The episode highlights a historic wave of Democratic victories in the 2024 U.S. elections, marking a decisive repudiation of Donald Trump’s political legacy. Democrats won key House races—including sweeping wins in Texas, Kansas, and South Carolina—by large margins, with standout performances by new and diverse candidates like Gina Hinojosa and Annie Andrews. The shift was driven by voter dissatisfaction with Trump’s economic policies, particularly rising prices, the Iran war, and his disregard for public struggles. Rural and Latino communities, long overlooked, turned decisively blue, signaling a major shift in political dynamics. The election also exposed deep failures in Republican candidate quality, with figures like Ken Paxton and Vivek Ramaswamy losing due to poor messaging and lack of voter support. Grassroots organizing and candidate authenticity were key to Democratic success, while Republican gerrymandering and loyalty to Trump’s core base failed to hold ground. The results underscore a profound political realignment, with Democrats now in control of the House and poised to reshape policy priorities around affordability and national security. The episode concludes by noting that the Republican Party faces internal chaos, as leaders like Kristi Noem and others blame each other, while Trump’s post-election behavior—ranging from conciliatory statements to rage—suggests a likely return to confrontation. The broader takeaway is that public trust in the political establishment, especially after years of economic and foreign policy missteps, has fundamentally shifted, setting the stage for a new era of democratic accountability. The show also promotes SimpliSafe as a solution for real-time home security, offering 70% off with professional monitoring, and highlights other sponsorships in mental health, wellness, and lifestyle products.
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Life ahead of crime in real time.
Welcome to Pod Save America.
I'm Jon Favreau.
I'm Jon Lovett.
I'm Dan Pfeiffer.
Tommy Vitor.
Well, how about this?
What a night.
What a fucking night, guys.
We're recording this at about 9.30 p.m. California time.
And, I mean, we don't have final numbers, but, you know, it's a blue tsunami.
It's a blue nami.
It's a blue nami.
It's a blue cocky.
Oh.
Oh, boy.
Boy.
Talarico gives one little victory speech about loving thy neighbor all of a sudden.
Wanted to set the tone for the pod early.
Talarico, he was pitting tops versus bottoms.
It was very divisive.
He was.
He was.
Democrats are running the table in the Senate races.
I think the New York Times model has us controlling the Senate.
55, 45.
Who had 55 Senate seats?
Not I.
Anyone?
Not I.
Nope.
Not I.
An absolute thumping in the House.
The Times model has the new Democratic majority at, I think it's up to 255 now.
It says here 254, 180.
255?
That's what the needle says.
The needle.
The needle's never lied.
Yeah, well, okay.
254, 255.
We don't know yet, but that's the range.
Also, a ton of governor's races.
We're going to go through all the incredible details, but I don't know.
Let's just start.
How do we feel, guys?
Aside from fucking amazing.
Big picture thoughts on the night.
I mean, this is the electoral ass-whipping that Trump has deserved for 10 years and we've been waiting for.
It is an absolute historic repudiation of him, his party, his agenda, his broken promises.
Democrats are winning everywhere.
They're winning by huge margins.
They're up double digits.
In districts that Trump won by 15, they're up double digits.
In Texas, as we record this, they don't narrow, but Hillary goes up by 12 points in Texas as we're recording this.
Texas, 12 points.
Five points in Kansas, one South Carolina, one Kansas.
It's at every—we went a whole night.
It never got a single piece of data that was concerning the whole time.
Yeah, not one.
All places, winning everywhere.
Yeah, I remember when we were watching these results in 2018 and the feeling is,
as we watched those come in, and, you know, Dan, when we were talking about the poll earlier in the week,
we were kind of cautiously talking about why we could trust that potentially these polls were this good.
And the point you made was actually the conditions on the ground are much better than they were in 2018.
The economy is in much worse shape.
Trump's approval is in much worse shape.
There was an ongoing Iran war, the tariffs, the corruption finally breaking through.
And that was a justification for believing hopefully things were as good as 2018.
But, of course, we now can say—
you know what, the situation on the ground was much worse, and we did much better.
Yeah, I mean, the Teflon Don era is over.
He is—he does not have magical powers, he does not defy gravity.
He is a typical politician and now a failed one.
And on his way out.
And on his way out.
And so that is good.
Like, we don't have to be scared of this guy.
And the one—the one thing I really want to drive home, though, is, like,
I think we cannot overstate how catastrophic the decision to go to war with Iran was.
Like, in some sense, it's, like, stating the obvious.
But Democrats need to internalize that verdict from voters and then course correct.
Like, we need to say, "Okay, there's a continuing resolution going through the Senate December 11th.
We should say we will not vote to fund the government unless you cut off funding for the illegal war.
When we take up power, Democrats should force votes to constrain him or make him end the war with Iran.
We should impeach Pete Hegseth."
Like, I just want us to, like, get back to being the anti-war party.
I think it's unbelievably important and, like, the reason for this result.
I mean, I think—yes.
And the reason is people don't like war.
They also don't like the fact of what war did to the price of everything here.
I mean, Donald Trump ran in 20—the reason he won again in 2024, when none of us thought that the country would want another term of Donald Trump after everything he did,
is because people were really pissed about prices.
And he said, "I'll bring prices down," and he did not do that.
Not only did he fail to bring prices down, he increased prices.
He increased prices with the tariffs first, and then with the Iran war.
And then was like, "I don't give a shit."
And then said, "I don't give a shit, and then, by the way, I'm making billions of dollars, and so are all my friends, and all I care about is my home renovations, and fuck you all," basically.
And so, in some ways, it is a shocking result.
In other ways, you're like, "Well, yeah, when you do that to the country, and people are hurting, and you're basically just flaunting it in front of—flaunting your wealth and, like, just, you know, running around every day."
He fucking—he ended the campaign.
The midterm campaign in front of the Lincoln Memorial holding up signs talking about algae in the fucking reflecting pool.
Like, yeah, of course this happened.
Yes, and every step of the way, when he went out there, he seemed intent on making his political problems exponentially worse.
He could never feel—not that Trump could feel anyone's pain.
He couldn't even acknowledge anyone's pain about the economy because to do so would admit that he had failed in some way, shape, or form.
He went out there and did—he did whatever it was, 28 rallies in the last month, gaslit every—
the public and every single one of them, bragged and talked about his home reno projects the whole time, which everyone hated.
Just, like, the Democratic message was, "He does not care about your costs. He is not focused on them."
And he went and did rallies where he explicitly said, "I don't care about your costs," and then talked about all the things he was focused on other than their costs.
Hey, shout out to all the bozos who said Obama was an elitist who was out of touch for making a Cheesecake Factory joke.
And then Obama baited Trump into, like, five more days of defending his home renovations and, like, stapling gold to the wall or whatever.
Democrats gained 30% of their vote.
36 points in every county that has a Cheesecake Factory.
That's true.
I made that up.
We're going with that.
And also, like, we were talking about Trump, but every single Republican that lost tonight and the ones who didn't, none of them said a fucking word.
Like, if a Democratic president had done half of what Donald Trump did over the last two years, the party would have been—it would have been a fucking uproar.
Yeah.
You know, and they said nothing.
And so they all lost.
And it's—
Great.
It's Trump's fault because they had at least—they were doing a piss-poor—
half-assed job of it.
But a month ago, you know, you have Congresswoman Salazar in Florida talking about deportations.
You have members of Congress in Texas talking about deportations.
You have Mike Rogers and Ashley Hansen talking about ending the war and tariffs.
And then Trump says, "I'm going to come to your town, and you're going to have to stand next to me while I defend and promote the war and the tariffs."
And they have to stop just doing all those things and run with Trump.
Also, I mean, the scale of the victory tonight is, like—
Stunning.
—nothing we have seen.
In our lifetimes.
I mean—
Not even in my lifetime.
2008—the margins in 2008 because it was—we won a presidency plus the huge majorities that swept into Congress is probably the most analogous.
Yeah.
But in terms of the sheer—what the House vote is going to be, I mean, it's like up to—the New York Times needle estimates up to like 13—a D+13 night nationally is something I haven't seen on the Democrat or Republican side since—
1974.
1974.
We're like liberal cicadas, you know?
Yeah.
Yeah, every 17 years, you pop up, you mate, then you die.
Well, even 2010, when the national—the popular vote was—or 2008, the popular vote was 10 points.
So we're bigger than that.
We're bigger than the year Obama won—beat McCain by 7 points and won 365 electoral votes.
It's really built up, you know, built up over 10 years.
Everyone just had to—
Well, it's—right.
You know, look, I feel like part of the reason there's so much sort of, I don't know, brittleness and anxiety on the left is, like, both on the part of politicians and people who just think about politics or care about politics is this feeling of, like, not knowing the country and feeling unmoored by that.
And a lot of the reaction, a lot of, you know, Democrats, whether it's shifting left in 2020, raising their hands at times just to try to win people over and then not being sure how to fight Trump, kind of losing their sense of the country.
And in part it's because there's never been this kind of rebuke, right?
It takes us days to find out that Joe Biden has won.
2018 is disappointing.
And now, like, this—
2018 wasn't—I mean, it was—
It was just a split verdict.
Yeah.
He kept the Senate.
He kept the Senate.
Well, look, he was, at the time, unprecedented, obviously.
What he's done now makes that look like a visit to the Chief of Staff.
Like, a visit to the Cheesecake Factory.
But the—
The good old days.
But I think there's a lot of, like, people that have been hyper-engaged in politics, sort of, like, where—like, where is everybody?
And now we have a victory in Kansas for the first time, what, in 94 years?
94 years.
In fact, I stole from you from a previous broadcast.
And we're within an inch in Mississippi.
I mean, it's extraordinary.
The tribalism went away, and people voted on interests.
It's nice to see.
And people—and the Trump coalition abandoned Trump.
Yeah.
Like, you see where the Democrats made huge gains were in states with large rural areas.
It's why—it's why Adam Hamilton won in Kansas.
It's why Anne Andrews won in South Carolina.
It's why Josh Duhamel won in South Carolina.
Turek, who was the Democrat, probably most likely to lose of the big four races we talked about,
he's up, what, six points as we're recording this right now?
Most nerve-sailing.
And I'll just say, you know, the same kind of running the kind of like anti-trans playbook
on Tallarico, for example, it turns out that these issues are less salient when gas prices
are $6. And so I once again suggest the formation of some kind of independent,
non-binary militia to blow up oil refineries in Russia, that you would be serving both the
interests of democracy and your own country. Because the higher the gas prices, the more
people like trans people. I don't make the rules.
I think there's actually no evidence that those ads work in any election,
because I actually don't think that's why Kamala Harris lost.
No, it's the reverse of what happened there, which is like when people are struggling financially
and they think that the people in power are focused on something other than their financial
struggles, they will punish the party in power. And the Republicans made people believe that
Joe Biden and then Kamala Harris weren't.
They weren't focused on their struggles, and they were focused on other issues, right?
And other people.
And it turns out in this case with Trump, he really is focused on every other issue,
but their struggles, which we know because he tells us that all the time.
Yeah.
That was an easier one.
But other than telling people that they can't afford the shrimp cocktails,
that also was part of it, that kind of.
So it says a lot about the kind of election this was, that winning the House back was
a foregone conclusion, but the margin is obviously pretty astounding. I mean, like I said,
we're up to 254, 255 is projection for the House majority here. What were some of your
favorite House races or the most notable House races that we won? Maybe the one that you were
surprised or you were happy about?
I mean, our several-time guest, Bobby Pulido in Texas, is putting up like Assad numbers.
Yeah. Crush.
A district. I think he's at like 60, 61% in a district. Trump won by like 17 or 18.
That is crazy.
Now, that's a story of broader trends, but also candidate quality. Like,
this is a guy who's like a Latin Grammy award-winning
artist who is not seen as a traditional politician by anybody. I mean, it's just a recruiting coup.
I mean, Democrats are crushing across the Rio Grande Valley and the largely Latino districts
outside of San Antonio. Just, if you look at the map, that is blue, blue. Like, Brandon Herrera,
one of the worst humans alive, is getting absolutely destroyed in that race,
the Republican candidate there. I mean, just, you look at him,
you know, the two, we said at the beginning of the outset, the two races to watch,
because they were the ones where the polls closed first, were
Kentucky 6. That would be the, if we won Kentucky 6, that'd be kind of a pretty big blue wave. And
if we won Indiana 5, it'd be the size, it'd be a tsunami indicator. And we won both of those races.
Victoria Sparks.
It looks like we're gonna, we're gonna sweep most of the House races in North Carolina and
probably unseat the chairman of the National Republican Congressional Campaign Committee,
the guy in charge of winning the House back for Republicans.
By the way, shout out Zach Dabo, cool guy.
Yeah.
I like him in Kentucky.
I would just say-
Also that piece of shit, Max Miller, lost.
Oh, Max Miller lost, that's great, that's great.
Fuck that guy.
Mike Lawler lost in New York.
Yeah.
I like that.
Who anonymous Democrats were telling Axios could never lose. That was cool.
I also just, the total backfiring of their gerrymandering scheme,
right, because I don't know what the final, I don't think we have,
I don't know if we know the final count yet.
It failed everywhere.
But it was, it just, this wave overcame it. I'll be curious to see after,
if there's anywhere in the country, given the size of this, maybe not, but are there
any places where, would they have been able to save one or two seats had they
not done the gerrymander because of where they've moved the votes around?
Yeah. And they're not in dummymander danger in this because there are some seats
they're going to pick up. But in Florida, they were trying to eliminate three Democrats,
Jared Moskowitz, Darren Soto, and Kathy Kasser. All three of them won with relative ease. They
created a new district. They were supposed to be an easy Republican take. We won that district.
In Alabama, after the Kalei decision, they-
Shamari Figures won.
They did the whole thing to take down Shamari Figures. He won with ease.
Do you think that if you add up the seats, if you add up the seats that they
put in jeopardy because of the gerrymandering and the seats Democrats pick up in California,
like I was thinking, have they netted positive?
Oh, over the whole thing? That's a great question.
I think we don't know.
Yeah, we don't know yet. I think they're Randy V.
I think almost all of their Florida and Texas gerrymanders failed.
Failed. Yeah.
And those were the two biggest. So like, right, there's a few-
There's a real specific definition of a dummymander that I don't think they had,
but yes, the whole effort was a complete failure.
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All right, let's get to the biggest story of the night, which is the Senate, because that
was the only real question heading into the night as of right now. We have a few races
that haven't been called. In Michigan, about half the votes are in. Abdul is ahead by about a point
and a half of this recording, but the Times, The Needle, has him at like more than 95%.
Wayne County is not in, which is a thing.
Yeah, that is why. And that always happens with Michigan.
Big liberal dumps coming.
Big liberal, huge dumps. And they think maybe he'll win by five or more,
maybe six, last time I saw it. We don't have any numbers yet from Alaska,
so we don't have that yet. But everything else.
Mississippi is still too close to call.
Mississippi just went up.
It tightens up.
It's tightening.
He's now up.
Yeah, he's up.
It's crazy.
Yes. Just as we were talking, he just took the lead.
Wow.
So that's happening. But we've already flipped. Democrats have flipped seven
Senate seats and held Georgia. Biggest surprises there. Annie Andrews pulling
out a four-point win in South Carolina. Lindsey Graham's old seat beating Darlene Graham. Adam
Hamilton cruising to a five-point win in Kansas. Bye-bye, Roger Marshall. Those are the
big stunners so far.
Annie Andrews, Adam Hamilton, and I don't know, those are the big ones. But what do you guys think
of the surprises in the Senate? I was shocked that the South Carolina thing happened.
Shocked.
Annie Andrews winning would have been a surprise enough. The fact that she won
by that much is crazy.
The way Annie Andrews won is the most surprising. Not that she won. We had talked about how it was
a possibility. The race was incredibly close, and that Times poll that came out this week was
essentially tied. But the assumption always was that enough Republicans would come home,
and she won with ease. They called the polls. They called
that race so quickly. It was hard to believe. Kansas is obviously, on its face, incredibly
surprising. It wasn't even on the map six months ago. Adam Hamilton gets in the race, runs an
incredible campaign, is an incredible candidate. Roger Marshall, possibly the worst candidate to
ever walk the face of the planet, not named Ken Paxton. But even heading into the week, you're
talking to people who were involved in trying to win the Senate. They were very confident about
Kansas, more confident about Kansas than even Iowa or Ohio. Just because Marshall was so bad, you could
see it.
And, you know, you and I talked about it on YouTube. You guys talked about it on the podcast,
that ad that Roger Marshall ran, which is such a, like, he might as well just
put up a sign that said, I'm trailing by massive amounts in the polls. That's why you do those
things. But Annie Andrews, that is a stunning victory. She is an awesome candidate. She is
going to be an awesome senator. I think there's one thing that's worth noting. Just think about
this Senate class that's coming in. Yep.
Tallarico, Adam Hamilton, Annie Andrews, Abdul, just Troy Jackson, a logger, just like really
talented, really interesting people from all different kinds of walks of life, many of them
not traditional politicians in any way, shape, or form. Like, this will be one of those Senate
classes that people will talk about for a very, very long time. And also, it's just another
indication that candidate quality really matters. Like, the South Carolina Republicans naming
Lindsey Graham's sister and just like passing along a Senate seat like it's a dynastic thing
was a disaster. And we saw candidate quality really hurt Republicans in 2022. Voters in Georgia were
like, no, Herschel Walker is a moron. We're not voting for this guy. But Chuck Schumer deserves
credit for recruiting some really great candidates, candidates we're not even talking about. In North
Carolina and, you know, the others. Yeah, Roy Cooper, Sherrod Brown. Yes, like we just swept.
Josh Turek. But also, like, some great candidates emerged through the primary process. Abdul,
Annie Andrews, right? It's like an exciting moment of like the bench we now have. Yeah. Also,
there's a lot of like talk about the way in which Trump obviously sort of sabotaged the
whole operation here. He gets behind Ken Paxton, gets behind Darlene Graham, and fine. But these
are all people that won their primaries, right? Texas Republicans,
South Carolina Republicans, they saw the choice. They watched the debate and they still voted for
her, whether it's because Trump told them to or because Trump was seeing what they were seeing,
whatever. And I also wonder what kind of evaluation you'll see on the Republican side
of what led them to this moment. And it will be, of course, about sort of Trump, but also
the voters were, there was, just because Trump says so, there have been examples of people defying
Trump's will in some of these primaries. But they went, they got behind Ken Paxton and they
fucked themselves. Susan Collins, Senator
no more, called the race for Troy Jackson. That was another one everyone was a little worried
about towards the end. Some of the polling was a little iffy on that. As of now, he's up by five
points, six points, and she called him to concede. So I do think that some of these races, when
there's a wave this big, and this is sort of what the hope was, even if a candidate is strong like
Susan Collins or it's a candidate who didn't have a whole race to get well known like Troy Jackson,
like, the wave just carries you along. Or you can't fend off the wave if you're like a Susan
Collins. Susan Collins ended up being one of the greatest Republican ever performers, even in this
election. It's a state Kamala Harris won by eight points in a plus 13 Democratic environment, and
she loses by five or six. But you know what? You benefited from this once in 2020, and now you're
gone. So cool. There were a few heartbreakers in Florida. Angie Nixon, another shocker, came within
three points of Ashley Moody beating the polls.
In a state that Trump carried by 13 points in 2024. We talked about Mississippi, which is
still happening right now. Louisiana, with 95% of the vote counted. Democrat Jamie Davis is losing
to Julia Letlow by just under five points. That's a state Trump won by 22 points. Did anyone see
Louisiana? No. The Republican polling, it works because there was that report right before Trump
agreed to do the last minute tele-rally in Louisiana that it was six points in the internal
polling. I mean, the Florida thing was interesting because
Florida counts the votes really fast. And also throughout the day, they are constantly providing
updates. So you can sort of like start looking at the tea leaves in the Florida turnout. And it did
seem throughout the day that all the turnout reports were, they weren't, they were like
Republicans turning out, but it wasn't, it was basically matching the polls from Florida.
And then it turns out that like the turnout was not what Republicans needed in Florida. But the
persuasion when they started opening the ballots and counting them suddenly, like a lot of the
votes, they were like, okay, we're going to have a lot of people vote in Florida. And so it's like,
okay, we're going to have a lot of people vote in Florida. And so it's like,
and David Jolly, who both came pretty close to winning their races, David Jolly in the governor's
race, just lost by, I think, two points to Byron Donalds and Angie Nixon by a couple points to
Ashley Moody. The Florida moment was like very personally meaningful for me because in 2016,
when they dumped all that Florida vote, and that's the moment we all knew that things were
not looking like they were supposed to. I remember talking to someone, like a Democratic
operative who was like in and around the Clinton campaign and who basically said to me, if our
numbers are that wrong in Florida, they're wrong everywhere. You were on that email chain, I
believe. And then in 2020, same thing happens again. And you realize, oh, Biden is not going
to walk away with this. Like we thought 2024, that's when you knew we were going to get our
ass kicked everywhere because you had like Osceola County and all these other places with
massive Latino swings. And to have the Florida numbers come in and show something good for us
was like an out-of-body experience. Yeah. Do you remember we were talking about that? So when you
and I had agreed to go on NBC and it was, we realized it was the final 15 seconds before we
would have had to admit on, just be on television while saying it was over. We still had a moment
to just pretend there was hope. Back when Tony Hinchcliffe.
Tony Hinchcliffe was going to deliver the election.
Yeah. It turned out that the Puerto Rico vote was not moved by the Tony Hinchcliffe joke.
Maybe it was just delayed.
Yes.
A little update for you guys.
Never wrong, only early.
Louisiana is only, Jamie Davis is only down two points now.
What?
It's funny the stories we're not talking about. Like Josh Shapiro just got 60% in the swing state
of Pennsylvania in his race.
And brought in a bunch of House Democrats in the same way.
John Ossoff won by 18 points.
18 points.
I think that's the latest.
In a state that Trump won by.
Trump won.
David Crowley is up six in the governor's race in Wisconsin.
I don't even, yeah, they called that race.
Hey, hey.
Roy Cooper, where's Roy Cooper at? Is he like a 15 point margin?
I think they might've done it like a little league game where you're up nine nothing.
And you call the mercy roll.
Yeah, it's like, all right, everybody, ice pops.
I feel like it's, I think it's also maybe an okay night for having contentious primaries
and it not mattering in the end, right?
Like, you know, even up to and including the late Haley Stevens, may her memory
be a blessing.
Roy Cooper's up 20, 59, 30.
Hey, really?
Yeah.
That's a New York Times.
That's wild.
95% of the vote.
Are we doing a separate Michigan category?
No, we're about to do Texas.
Okay.
So, so stick with us.
James Tallarico, heard of him?
He's going to the Senate.
He crushed Ken Paxton.
We worship an awesome non-binary God in the blue states.
And we don't like, and we don't like, and we don't like EGYN sending us bills in the
red states.
We don't like those OBGYN bills.
Let me just fucking, the New York Times, their website could be a little easier to read when
they're in the states.
Oh, boo hoo.
You know?
They do a great service to us.
No, I love them more than anything.
I will just say, I think, let's all reflect on Nate Cohen's cowardice and not predicting
this wave in his refusal to actually admit how good the numbers really were.
Both Nates.
Our Nate.
Our Nate.
We're claiming him for, yeah, he's ours now.
Our Nate.
The other Nate.
The other Nate.
They crushed.
Yeah.
It was a good night for Nate.
Good night for Flipper.
Yeah.
The model.
Still counting model.
Bad night for Keith Raboy.
For those who followed up.
Yeah, and fucking Clay Travis.
Did he make that bet?
Tough night for the all-in pod.
Did Nate ever get that bet?
No.
God damn it.
We were going to save the show and throw it to the end.
It's hard.
Sorry, are we on the part of the all-in that says score settling?
No, that's after Michigan.
Yeah, that's right.
We'll be right back.
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Tallarico, 55 to 43.
I can't believe that.
Let's talk about Texas because it's not just James Tallarico. Gina Hinojosa is going to be the
governor of Texas now, defeating Greg Abbott by a bunch. What is it, six points now, five points?
The Texas legislature.
The Texas legislature is flipping.
Statewide, was it 17?
The railroad commissioner, John Rosenthal, is going to be the new, Beau French.
Dumbass Beau French.
Choo-choo.
Gina right now on the Times is 53-46.
It's about oil and gas pipelines for some reason.
I mean, what the fuck happened in Texas?
Like, Ken Paxton was a terrible candidate. Like, historically bad. Corrupt, terrible human being,
couldn't keep his dick in his pants. Like, all the things you don't want in a candidate,
he was terrible. Greg Abbott was like a very strong candidate. People were worried about him.
He was a machine. He had a lot of money.
Gina Hinojosa came out of nowhere. She had no money. No one was paying attention to this race.
She kicked his ass.
Until she came on this podcast.
She kicked his ass.
Yeah, they're going to try to blame.
Twice.
They're going to try to.
Two appearances.
Two appearances.
They're going to try to blame Ken Paxton.
Kind of the appearances and then connect them to the wins.
Yeah.
Hey, how many times did Kamala come on?
2024.
Score settling.
Do you think they're going to try to blame, they're going to try to blame Ken Paxton for
dragging them all down? I'm sure that's part of it, but it won't be, it won't be able to explain it.
Gina ran a great campaign.
No, no, no, no.
Of course, I'm saying it.
I'm sure in some way, Ken Paxton is obviously not a help to the ticket.
He probably, whatever, but they're going to try to lay in on him and they can't.
But a statewide Republican massacre in Texas, like the ingredients for that were,
and you saw this in the turnout numbers today too, as they were coming in, like
the rurals just didn't turn out in Texas.
And, you know, in the big counties, the turnout was strong, especially before election day.
Yep.
The South Texas, Latinos in South Texas and everywhere just swung way to the left.
And so, you know, what you started seeing in 2018,
I think with Beto coming within two and a half points of Cruz and he got like that huge suburban
vote out of like Dallas and Houston and Travis County and Austin and everything.
And then you combine the Latino swing that you saw in South Texas plus Ken Paxton and Greg Abbott.
And I think, you know, Greg Abbott's a much stronger candidate than Ken Paxton,
but also he's been governor for three terms.
He was running for a fourth term.
And I think people in Texas, like after how many years of full Republican control of your state
and you're pissed off about prices and things haven't gotten any better, you're like,
you know, I don't know.
Let's try something new.
They knew who to blame.
The way to understand Texas, and I think the whole thing is that the Republican Party reverted back
to the pre-Trump Republican Party in terms of its turnout and its vote share coming out of rural areas.
And the Democratic Party stayed in its post-Trump form, which by just driving up massive turnout from
not just urban areas, but also rural areas.
And then you get a Latino swing that's not back even where it was with Beto,
but back to a 2020 level.
And that is a formula where you're going to do very, very well in a state like Texas.
I also just like. I give the flowers to, like, everyone who has organized in Texas for the last decade or more,
because this doesn't just happen because it's a, like, a wave year and they get swept in.
Like, obviously, that's part of it.
But what people on the ground in Texas have built to make this possible over many elections where they've lost
and then people roll their eyes after the election and be like, oh, everyone, blue Texas.
Blue suit to football.
Yeah, why is that?
Why are Democrats looking at Texas again?
Like, people on the ground there, they just kept working, kept organizing.
And that's the thing.
Now we have to. This is. One of the great parts about having Gina as governor is we have to build on it,
because Texas has to be a battleground state in 2028.
And once you get to 2032, there is no real path to a sustainable electoral college majority without Texas.
Yes.
Except now that we have Kansas.
I'm just kidding.
And, of course, Mississippi.
The new battleground of Mississippi.
So, Gina Hinojosa, new governor of Texas.
We got some other big governor wins in Ohio.
Amy Acton beat that piece of fucking shit, Vivek Ramaswamy.
By five and a half points so far in Georgia.
Keisha Lance Bottoms handily beat Rick Jackson by more than eight
to become the first black woman governor in American history.
Any other governor's races that I'm missing out there?
Iowa.
Iowa.
Rob Sand.
Rob Sand crushed.
Rob Sand crushed.
Where are things in Kansas right now as you look at this?
You got your laptop?
I don't know.
Cindy Holscher was leading when we went in to record this pod.
So, in Kansas, she's up 50.
Cindy Holscher's up 50.4 to 49.6.
So, we could have a new governor in Kansas.
What's the latest in California's governor's race?
Javier Becerra is going to be the governor in Kansas.
California.
Sorry, California.
Obviously, Amy Klobuchar, Hannah Pingree in Maine.
Amy Klobuchar in Minnesota.
Jocelyn Benson is crushing in Michigan.
Oh, and we talked about David Crowley in Wisconsin.
A lot of Democratic governors.
What about, we don't know enough from Nevada yet about Aaron Ford.
No, but he's going to.
Yeah.
Take it to the bank.
Aaron Ford's going to win.
Oh, one good election.
We're making predictions again.
Cool.
With California.
I've been maybe perusing John Ralston's blog here and there.
He's been good.
But, like, most Americans will live in states governed that have a Democratic governor.
Most states will have a Democratic governor, I believe, now.
And we now have Democratic governors in what we hope will be a battleground like Texas,
but also Georgia and Wisconsin and a bunch of states.
That'll be places where they could contest an election in a future presidential.
Like, I think it's just going to matter for election integrity, whatever Trump tries and whatever they try.
The Georgia one matters a ton because Brian Kemp and the state legislative Republicans already said they were going to redraw the maps in Georgia next year.
And now they cannot do that because we have the governorship.
Also, if one of the senators from Georgia or maybe both or, you know, either or would like to run for president in 2028 now, we have a Democratic governor.
In that state, who could, you know, appoint their replacement?
Worth noting.
Just something to think about.
I will say, I think we all knew that Vivek Ramaswamy was a repulsive, repellent human being who was just so annoying that you couldn't imagine being in a room with him, let alone being governed by him.
But the fact that his disgusting ad about Amy Acton maybe cost him the race and also helped lead Sherry Brown to victory is a wonderful repudiation of him as a human being, but also of just, like,
the politics of divisiveness and just, like, cravenness that we've all gotten used to being affected.
Because we're all old enough to have been around in 2002 when Max Cleland, who was a triple amputee, lost a Senate race by being called soft on national security and soft on terrorism, right?
Seems like nothing compared to what Vivek did.
I know.
So you've seen this shit work, and just to see it blow up in his face so spectacularly was wonderful.
I was thinking about how great that is.
And just that—
Here's someone who has always been kind of a slimy guy and just in the homestretch of a campaign, loses touch with whatever he's pretending he is and just lets his demon out.
And he will be now, for this foolish reason of a backfiring ad, will be defined by it for the rest of his fucking life.
This is what—we talk about the Max Cleland ad.
We are going to talk about this ad.
Yeah.
It's a big tennis career.
Oh, yeah.
Plus, and the tennis, right?
Probably not as a baseball coach.
Yeah, I was going to say.
Not so much baseball.
So Trump seems to be—
He seems to be handling this all pretty well.
I think, actually, usually you'd say that as a joke.
I kind of think that's true.
No, I mean, you know.
First, he posted that if he was on the ballot, Republicans would have won in a landslide.
His approval rating was 39 in the exit poll.
Yes, right.
Yeah.
And then he did a phone interview with the New York Times where he said he'd absolutely accept the results and look forward to working with Democrats.
Then he posted an image of a MAGA hat with the word veto on it instead.
Then opposed to attacking Greg Abbott as a rhino who deserved to lose, he bitched for a while about candidate quality, which is interesting.
Because his hand-picked candidates, Darlene Graham, Ken Paxton.
Vivek Ramaswamy.
Vivek Ramaswamy.
There's a couple other that I'm missing, too.
All of his hand-picked candidates.
Oh, Mike Collins in Georgia.
Michael Watley.
Michael Watley in North Carolina.
He pushed Tillis out, basically.
Right.
In North Carolina.
He didn't drive Brian Kemp out in Georgia, but he made it harder for him to run.
Yeah, so candidate quality were his candidates.
And so he said all this, and then he rounded it all out with a brief.
Appearance on Fox News.
Let's listen.
Well, I'm a little bit surprised.
I thought they'd do better.
We had tremendous rallies, and I wasn't on the ballot.
If I was on the ballot, they would have gotten out.
You know, they just weren't inspired.
They really probably weren't willing to do the short-term consequence of playing more for gasoline.
And, you know, I understand that.
Some of the candidates that I endorsed fought me, and they didn't like that they fought me.
No matter how good the president is, you lose.
You lose.
I don't know why.
It's just a point in time, Brett.
It's just a point in time.
It's the way it is.
Can you just imagine that level of punditry?
Like, that is somebody that you should be talking to at, like, a senior care facility who you're serving
and who's, like, used to be involved in politics and still watches it on the TV and then comments on it from time to time.
Like, it's someone that, like, and they even on the, during the, at the end of the interview, they're like,
that's a great point, sir.
Good night.
Have a good night.
Okay, get some sleep, buddy.
It was like they were done with him before he was done.
Yeah, they cut him off, basically.
Yeah.
What do we think happens with Trump next?
What does he, does he, does he stay mad?
I don't think this whole, like, I'll work with the Democrats thing.
No, he's in a rage.
You don't?
I think tomorrow he'd probably restart the war with Iran
because he knows, like, a good conflict will change the narrative
and, you know, we get, like, an insane, unhinged Donald Trump again.
Yeah, he's going to, he's going to spend, like, right now he can do this,
like, very momentary, I don't even know what you would describe what that was,
but it wasn't lashing out.
Conciliatory approach.
Yes, yes, that would be the way to put it.
And then he's going to consume all the news coverage
that says he's a giant loser, the worst loss ever,
and he's going to be fuming.
There's going to be a lot of mood in the White House stories.
Yeah, ketchup on the wall.
Yeah, but he's going to have to find a. I saw a lot of people make that joke today.
The orange Cheeto is really mad now.
You got him.
Yeah, yeah.
He needs someone to blame.
He can be mad at Democrats, he can take it out on Democrats.
He can't blame Democrats for this.
He has to find someone else to kind of vent his, the cause.
And all the fucking. All the fucking pussies in the Republican Party are blaming other people.
Ron DeSantis is like, oh yeah, Kristi Noem is at fault, right?
And Kristi Noem is like, the reason we lost is because we were too successful in the first term.
It's like, you are a bunch of embarrassing losers.
We all think you can run in 2028,
and you think that you need to kiss the ring
because Trump's endorsement will decide who the nominee is.
And maybe that's right,
but it is going to prevent the reckoning they actually need inside that party,
including on the set of Fox News,
where Brett Baer is like,
okay, sir, well, I love you, and I hope you sleep tight tonight.
You fucking, pathetic, fucking cowards.
I just want to, like, your point on Kristi Noem,
there's an actual, an actual quote from Kristi Noem.
She tweeted this.
Larry Kudlow is correct.
We were too successful the first year of the Trump administration.
We cared too much.
And that's why they lost.
That's why they lost.
They cared too much.
I don't. But yeah, I think he's,
I think he's going to get pretty pissed.
Now, here's a question to the,
to your point, Tommy,
about the pussies in the Republican Party.
Are they, do you think Republicans, this is it?
Like, to me, I feel like the bloodletting within the Republican Party
is going to be like we haven't seen in the whole Trump era,
because these people now, like, he's on his way out.
He's, he was a lame duck before this.
Now he's the lamest of lame ducks.
And the thing that they were all worried about,
which is like, oh, Trump has this hold on the base.
And if I piss Trump off, you know, he could,
he could turn the base against me and I can lose my job.
Well, a bunch of their colleagues have already lost their jobs.
And so they're out of politics now.
So if you're a Republican in Congress,
like, why still do this whole thing
where you just kiss Trump's ass the whole time?
I mean, that is the existential question, right?
They are, should theoretically be under no pressure to do so?
Are they, do they, are they,
do they worry that he'll endorse their primary opponent in 2028?
Will that matter?
I don't know.
He said in that interview, he was like,
yeah, people say whoever I,
whoever I endorse in 2028,
whoever Trump endorses is going to win.
Didn't say a word about him.
So there's like, there's two separate questions.
There is people who are thinking of running for president
and how they have to want to stay in Trump's favor.
I think that's one question.
And then there is just like,
you are a random congressperson who is in,
there aren't going to be a lot of them,
any of them are purple districts
because we won all those seats.
Right.
But you're a random congressperson.
What is your incentive to keep doing this?
And if you are a student of history,
which none of them are,
except maybe some periods of Germanic history,
but is, you know,
that it's very possible
that this is part one of a two-part wave.
This could be an 06, 08.
So the people who did not break with Bush after 06
paid a steep price in 2008 and lost their seat.
Yeah, but see, I think that's,
but it was not because they were afraid
of George W. Bush as a figure.
It was what,
there's two parts of what it means to go against Trump, right?
Like why does Paxton beat Cornyn?
I think it's part because Trump's word goes a long way,
but, and Trump's attacks matter.
But it's also because being seen as a Trump antagonist
in any way or being seen as a Trump ally
is a shorthand for the kind of people
that fight the people we don't like, right?
Like the base made a lot of self-destructive decisions, right?
Like what you're saying is,
will these other politicians convince the base
not to be self-destructive and willing to take that bet?
And so far they're really saying, you know,
Trump can't fail.
He can only be failed.
And you see internet,
you see these little versions of a fight
that are about, you know,
that are about his viziers, you know,
and why he's been failed by Nome or failed by Vance
or failed by the foreign policy advisors.
I think there's a difference between people
like taking off the MAGA hat
and putting on the Lingua Franca sweatshirt sweater.
And like being for impeachment or whatever that is.
It's a throwback.
It is.
But I think it is,
but there is like,
are they just going to in his house be bully?
Are they going to break with him on things
that may matter to them?
May matter politically,
like the tariffs in the war.
There are going to be a whole bunch of those votes
with Democrats in charge.
Where are they going to be?
Right.
But like Mike,
that we've like on tariffs specifically,
they've all felt like they've had room to do that.
Right.
Like I think there's something.
Not to vote to actually get rid of them.
No, but to oppose them on the campaign trail.
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Well, let's talk about the next few years.
So, as for Democrats,
the most widely shared Democratic response from Congress
was a two-word press release from incoming House Oversight Chairman Robert Garcia,
which just says, "Lawyer up."
And that was the one that was read on Fox.
What do you guys think about that?
I think we should do a little more—
I think we should investigate every single thing that should be investigated.
That is like the constitutional obligation for these folks.
Because Trump's going to pardon every single person,
we also just need to put it all on the historical record
of every single thing that happened.
The public needs to know about the depths of it.
I also think that making it our entire identity as a party
is probably not the best politics.
No, it's actually bad politics.
Yes, yes.
That was my point.
You want to put a finer point on it?
I'm going to invent a phrase here,
and I think this is going to make a lot of sense.
I think it's going to be really cool.
Okay?
Because it's kind of something that people—
we've got to walk and chew gum at the same time.
Mm.
Mm.
So smart.
You know what I mean?
So smart.
But you get what I'm saying with that?
Can I read you
something that's going to bum you guys out?
Uh, can you?
John Foon told Punchbowl News
that he would not rule out a lame duck SCOTUS confirmation.
Yeah.
I saw that.
Was that his old comment to them, though?
This is from November 3rd.
Of course.
It can't be done.
You're basically talking about 60 days post-election.
I certainly wouldn't rule that out.
Was that from a while ago?
I know. I thought he—
Oh, you're right.
It was from July.
God damn you, Punchbowl.
No, I know.
Clickbait fucking words.
Well, if you were a subscriber,
they would have texted you their proper date on that.
"Punchbowl pro doesn't do tricks."
"The tricks are for the non-paying people."
That's how they get you.
I don't know if you all—
They give you the real news behind the paywall.
If you all watch Sam Alito's interview with Jan Crawford,
like, that guy wants to serve an extra—
he wants to serve out his term.
He's mad.
We never got to the bottom of that
Nina Totenberg misbegotten scoop, you know?
About saying that Alito was stepping down.
Or the Jan Crawford DMs.
We didn't hear him talk about that.
Yeah.
I'm always thinking about those Jan Crawford DMs.
I do want to get back to the Democratic House here
just for a second.
Because there is a challenge here where we know that,
like, so if you ask,
"What's the best thing for Democrats to do?"
Focus on affordability.
Great.
Nothing's going to happen about affordability
for two years.
Nothing.
They're going to pass no legislation.
They're going to pass show votes, message votes,
that everyone who pays unbelievably close attention to politics
is going to applaud and say, "Great job,"
and then no one else in the country is ever going to hear about it.
And then there's going to be the ability to do investigations
that also maybe don't go anywhere because he's going to pardon everyone
and the Supreme Court has decided that the president is immune
from criminal prosecution.
So, I mean, and I don't know what to do about that,
but I do think if I were Democrats in Congress,
I would at least make clear to everyone, like,
what the reality of the situation is for the next two years.
Yeah.
I think that's true.
Here would be my question about it,
which is, yeah, it's not going to be any sort of big kind of Democratic,
uh, agenda bills that are going to be able to get through and get to Trump fine.
But I do wonder what happens when you have some of these budget fights.
There's going to be fights that involve funding for the military
that include the Iran war, where we draw a line there.
There's going to be overall funding fights that will include questions
around whether we undo some of the Trump cuts in the big, beautiful bill.
And do you extract concessions on that?
Does Trump threaten to veto it?
Do you accept that, keep it as an issue to run on
when you would obviously like to undo some of the cuts?
I just have no idea how that shakes out, in part because the dynamic has changed.
- A shutdown or two in our future.
- Right, and Trump will probably be the one
who shuts it down like he was the last time
than the Democrats were in charge.
Unless he wants to make a deal
to undo the Medicaid cuts.
Yeah, right.
You know, maybe Jeffries and Schumer
can tell him,
you can be a hero,
you can undo the Medicaid cuts
and everyone's going to love you.
I don't know.
I think, and then you'd say,
well, yes, that'll get tied.
All of a sudden there's going to be these,
this is what I mean,
is like there's going to be
these real negotiations
and there's going to be lines in the sand
and there's going to be a debate
about whether we gave too much,
if it's worth it, it's worth it.
That's, that to me is,
those are the big fights to come
that are actually impactful,
actually could help on Medicaid.
Well, and the reason
they're going to be different
than the other fights
we've had the last 10 years
is overshadowing all of those fights
will be the 2028 primaries on both sides.
It's going to drive everything.
And so there's going to be
what happens in Congress
that will be the C block
and A and B block
will be the Democratic primary
and the Republican primary.
I mean, think about 2006, right?
So Democrats win this huge victory.
Nancy Pelosi becomes the first female speaker.
It's a gigantic deal.
They take power on January 3rd.
On January 13th,
Barack Obama, Nazi's running for president.
Hillary Clinton announces two weeks later
and some things,
a lot of things happen.
Also, there were really
high profound investigations.
The Democrats actually did get Bush
to sign a minimum wage bill
in that period,
but it became the Democratic primary right away.
And the Republican primary.
And this, and that.
It was a very busy Republican primary.
Yeah, we have a similar thing
going on here too.
Yeah.
Okay, before we go,
we want to take just a quick moment
to be, as promised, petty as hell
and play you some of the highlights
of right-wing commentators
just being kind of sad.
This watch party is best described
as quiet, subdued,
and apprehensive.
Trump ran around the country saying,
vote as if I'm on the ballot,
and that's exactly what happened.
I wish it was two years ago.
South Carolina, again, Sean.
Brutal.
It's sad to me.
You know, ended tragically.
Can we do a spin on the races that,
oh, I'm sorry, Garrett.
I guess we're on TV now.
Prisoners have gone around the country saying,
act like I'm on the ballot,
and then tonight post,
I wasn't on the ballot.
Well, it was a metaphorical.
Not metaphorical.
It's kind of sugar-coated.
There's a political science term
for what's happening.
It's called a country ass whoopin'.
That's what's happening right now.
Oh, I love the,
can we do a spin on the good results?
Just call it live.
Call it live.
I think what he was saying
was a spin around to the various states
if we're defending Brett.
I don't like Brett Baer.
Yeah, sorry.
I think that's what happened there.
I know that you're a big Brett Baer fan.
I'm not trying to fake news us here.
Yeah, hey, we play it fair here.
We play it right.
I don't know.
Does anyone want to react to any of that?
There was a Washington Post reporter
who did an update
from the Vivek Ramaswamy concession party.
And he talked to,
I'm going to paraphrase this,
but he talked to somebody
and the guy was like,
I'm not doing so good.
I bet a lot of money on this.
And that's a crazy thing to have done.
But you're at the Vivek party
betting on Vivek.
Boy, what a weird reality.
Yeah, sort of someone
on the other side of that bet
I'm happy for.
Johnny Manziel was parlaying
the Texas Tech game.
And Ken Paxton,
Paxton to win on Cal Shareware.
Like, this is not good.
Did Texas Tech win?
Yes, they did.
Okay.
He blew up his parlay.
Yeah.
What's Elon Musk?
Oh, thank you, Dan.
Half a billion.
Thank you.
I know it doesn't matter to him,
but it's nice.
Half a billion.
Half a million dollars.
He spent $200 million
in Texas alone.
On Paxton.
He tried to buy
for the Senate
the single worst candidate
to run in modern American history.
Money in politics.
Bad thing,
but does it matter that much?
Not this cycle.
Well, here's,
I think at the tape,
it,
money does matter,
obviously,
but if you don't have a message,
all the money in the world
doesn't matter.
Or if you start a stupid war.
As the saying goes,
the dog has to eat the dog food.
Yeah.
I also think, like,
if you,
it matters to a certain point.
And so,
if there is
a spending imbalance
where,
you know,
the Democratic candidate
doesn't have much money at all
and the Republican candidate
just swamps them,
right,
like that,
that matters.
But if Democrat,
if both candidates
can at least get to a certain level
where the fucking airwaves
are saturated with ads
that everyone fucking hates,
then at least you can neutralize it.
That's how ridiculous
the campaign finance is.
Well, also,
also,
if we're going to be,
like,
sort of nerdily precise about it,
what mattered here
is Democratic candidates
raised a ton of money
into their campaigns.
Yes.
So they were able to buy ads
at a much cheaper rate
than the super PACs.
And to the credit
of the Democratic super PACs,
they understood
what the,
what the plan was
and they bought,
they reserved their time
really early.
Mm.
And not even having
all the money they needed
for that
and then raising
to get to that.
Because if you,
the earlier you buy your ads,
the lower rate you have
in the republics
because Trump sat on his money
for so long
and Elon came in late.
They were spending,
you know,
two times what the
House majority PACs
and the majority PACs.
So it was like,
we basically,
both the Democratic campaigns
and the super PACs
ran circles around the ads
and helped,
they didn't nullify
the money advantage,
but they made the number of,
the disparity in ads ran
much more narrow
than the money would suggest.
There's also just,
there's no,
it's like a,
it's sort of like
the resonant frequency.
It's like the,
the ads can make up
the difference.
They can,
they can matter on the margins,
but it can't be completely
out of rhythm
with the country, right?
Like it has to be,
like an ad can help
push somebody forward,
but they have to be
on that downswing.
There has to be some momentum
you're getting behind,
some,
something organic and real
that you can kind of push.
Otherwise,
it just,
it can't overcome the vibe.
It just can't.
I just want to pour one out
for the Democrats
in disarray narrative.
Maine,
turned out that didn't
really matter
or Ray,
Michigan,
Texas.
Everyone's like,
Oh,
Jasmine Crockett is not doing
enough for Ray.
Turns out fine.
Haley Stevens,
Haley Stevens.
That was a fun news cycle.
Yeah.
That was a fun way
to close out the campaign.
Turns out no one gave a shit.
And I'll just also say
you have the exit vote
of Jewish voters in Michigan
was at a 60,
35,
something like that.
And yeah,
some people absolutely
switched to Rogers,
but the majority
of Jewish voters
stuck with Abdul
and voted for
a Democratic majority
and I was glad to see it.
What a night, guys.
What a night.
Long time coming.
Not a lot like this.
All right.
We're going to go to bed.
See you in 17 years.
And I'll think about
our just sort of
workshop our takes
for the rest of the week.
At CrookedCon?
CrookedCon.com.
We're all heading
to CrookedCon tomorrow.
Now it's a fucking party.
Oh, wow.
Boy, we dance
through the raindrops
on these CrookedCons.
Would have been hard
to pitch this thing
if it was a bad
night.
No.
I'd be returning
my ticket.
Hey, hey, hey.
As a host.
But now it's going
to be amazing.
Yeah, it's going to be great.
See you there.
Come see us at CrookedCon.
We'll see you there.
Pod Save America
is a Crooked Media production.
Our show is produced
by Austin Fisher,
Saul Rubin,
McKenna Roberts,
and Michael Goldsmith
with Reed Cherlin,
Elijah Cohn,
and Adrian Hill.
Our team includes
Matt DeGroat,
Ben Hethcote,
Jordan Cantor,
Charlotte Landis,
Kenny Moffitt,
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Ryan Young,
and Naomi Singel.
Our staff is proudly
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Podcast Summary
Key Points:
SimpliSafe’s AI-powered security system detects threats before break-ins and alerts U.S.-based agents within 30 seconds to intervene and dispatch 911 if needed.
The system is easy to install and use, with remote control via a smartphone app and smart sensors for temperature and water monitoring.
A major political shift occurred in the 2024 U.S. elections, with Democrats winning overwhelming margins in key states, including Texas, Kansas, and South Carolina.
Voter backlash against Donald Trump’s economic policies, war with Iran, and dismissive attitude toward inflation led to a historic defeat for Republicans.
Candidate quality and grassroots organizing—especially in rural and Latino communities—played a crucial role in Democratic victories, with strong performances by new and diverse candidates.
Republican failures were amplified by poor candidate choices, such as Ken Paxton and Vivek Ramaswamy, and a lack of voter turnout in rural areas.
The election results signal a shift in national politics, with Democrats gaining control of the House and expanding their presence in battleground states.
The outcome reflects broader public fatigue with Trump’s leadership and a growing demand for policies focused on affordability and economic stability.
Summary:
S. elections, marking a decisive repudiation of Donald Trump’s political legacy. Democrats won key House races—including sweeping wins in Texas, Kansas, and South Carolina—by large margins, with standout performances by new and diverse candidates like Gina Hinojosa and Annie Andrews.
The shift was driven by voter dissatisfaction with Trump’s economic policies, particularly rising prices, the Iran war, and his disregard for public struggles. Rural and Latino communities, long overlooked, turned decisively blue, signaling a major shift in political dynamics. The election also exposed deep failures in Republican candidate quality, with figures like Ken Paxton and Vivek Ramaswamy losing due to poor messaging and lack of voter support.
Grassroots organizing and candidate authenticity were key to Democratic success, while Republican gerrymandering and loyalty to Trump’s core base failed to hold ground. The results underscore a profound political realignment, with Democrats now in control of the House and poised to reshape policy priorities around affordability and national security. The episode concludes by noting that the Republican Party faces internal chaos, as leaders like Kristi Noem and others blame each other, while Trump’s post-election behavior—ranging from conciliatory statements to rage—suggests a likely return to confrontation.
The broader takeaway is that public trust in the political establishment, especially after years of economic and foreign policy missteps, has fundamentally shifted, setting the stage for a new era of democratic accountability. The show also promotes SimpliSafe as a solution for real-time home security, offering 70% off with professional monitoring, and highlights other sponsorships in mental health, wellness, and lifestyle products.
FAQs
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Yes, the SimpliSafe app allows you to arm or disarm the system from your phone, giving you remote access and control at any time.
SimpliSafe includes temperature and water sensors that help monitor different areas of your home, especially during changing weather conditions.
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A SimpliSafe agent can intervene within 30 seconds of detecting a potential threat, speaking directly through the camera to stop an intruder.
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