out of spite?

Beege Welborn worries The Border Worries Begin Anew. Da Caller hears Trump ‘Will Never Allow For Mass Amnesty’ After Floating Working With Dems On Immigration. At Twitchy, THESE People South of the Border Sure Seem Invigorated by the Midterm Results. From CIS,  If Sanctuaries Demand ‘Judicial Warrants’, Give them Judicial Warrants. "‘ICE-Free Zones’ are saying, ‘Show me the crime, and I’ll show you the alien’ — so show them the U.S. Code crime, and highlight the federal jail time those aliens receive before being deported."

Still more at the Wombat's In The Mailbox: 11.02.26 and  In The Mailbox: 11.04.26 (Morning Edition). "Well, that was unpleasant.Kurt Schlicter’s American Warlord is out. How timely."