Steve Inskeep

This is a total hoot. About the only thing it gets correct is that 2024 Trump voters were "pissed." As the polls spell out, very clearly, they were angry about tariffs--a word weirdly not found in this post, but which exit polls showed 65% of voters dislike. There's a straight line between those punishing costs and Senate losses in Kansas, Iowa, Ohio (farm areas) and beyond. Angry the WH instead spent this past year talking about ballrooms and the Kennedy center. Frustrated by the complete absence of a next-two-year agenda (85% are concerned by healthcare costs. Where is the GOP plan?) They are also unhappy about the war, though the numbers might be different if the president been clear about an exit strategy. And not sure where the "smartest" (and most anonymous) pollster in the world got the Israel argument. Exit polls show that of the 51% of voters who said our support for Israel was "too strong," only 19% of even that subset of respondents were Republican. The vast majority of GOP voters said our support for Israel was "just right" or "not strong enough." Amusing to claim the problem here was traditional conservatives, as they were sidelined. Tillis was run out of the party, dooming NC. As was Cornyn. The WH had a pure expression of its second-term Trump/Vance agenda and loyalty in its chosen candidate of Ken Paxton. That would be the smoking carcass sitting on a 12-point loss in. . . Texas of all places. Meanwhile, who exactly is even talking about "asylum"? That's just a smear-y effort to preemptively shut down valid criticism. The GOP strength has always been in its coalition--free-marketers, defense hawks, cultural conservatives. Trump's first-term success came from largely following that Reagan playbook. The second-term leaned into me-too progressive populism--at the veep's urging--and it ain't working. The weird thing is that the veep remains more obsessed with remaking the party than with winning. Winning will require a lot better understanding of what happened yesterday than what is on offer in this alternate-universe view.

The voters have spoken, and I want to extend my congratulations to James Talarico on his election to the U.S. Senate. I look forward to meeting him and offering my assistance with his transition as he prepares to serve Texans in the U.S. Senate.

Would NPR please stop going door to door? Ending a nightmare is not “delayed gratification”, despite the fact that people who don’t know any better pretend to enjoy living one!

Tick Tock --> How Trump put the Senate in play - Picked JD Vance as his running mate, opening up tough expensive special election that GOP could lose. DeWine appointed Husted, who originally wanted to run for governor. Close race that wouldn't have been up til '28 otherwise - Tangled with Tillis over healthcare cuts in 2025, prompting his retirement. Thune said then Tillis "knew how to run and win in North Carolina." Trump cleared field for Whatley, who is down by large margin. - Cold-shouldered Cornyn then backed Paxton. Cornyn: “Texas was an unforced error, I think, on the part of the president... if I won the nomination, then that would be a layup in November. That’s all off the table.” - Backed Sen. Darline Graham in crowded SC race, most senators thought she'd be an interim senator. Now in toss-up race against Annie Andrews with state GOP divided. Andrews: "Darline was going to be easier for me.” - Tried to oust Kemp in '22; when Georgia race came up this cycle, Kemp passed on the race. Trump backed Rep. Mike Collins over Kemp's pick Dooley, now huge underdog to Sen. Ossoff - Tariffs, filibuster pressure and of course, the Iran War: “Every negative for the GOP this cycle is a downstream effect of Iran" w/ @ShelbyTalcott semafor.com/article/11/02/20…

3 secretaries of state confirmed to me that they received letters from the Dept of Justice in the last day reminding them to preserve election records (which is already required by law for 22 months) and threatening them with jail time or a fine if they don’t comply. Example: