Trump's Midterm Blowout Nightmare IS As Bad As It Looks

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Because with home repairs, it's usually less if and more when, and/or how many at the same time. And home service has been helping homeowners for more than 20 years and serves millions of customers across North America, because home repairs they're annoying enough before you add, "Okay, now who do I call to the situation?" Join the millions of customers who trust HomeServe, right, for 50% less your first year, go to homeserve.com/defranko, that's homeserve.com/defranko, or scan that code for 50% less. Savings compared to Renewal Price, Bulletin, California, and Florida. The Democrats just dropped a nuke from space on Donald Trump's head, and we have to go into the details about the craziness from last night, including a lot of what you might have missed, and what now, what comes next. We're talking about all that even more. On today's brand new Philip DeFranco show, you daily dive into the news starting with this. This is so bad. It's comical. It's so much worse than anyone thought. This is the beginning of the end of the Trump era. That is just a taste of what Republicans are thinking, feeling, and publicly admitting right now, after the biggest election blowout in decades. Or because there wasn't a blue wave, Trump got nuked from orbit. We're going to dive into the details, but I did not think I would be alive for a time where Texas turned blue. And I definitely didn't imagine a time where a Democrat had a chance in Mississippi. Or at the top-line details, Democrats, they took control of both chambers of Congress with at least 54 Senate seats, so that might go up to 56. Or because you have two races, it's still up and called yet, and Alaska and Mississippi. In Alaska, you have the Democrat Mary Petola currently with a lead of just several hundred votes over the Republican Dan S. Sullivan, who, of course, is different from Dan J. Sullivan, the alleged Democrat plant who is believed to be trying to trick people, and actually 3,500 people voted for him. But we might not actually get the final results for weeks, because Alaska accepts absentee balance up to 15 days after election day, and it doesn't start the second round to ring choice voting until that point. And then in Mississippi, the Democrat Scott Colombe is ahead of Republican Cindy Hyde Smith by just 43 votes out of nearly a million. And also one of the crazy things there is that Mississippi actually doesn't allow recounts. Right, even if the candidates want one, so that one's going to be a nail-biter. But, either way, it is a clear majority for Democrats in the Senate, which is huge, because there was a worry that even if Democrats got the majority with 51, there's the whole federalman situation, what the hell is that guy going to do? Then as far as the House will, Democrats, you know, they need at least 218 seats for a majority, but there they already have 228 as in recording this, and the projected to finish with at least 245. And I mean, in terms of the popular vote total for House races, the margin for Democrats is expected to be 13 points. And that's huge. That is the largest margin either party has had since at least 1976. Now, with that said, because Republicans have gerrymandered the shit out of congressional maps since the 70s, all those votes, they're not exactly going to translate into as many seats as they would, and, you know, an actual democracy, but even despite that, the amount of power gained by the Democrats here, it's historic, I mean, at least for the post-water gator, because on average, the president's party loses about 14 House seats and two Senate seats during these midterms. But this time, the Democrats have already flipped over two dozen House seats, and there's possibly seven to nine Senate seat pickups. And this was supposed to be a horrible cycle to try to pick up Senate seats for the Democrats, right? Because one of the most stunning things about last night's victory was just how universally it was. You were seeing this up and down the bow from the east coast to the west, from the great plains to the deep south. Then again, one of the most shocking was that Texas went blue. Or, James Tyler Ego, not just beating, but stomping out Ken Paxton for that Senate seat. And then Gina Enahosa, she's naturally a Governor as mentioned from Greg Abbott. Right, and that makes this the first time that Texas has elected a Democrat to those posts in '38 and '36 years, respectively. And also Enahosa is actually the first Latina Governor there ever. But it also Texas was not the only GOP stronghold that was thought to be impregnable that's now cramped. In Kansas, you had Adam Hamilton becoming the first Democrat to win a Senate seat there since 1932, the year FDR became president, and in South Carolina, you had Lindsey Graham looking up to see Annie Andrews snuffing out darling Graham turning that Senate seat blue for the first time since 1998. In North Carolina, too, Roy Cooper defeated Trump's hand-picked candidate Michael Watley. And then in Ohio, even Trump's compliments about his ass couldn't save John Heusted from getting the boot from Sherrod Brown. Then over in Maine, Troy Jackson or someone found Susan Collins' horcrux threw her out after 30-year career in the Senate. Then also in a huge win for progressives, you had Abdul Al-Sayed beating out Mike Rogers and Michigan. Despite Hayley Stevens randomly trying to rat-fuck him at the end, making himself the first Muslim ever elected to the Senate. Also in other firsts for the Senate, you had Minnesota's Peggy Flanagan becoming the first Native American woman there, and the New Hampshire's Chris Papas is the first openly gay man there. Though openly, of course, being the key word. Then moving over to the House, you know, there are too many races to list all of them, but a few things are worth noting, at least here. Like, I would Democrats took districts that went for Trump by double-digit margins just two years ago. Picking up seats in Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, Texas, Iowa, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Florida, and on and on. Democrats even winning a lot of districts that Republicans jerrymandered earlier this year, including three, maybe four seats in Florida. And then next up, on the state level, you had Democrats winning a majority of the governor's mansions for the first time in 16 years. Already already mentioned Texas, but in Ohio too, you had Amy Ackton beating the Vec Ramaswamy. Then Rob Sand won in Iowa, a run Ford won in Nevada, David Crowley won in Wisconsin, over in Georgia, Keisha Landsbottoms became the first black woman to ever be elected governor in U.S. history. And to New Mexico, Deb Halland is about to be the first Native American woman to govern a state. The Democrats taking over state legislatures in Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, and Wisconsin, they also broke up GOP control in Georgia, Iowa, Ohio, and Texas. And then, can't forget about DC, they just elected a Democratic Socialist as their mayor, Janice Lewis George. And while you know, we're going to get into exit polls and things like that. And just a little, part of it seemed to be a rejection to the billionaire mega-donors who spent ungodly sums of money to try and buy our elections. I mean, you met Elon Musk alone, spending nearly half a billion dollars on Republican races just this cycle. He literally became the single biggest individual political donor in modern American history this cycle. But also, it's possible the real figures are likely higher because we don't have campaign finance records for the last three weeks of the election, and because he also made some dark money donations. And at least, according to reports, the vast majority of that money, $224 million went solely to Texas. Or Musk moved his companies from California because apparently it was too liberal. And so not only did he end up just kind of pouring money down the drain, his efforts may have backfire. Or you had both Ena Hosta and Talarika repeatedly railing against him on the campaign trail, accusing him of trying to buy the elections and framing their races as a battle between the ultra-rich and everyday Americans who just want to afford to live. And while there are a ton of factors that move these races, it's probably not the best look to spend a quarter of a billion dollars on beating Democrats in an election where corruption in the GOP is mishandling of the affordability crisis for the two biggest voting issues. And just really, action after action has kind of as public enemy number one, or maybe two, I guess, after Trump. In multiple Democrats, they've already vowed to investigate Musk, his companies, his federal contracts, the whole doge debacle, and even more. I mean, it's so bad that Trump even floated giving him a preemptive pardon. Well, of course, you know, things rise and fall, and the aftermath of the election were also seeing shares in SpaceX and Tesla falling, even as the overall stock market has surged on the news that Democrats won both chambers. But then also, with this news, we're going to talk about Speaker Mike Johnson, because he told the staff this morning that he's not going to stay on as Republican leader in the new Congress. And then also, as you might have guessed, another person who's having a hard time dealing with the whole end of the Maga era situation is Mr. Maga himself. With, apparently, his watch party in the White House is easter room having a dark and funeral vibe, where he would gas starting to leave before 10 p.m. and other Trump allies saying privately that they were relieved to be out of town. And as far as Trump's public response, you had him quick to skirt responsibility for the Republican's epic fail, writing on truth social, "I wasn't on the ballot, and if I was, we would have won in a landslide." Thank you for your attention to this matter, President Donald J. Trump. Mind you, this is the same bruised orange glob who spent the last few months trying to convince voters that he was on the ballot, and that this election was literally all about him. Though maybe the dementia's fully kicked in, or he just thinks his supporters are fucking stupid. President, you had him echoing this sentiment on a phone call with Politico. I'm just wondering what, what's your message, what do you think happened with your party tonight? I wasn't on the ballot, and we didn't get the people out, but I wasn't on the ballot. If I was on the ballot, we would have won, we would have won it all very easily. You also had to be accepting the results and saying he's open to working with them. Well, we're going to work with the Democrats to make sure things go well for our country, very important. They've already called and they want to work with me, have the right to veto everything. But I don't want to be just sitting there for two years vetoing everything, and you want to see things happen too. And you also had to make a similar comment on the New York Times saying that he was absolutely willing to accept the results of the midterms, which one is kind of good to hear, but also too, it's horrifying that this is like newsworthy, but also given the fact that he's the guy behind January 6, understandable why this is big news. But then also he kind of went back to his regular programming. You had Trump calling the Iran War a very wise decision, even as everyone's pointing to it as one of the huge reasons that Republicans lost. And then you also had Trump claiming that he is no regrets about the first two years of his second term, saying, "I consider it to be the most successful two-year period in the history of any president." "Oh, what are you talking about, man?" Meanwhile, you had his right-hand man vans tweeting this morning, "The reason we lost is the war and dadding." The president himself said so last night, "If you'd like to argue it was worth it that losing the Senate for the next six years was worth it, then do so." "Argue it was a worthwhile cost to pay, agree or disagree, that's at least honest." But everyone knows why we lost, and any honest conversation about where we go from here must start there. And some saying, you know, that was mixed messaging, though I think it feels like a pretty transparent effort on Vance's part to distance himself from Trump, but had of his own likely 2028 run. But you know, with this blue tsunami, this blue nuke, and Trump's response to it, you have a lot of people asking, "Well, what happens next? What can Democrats do now and what challenges will they run into?" Because while you have Trump here and there saying that he'll work with Democrats moving forward, he's obviously hyper-focused on his veto power. He even posted a giant picture of a right veto hat on Truth Social, and that's something we're very likely going to see because, yes, Congress can override his veto, but it requires a two-thirds majority in both chambers, and so that would mean that at least some Republicans would need to get on board. While you have Democrats out there having lots of big policy ideas. and everything from affordability to AI restrictions to health care to taxes, it's going to be very difficult for them to enact legislation with Trump still in the White House. So even that will be important in the lead up to the 20-28 election. If Republicans in the Senate try to stonewall things with the filibuster, if Trump's vetoing things are seemingly aimed to help the American people, and we're talking about all this as you're already seeing leadership making some big promises. You have Chuck Schumer at least for now, like they're becoming the Senate Majority Leader and became Jeffries, like they're becoming Speaker of the House. So we would say their positions technically won't be 100% guaranteed until formal voting happens in January. And here's a bit of what you had them saying last night. And we have five words for the American people. Relief is on the way. We understand as House Democrats that we need to deliver dramatic change. Things are broken. We're going to fight for in affordable America. We're going to end this national nightmare. So then the best speakers in the world, and there's a conversation that should probably be had about both of them, but you get the idea, right? This is a pivotal, pivotal moment in American politics. And you've got Schumer and Jeffries and the Democrats in general under a ton of pressure to show people what they can actually do. Can they get things done? So then with that, there's a concern out there that Democrats might over-promise and under-deliver. And you're saying that there's a concern that Schumer and Jeffries, to establishment pro-Israel guys, aren't up to the task of leading the Democrats where the party needs to be. So you already have people tweeting things like, don't get me wrong. I'm extremely happy tonight, but I'm going to be really pissed off if Chuck Schumer and Akeem Jeffries lead the House and Senate. Saying their ancient tactics aren't ready to meet today's moment. So when I was adding, Schumer and Jeffries must be shitting themselves in fear of what they're going to be expected to do with this landslide. Because beyond the veto of it all that's out there, Jeffries and Schumer, they have to deal with this massive split in the Democratic party between progressives and centrists. And among some of the splits on policy opinions that you're going to see out there is Dem split on the question of how much to go on the offense and go after the Trump administration. Or because even before Election Day, there have been conversations about impeaching Secretary of Defense Pete Hegset with Dems thinking that there's a decent shot at bipartisan support there. And in fact, you're even seeing some reports out there that Trump might be looking to replace Hegset now while the Senate still has Republican control to approve a new appointment. Because once the Dems take over, they can block any new appointees that require their approval. And then also, you have some Democrats wanting to pursue a third Trump impeachment, but others are like, hey, absolutely not. Right. And so for example, you have Cory Booker saying, if we make Donald Trump the center of our focus, we will lose this moment in history. Saying we need to deal with the American people's problems. But also, and this is going to be one of the biggest things, none of that is going to stop them from launching other investigations. Right. Come January, Dems will take control of key committees that will give them power to launch probes, issue subpoenas, call hearings, and more. And they have already vowed to use their power to kick off public corruption investigations into Trump, his family, his administration, and others who have abused the power of the presidency for their own personal financial gain. But then also beyond that, another big target is going to be all things Epstein. Or with Democrats expected to probe Epstein's ties to other powerful people, including Trump himself, as well as the administration's handling of the Epstein files, which they've long maintained were improperly redacted and kept from the public. But then all of that also looks like maybe just the tip of the iceberg with Representative Robert Garcia, who's expected to share the House Oversight Committee next year, issuing a simple warning on election night, lawyer up. So there is a lot that we're going to have to keep our eyes on, and probably a lot that we have to look forward to. Because these next two years are going to be a huge test for everyone. All while it's laying the groundwork for the 2028 election now. So there are still plenty of challenges ahead. But for today, Dems and pretty much anyone that is not a Trump looking, they are just on a high from this historic win. And then with this, the final thing that I want to add, actually, there's there's two things. The first is I just want to say thank you to everyone that was supportive or tried to help or whatever with Lindsey's campaign and House District 47 here in Georgia. She took on this mountain of a challenge. I couldn't believe it. It's a district that in 2024 voted for that seat R plus 23. It seemed impossible to even make a dent there, but Lindsey was like, we don't do stuff because it's easy. And last night, while the win was not secured, she made such a big swing to the left. But she made it a fight. I think with the last votes being counted, it's going to end up somewhere with 46 to 47%. And the whole journey over those last year, it was a lot of things, but it was also, it was inspiring. Meaning so many other candidates that likewise were going against what felt like an insurmountable odds. And all of them collectively together, getting things to a place where the Georgia House actually fucking flipped. And of course, while Lindsey's speaker herself just know that this is not the end. And then secondly, too, I got to say this morning, I woke up filled with a kind of joy and hope I have not had in a very long time. I even got to a point where I started to get choked up when I was trying to to communicate it when I was trying to jot down my notes for today's show because I was thinking back to the night after the 2024 election and just how I tried to compartmentalize things, but how just hopeless I felt and lost how I looked at the results. And I thought, am I crazy? Am I lost in the world? Is this how the world works now? Don't people see what's coming? Now seeing a complete and hopefully not just temporary rebuke of Trump and Trumpism? And a renewed hope that we can have politicians that try to focus on affordability and making people's lives better. And I don't know. I mean, it's probably a fucking pipe dream, but being anti-corruption to a place where people are actually held accountable. So everyone who got the word out, everyone who voted, who got someone else to vote, thank you for not being a passenger in this life. Granted, they forced a lot of us. They forced us to the point where we got excited to vote in a midterm. That is not how I imagined my life when I was 20. If this was a live stream, I'd ramble on and on, but I'll just close this by saying, I love you faces and thank you. And then there's even more we're going to dive into in just a minute after a quick word with our sponsor. Because a quick shout out to today's sponsor, Balesa Boutique, because they're actually giving out free rose toys to every single one of you, plus early access to Black Friday deals without the 80% off. Yeah, 80% off. And everyone who signs up at bbvobs.com/defranco wins something. Right, that's the deal. 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So hey, just click that link in the description or head to bbvibs.com/defranco. That's bbvibs.com/defranco or just scan that QR code and get hooked up today. But then with us diving right back into the news, you know, it wasn't just candidates that were voted in or out yesterday. We've also got to talk about the ballot initiatives we saw past, the ones that failed and where. Right, these, they covered a wide range of topics, everything from taxes to abortion to the way that elections work in the future. And we're like, just can't hit every single one because there's so many, we're going to hit some of the highlights. Starting out west in California, you had proposition 39, which would have required voters to provide government issued ID at the polls in order to cast their ballot in person or provide a government issued identification number like your social security for a mail-in ballot. And that was shot down with a resounding no. Because with nearly 60% of the vote counted as of this morning, 58% of votes were against it and you're the AP calling the result. And then the other California measure that the AP officially called was Prop 37, right? And that was a housing proposition that would authorize $25 billion a state bonds to finance loans for new home buyers, which you had greenlit by 61% of the voters with just over 58% of the votes telling. This is also as there is some other big ones in California that haven't been called yet, like Prop 40. And if that's ringing about, that's because it's one of the big ones. It's the one time billionaire tax that was causing such a stir leading up to the midterm. And you actually had the Uber rich dumping hundreds of millions of dollars into trying to crush it, saying that it would damage California's economy and cause all the biggest spenders in the state to move somewhere else. In fact, it's been reported that the ultra wealthy have outspent the other side of this prop 250 to one, raising more than $379 million to defeat the measure. Which just by itself, I think for a lot of people is going to be an argument for these people having too much money, especially as the whole idea behind this tax is that most of the money would actually go toward offsetting the looming federal health care cuts with smaller amounts also allocated for food assessments and education. But it's also been very divisive. I mean, it even drew opposition from Gavin Newsom and it split labor unions like the California State Council Laborers, United Domestic Workers and the California Police Chiefs Association. Well, at least for now, it's looking like voters are not down with it. Our prop 40 has been trail ends since results start rolling in and with 60% of the votes counted, the nose are ahead with more than 55%. And with this, online, you bet a lot of people angry at the measure doesn't seem like it's passing, saying that Californians voted against their own interests or that they fell for billionaire propaganda. I mean, a lot of people kind of feel undefeated saying if California can't do it, nowhere else can. And others know that it might be harder to impose attacks in the future because right now it looks like prop 42 might pass. Right, and that measure is a billionaire back counter to prop 40 that was designed to ban all wealth taxes in Californian. As a recording, the yeses have a nearly 10-point lead with around 60% of the votes counted. And so of course, then with that, you've had plenty of people cheering the measure's failure. Saying among other things was a flawed bill that would have said a bad precedent and would have just ended up hurting Californians by driving businesses away from the state. And actually while we're talking about taxes, let's jump from California to Tennessee. Because there, unit voters giving a resounding yes to a constitutional amendment prohibiting the state from imposing property taxes. Though that doesn't mean that there's no property taxes in Tennessee at all. Local governments like city and county, they still impose them and actually the state hasn't changed property taxes since 1949 when they just set the rate to zero. And up to now, all it would take was a majority in the state legislature to change that, but amendment 2 closes the door on that, changing the constitution so the state, quote, "shall not levy, authorize, or otherwise permit any state tax." And that also wasn't the only constitutional amendment that Tennessee voters passed yesterday because they also passed a measure to expand crime victims' rights. And then actually another gives judges the power to revoke the right to bail for defendants' accused, but not yet convicted of certain serious crimes like terrorism, second-degree murder, aggravated assault, human trafficking, or car jacking. And then actually on the topic of criminal justice, we should talk about the ballot measuring Kentucky. Because there, unit amendment 1, which is a proposal prohibiting a governor from granting pardons or commuting sentences, starting 60 days before a gubernatorial election, all the way up to when a new governor is sworn in, with state senator who proposed the amendment saying it was a way of ending lame duck pardons. And actually, it was a direct response to former governor Matt Bevin's controversial end-to-term pardons and commutations in 2019. But also to be clear, it doesn't strip the governor of the ability to pardon. It just sets a limit. There, as seemed like voters were very in favor of the idea, with 99% of the vote in, the yeses took it with 70%. And also with this, it wasn't all big changes. There were several states that had constitutional amendments on the ballot that failed. I'd hope for one at a proposed amendment that would declare only the legislature had the power to legalize marijuana, narcotics, or other psychoactive drugs. that it couldn't be done through citizen initiatives. With that then, getting shot down with 66% of the vote. In Nebraska state lawmakers tried getting the OK to sort of three consecutive terms instead of two before they're required to sit out at least one. And voters kind of all but laughed in their faces, voting that down with 80% nose. And in South Dakota, there was a proposed amendment to end a Medicaid expansion program for lower income adults. The federal funding share is reduced below 90%. And that one was actually a bit tighter with votes, ultimately coming out against ending the program with 55% of the vote. And then in the interest of not being here all day with us, we're gonna speedrun some of the highlights in the categories where we saw several different ballot measures, things like voting in elections, abortion, education, and trans issues, just name it a few. And so in voting, we saw Alaska, Arkansas, Kansas, South Dakota, and West Virginia all passing some sort of ballot measure about preventing non-citizens from voting or limiting voting to citizens. On abortions, we saw Missouri voters were checking a proposed constitutional amendment that was trying to repeal the right to abortion and actually reinstate an abortion ban with only a few exceptions. Also, the amendment would have prohibited gender affirming care and surgeries for minors. So it seems like they were trying to cover a lot of ground with this one, but regardless, it was shot down with 55% voting against it. In Nevada and Virginia, we saw voters give the okay for constitutional amendments codifying the right to abortion by more than 60% in both states. Though that wasn't the case in Idaho, we're proposition one, which would have given the right to make personal reproductive health care decisions, including on contraception for utility treatments and abortion, up to fetal viability, failed. We're with the nose taking 56% of the vote. And then there were three states, Arizona, Colorado, and Washington that sought ballot measures prohibiting trans women from participating in women's sports. And while as a recording, the APs only called Arizona for sure with 58% of votes that have encountered so far, the other two were looking at similar gaps. Recolorado has a little more than 75% of the vote counted and 52% of voted in favor. And Washington is 60% of the vote counted and nearly 57% of that's four. And then the last category we're gonna hit on is education, with the big ones there being in Alabama, because there were two constitutional amendments on the ballot, one, they would require the star-spangled banner to be played in schools at least once a week. And then you'd another, they would require schools to begin the day with the Pledge of Allegiance to the U.S. flag and allow students to lead prayers. And you would both of those passing with roughly 60% of the vote. And actually one of the interesting things about that, that a number of people appointed out is the idea of taking on education in Alabama in this way because they're actually ranked 44th in the country in education. So you had a lot of people going, maybe not the biggest priority for the education system. But hey, at the very least, all of this and even some of the stuff we didn't get to, it does paint an interesting snapshot of the country and also specific states at this point in time. Right then also with everything that's been going on, exit polls, they're so interesting. They're showing that nearly every demographic move left to power this blue weight. Right overall, when looking at all voters in the House race, the Democrats got 56% of the vote, which is a 15 point shift from 2024. And one of the groups that got a ton of attention heading into election day was young men, as polls suggested that Republicans in Trump were starting to lose their grip on them. And as it turned out, that was 100% true because according to The New York Times, 61% of men, aged 18 to 29 voted blue in House races. And more importantly, they shifted toward Democrats by 38 points compared to 2024, moving left in every single state. And in fact, compared to 2024, Republicans lost ground with men of all ages. With Times data showing that 51% voted blue in the House while 48% went Republican. And that as NBC's generic exit poll also showed men at a very close split, but still with a Democratic lean. And you're at this scaring a lot of people on the right, including Steve Bannon, who on an election livestream said, Right now, per the NBC exit polling from Peter Hamby, we are splitting men, only 49, 48. That can't be right. 49 men, Trump won men by 12 in 2024. And actually, young people in general, they really helped to drive the wave with 70% voting blue in the House. And also in those House races, Hispanic majority districts and rural districts, they both moved to the left. And then in Senate races, Democrats did increasingly well with moderates. And also a big thing was that voters without college degrees who went for Trump by 12 points before. This time, they voted for Democrats 49 to 47. When it comes to four, the states that flipped Senate seats, Iowa, Kansas, North Carolina, and Texas about one in 10 Trump voters went for the Democrat. And then among voters who didn't go to the ballot box in 2024, which made up 15% of the electorate, Democrats got their support by 20 points. And as far as why they shifted, right? We knew that Trump was polling poorly. We knew that people weren't happy with the state of the country. And in fact, according to The Washington Post, the top three issues driving voters were jobs in the economy, health care, and the war in Iraq. Are you a 29% of voters? And their family's financial situation was falling behind while only 12% that they were getting ahead. And CBS's exit polls found that 57% of voters expect life for the next generation to be worse than life today. So it was clearly, with this election, Americans are fed up, they're pessimistic, they want change. And a lot of these voters in the exit polls, they placed the blame on Trump himself. In fact, 44% of voters, poll by NBC, said one reason behind their vote for US House was to express opposition to Trump with a vast majority going blue there. And in fact, only 40% said that Trump wasn't a factor in their vote. And with a majority saying that they don't believe that Trump is a strong leader, they don't believe that he fights for people like them, they don't think that he has the mental capability to serve as president, and they do not think that he has the right priorities. And again, that prompted a lot of Democratic votes. So we will say, "Worth noting, we're still waiting for numbers on turnout, so we don't have the full picture yet." But also like a very important note here is that this is not permanent. There is promise for the Democrats with voters that say they trust them more on the economy than Republicans right now, but that does not mean that voters like Democrats at large. But as we've talked about before, there's surveys that point this out. The Democratic Party is not popular. They're just more popular than Republicans right now. And rightly as they should, come next election time, people gonna be asking, "What have you done for me lately?" And then there's even more we gotta dive into in just a minute after another quick break with our sponsor. Sometimes the problem isn't having too much to do. It's getting your brain to actually start doing it. And I know I'm not alone here, and that's why I'm sharing today's sponsor, Brain.fm. And I use it when I need to stop bouncing between things and lock in, and Brain.fm makes functional music designed to help your brain get into the state you need, whether that's focus, creativity, relaxation, or sleep. And this isn't just, here's a show playlist, good luck. Their music is engineered by neuroscientists using patented neural phase locking technology. You can even adjust the neural effect, depending on how much support you want staying focused. I'll throw it on when I'm writing, researching stories or staring down work that I know needs my full attention. And they've got modes for deep work, creativity, relaxation, sleep, power naps, and even an ADHD mode for people who need extra support staying on task. And Brain.fm is also the only music app that's hacked by a National Science Foundation brand, studying how sound can affect focus. And honestly, I like having something that I can turn on that tells my brain, all right, we're doing this now. So, hey, if your workload is ready before your attention span is, give Brain.fm a try. Just scan that QR code, or head to Brain.fm/defranco to get 30 days free. That's Brain.fm/defranco. And then, y'all diving right back into the news, we've got two last things to hit on. Starting with a man in Oklahoma City, who had the FBI worried that he was using a weapon of mass destruction to scare people out of voting. And not just this year, but back in 2024 as well. Or with investigators saying at 67-year-old Robin Patrick Martin was sending letters to election offices, members of Congress, and news organizations all across the country, apparently, saying things like Civil War is coming on November 3. And around that same time, he was allegedly emailing members of the DSA saying they'd be targeted for arrest if they tried to vote in, but those emails would be their only warning. And when an Oklahoma State election board employee opened one of the envelopes that he allegedly sent and noticed a powdery substance, alarms went off, and investigators got to work. And eventually, they claimed that they linked that letter in more than 700 others to Martin using the return address. And actually, that's just one of the many ways they've connected them to this, right? Because they also got his fingerprints and letter that they intercepted address to Cash Patel. And then there's video and license plate records, allegedly placing them near different mail facilities at the time so the letters are being sent off. And then to top it all off, investigators say that they pinned them to the email address used to contact the DSA members, claiming that it was created using a recovery number connected to a prepaid phone that he bought from a nearby Walmart. And actually, speaking of Walmart, their records show that he bought turmeric, vinegar, and iodine from there, which the FBI said that he used to create an invisible ink that could only be seen with UV light, and claiming that he used that to stamp the envelopes that he sent last month with what they believe will references to the federal log against voter intimidation along with a few other things. Right and with that, and is writing from the actual letters and FBI handwriting examiner also made preliminary findings that matched the stuff he allegedly sent this year to letters people were getting in 2024. Though, they are still working on a formal forensic comparison. Also, as far as the powdery substance on the letter, so far, tests have shown that it was just flour and yeast. But not every letter has been recovered or tested yet, so we're gonna have to keep an eye on that. But still with all this, you officials accusing him of calculated attempt to terrorize public servants. It's now that you've got him basing federal charges of conveying false service-leading information and hoaxes and mailing threatening communications. And then finally, today we should talk about the news that a Jan Sixer, who is pardoned after making death threats to officials during that whole thing, well, he's now behind bars for the same exact thing just a few years later. Because Cleveland married a junior reportedly drove to DC from Colorado on January 6th with some guns and 2,500 rounds of ammo, texting his family and friends, the whole way there that he was gonna collect a ton of traitor's heads. Well, he didn't end up getting there until late that night. The next day, he apparently told his folks that he was considering, quote, "putting a bullet and Pelosi's noggin on live TV." Right, but his mom eventually caught wind of those messages and contacted the police. And long story short, from there, he ended up leading guilty to interstate communication of threats and was sentenced to 28 months in prison plus three years of supervised release. But then, with Trump's mass executive order that squashed over 1,000 J6 cases on his horse day back in office, that was no one voient. But then, what do you know by April of this year? Meredith was back at it. Posting on Facebook, all J6 federal judges will be executed. And while, in a lot of cases, threatening language like this is actually protected by the First Amendment, given as past charges, federal officials are classifying that as a true threat. Basically, saying that he either wanted to make a direct threat, knew it would be taken that way, or just consciously disregarded that it could. And so with that, you got arrested on Monday charged again, with interstate threats. And actually, it seems like this is just the post that broke the camel's back. Right, because prosecutors are also accusing him of threatening people and institutions like this online for the last 16 months. And that, my friends, you beautiful bastards, is the end of your Wednesday show. Thank you as always for watching, like and subscribing, being a part of these daily dives into the news and this community, but also today. Thank you for all the support and the well wishes. And really, just being a part of not only this experiment, but my and Lindsey's lives. And again, thank you to everyone who participated in this election for filling me with some hope. It is just the first step of many, but it was one of the most important ones. And it was one that exactly two years ago, I didn't know if it was ever gonna be possible. I hope you hoped. I think a lot of people had that initial spark and it grew into a flame. - Yeah, thank you. I love you faces, and I'll see you right back here, tomorrow.