Just One Thing: Republicans get clobbered
Please read and subscribe to my Substack. A detailed note today, different (but similar to) the note below: Wipeout - by Ross Kaminsky - The Ross Report
Here in Colorado, the ridiculous propositions LL and MM passed easily.
In Denver, Referendum 310, regarding overturning the city's ban on flavored tobacco and vape products, passed easily meaning the ban stays in place.
Also in Denver, the ballot measures 2A-2E which comprise the "Vibrant Denver" billion-dollar bond (borrowing) package passed easily
In Aurora, it appears that leftists won every city council race and it appears that Danielle Jurinsky who has done more for that city as far as getting the federal government (and perhaps the local police as well) to focus on getting illegal alien criminal gangs out of Aurora, appears to have lost her seat, as did the other Republican (an Ethiopian immigrant.)
In school board races, in every race I've looked at so far, the union-backed candidate won. What a disaster.
Elsewhere around the country:
It was a bad night for Republicans. Whether it's a bad night for Trump will be a matter of who is framing the conversation. Democrats will say the whole night was a referendum on Trump (which is I think is true) and Republicans will argue that an odd-year election, not even a congressional midterm, means nothing.
Part of the issue seems to be that Trump (and Republicans) ran last year on cost-of-living issues. Instead, Trump is focused on almost everything else, whether foreign policy or retribution against political opponents or tariffs -- and I think a lot of Americans know that tariffs raise their costs. Trump says that grocery prices are coming down but everybody knows they're not because we see them at least once a week and usually more often than that. And, despite what Trump says, it's NOT just beef.
It seems clear that, as has always been the case in the age of Trump, MAGA voters do NOT turn out in elections in which Trump is not on the ballot. Hardly a base on which the GOP can build its hopes. I'd be very worried if I were congressional GOP leadership and probably a bit worried if I were a Republican presidential hopeful, even JD Vance (who does not have a small fraction of Trump's charisma), even though the next presidential election is three years away.
In New York City, a communist anti-Semite is the mayor-elect. Unless there is a family issue that requires me to go there, I will not visit New York while Zohran Mamdani is mayor and, frankly, I hope the city suffers a lot and learns the lesson. Or at least that other places say, "Oh, crap, we'd better not do that."
In New Jersey, the cost of living is insane. Residents are furious about the massive spike in their electricity bills due to the Democrat governor's enthusiasm for stupid "green" policies. And NJ moved FAR toward Trump in 2024 vs 2020. But even all that wasn't enough to pull the Republican over the finish line as Mikie Sherrill (a former Navy helicopter pilot) becomes that state's second female governor. (Not that her gender is important.) Indeed, the Republican seemed to underperform expectations and polls -- and his own performance 4 years ago -- which is very interesting. In fact the Democrat won by more than any recent poll suggested and the Republican did 5 points worse than he did four years ago.
In Virgina, former CIA employee Abigail Spanberger becomes that state's first female governor (same caveat as above), easily beating the black female conservative Republican candidate, Winsome Earle-Sears, who never really got traction. In this race, like in NJ, the Democratic candidate significantly outperformed pre-election polling. I also note that northern VA has lots of voters who work for the federal government or for contractors with federal contracts, all of whom are being harmed by the gov't shutdown. Virginia almost never elects a governor of the same party as the president and this result is not a surprise.
I do note that in NJ and VA, the Democratic candidates are women who served their nation and position themselves as moderates. I suspect they won't govern that way but I hope I'm pleasantly surprised. It's really only NY where the candidate ran to the far left and if I were to try to talk myself into feeling a little better about the night, it would be to say that New York is far from typical. It's a very leftist and very foreign-born electorate that really doesn't have an analog in any other American city except possibly Los Angeles. I hope that large employers abandon the city, that unemployment spikes, and that socialists get destroyed in future elections there. That said, I'm not optimistic about any of that, in part because a lot of what Mamdani wants to do requires the cooperation of the state legislature and, as leftist as it is in New York, they're usually not as insane as Mamdani who represents not just something I don't recognize in American politics but a truly anti-American wing of Democratic voters. Like Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar but maybe even worse, if that's possible.
In the VA attorney general race, the execrable Jay Jones who daydreamed about the murder of a Republican colleague in the state legislature, who pondered the Republican's children dying in their mother's arms, who seemed to hope that police officers would get killed "to make the streets safer" was elected the new AG. Incredible. The fact that he won shows probably more than any other election yesterday at how EVERY election is now a referendum on Trump, on GOP vs Dem, and basically not about the candidate himself or herself.
In California, Proposition 50, Gavin Newson's dual-purpose measure to override the state constitution to allow ("temporarily") for the Democratic state legislature rather than bipartisan commissions to redraw congressional districts, won easily. By dual-purpose I mean that it both allows California to try to offset Texas's redistricting which is expected to add Republican seats, and that it boosts his esteem among potential Democratic primary voters for the 2028 presidential election for pushing back against Trump.
In Pennsylvania, three Democratic justices on the State Supreme Court won retention by roughly 60%-40% margins. I guess you could say that corralling 40% of voters to vote "no" on retaining judges is pretty good but still it ended up not really being close.
In Georgia, for the first time in 25 years, a Democrat (actually two) won an election for the state's Public Utilities Commission.
Regarding Jones, I noted this yesterday:
It's hard to imagine how Republicans could have had a worse night. This election was a referendum on Donald Trump and the verdict was stark. One wonders if Republican candidates for office may start to try to distance themselves slightly from him in order to save their own skins but that's a double-edged sword because a Trump endorsement for an opponent can swing the primary and because in close races, a Republican likely can't win without MAGA turning out for him/her...but maybe also can't win if the candidate is perceived as being too close to Trump.
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One More Thing: MAGA has an anti-Semite problem
The other day, Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts posted a video in which he said that people who criticize Tucker Carlson for giving softball interviews to Nazis and other similar idiots are "sowing division" rather than recognizing that it's Tucker who is sowing division. The pushback against Roberts has been huge, including to some degree within Heritage.
Twitter/X is not the real world but you'd be shocked at how open so many people are at expressing anti-Semitism. It's incredible. I feel like this is how the mid-1930s would have seemed in Germany if they had had social media, and I'm not offering that as hyperbole.
I've said for a while that anti-Semitism is in the mainstream of the Democratic Party these days, but that Republican anti-Semites were outside that "big tent". Now the latter claim feels less true. It's dangerous for the nation, dangerous for American Jews and dangerous for the GOP.
Check this video...the main thing that I (and millions of others) object to starts around 1:17 into the video.
One reaction, by a very wealthy hedge fund dude:
A reaction from Young Americans for Freedom (YAF)
Speaker Mike Johnson got it right even though he seemed like he wished he weren't being dragged into the conversation
And this is going on at Heritage: Heritage Foundation Antisemitism Task Force Gives Kevin Roberts an Ultimatum | National Review
If I were on the Heritage board of directors, I'd strongly consider firing Kevin Roberts. All he had to do was shut his mouth. Instead, he let a combination of a dictatorial tendency (Heritage does not allow its employees to offer opinions that differ from the official line), personal friendship with Tucker Carlson, and a desire to enforce "no enemies on the right" cause him to make excuses for giving a massive platform to an overt Nazi. It was a massive mistake and all of his efforts to clean up his mistake since then have just amplified how much he misunderstands the significance of his error.
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Today's Guests
Clay Travis is the founder of the hugely successful sports website Outkick and co-host of the Clay and Buck show, one of the top radio shows in the country,
His new book is Balls: How Trump, Young Men, and Sports Saved America
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Leland Vittert is the host of "On Balance" on News Nation which airs weeknights at 7 PM MT and again at 10 PM MT. His daily "War Notes" newsletter is a must-read (and it's free). And his new book, Born Lucky, is truly remarkable. And the timing is also "lucky" with autism being a big part of a national conversation about health right now.
"On Balance with Leland Vittert" on NewsNation
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Barb Kirkmeyer is a Republican state senator and candidate for governor. We'll discuss comments made by Democratic Senator Michael Bennet, also a candidate for governor, about affordability in Colorado.
Charlie Gasparino is senior correspondent for the Fox Business Network and a columnist for the New York Post. I found his recent article about sports gambling, the mafia, and his own dad very interesting.
How 'woke' NBA executives got mixed up with the Mob in an epic gambling scandal
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Other Stuff
There's a lot of national and political news today...maybe a little less local than I normally do but I have to cover the biggest stuff while also working in all the CO news that you need to know will be the order of the day. Some of the topics below are things I didn't get to yesterday.
Today, the Supreme Court is hearing oral arguments in the case challenging Donald Trump's ability to impose tariffs under a law called the IEEPA which he is using as the basis for most of the tariffs he's imposed. My view is that the law clearly does NOT give the president that authority. That said, I wouldn't be surprised if Alito and maybe Thomas side with the president. I suspect Trump will lose but wouldn't bet a lot on it.
Note that Trump keeps talking as if the US is taking in tariff revenue "from China" or from other foreigners which is simply not the case. Tariffs are a particular form of sales tax paid by Americans upon importing goods from overseas. Sure, the exporters can lower their prices somewhat to absorb some of the financial burden but that does NOT mean foreigners are paying the tariffs; only the US importer pays them.
As tariff case heads to the Supreme Court, Trump's strongest argument has a fatal flaw
Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump (Tariffs) - SCOTUSblog
What to know about the conservative advocacy group suing Trump over tariffs - ABC News
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Republicans have asked the Treasury to withhold their pay until the shutdown ends. Dems, who voted to shut down the government, did not and yet are complaining about the Republicans. it's Orwellian.
These Colorado members of Congress will forgo pay during government shutdown
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Some movie history for sale: Will Ferrell's Elf Suit, Obi-Wan's Lightsaber Up for Grabs
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I don’t always say this but I don’t think I’d give the Dems an inch.
House Democrats and Republicans float plan to end shutdown
There is ONE way in which this might be a good play for Republicans: Give the temporary extension (knowing that Dems will try to extend it again later) and then let the public find out that the vast majority of the impending Obamacare premium increase happen anyway because it’s mostly not due to expiring subsidies. This isn’t enough for me to support this, but it would be an upside if it happens. It’s time for Americans to finally figure out that nothing is more expensive than free or cheap health insurance. The problem is that American will look for a solution in bigger government, not more freedom.
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Better late than never: Children's book returned to Maine library 46 years late - UPI.com
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I have no idea what to think of this. I can't imagine the American public (and not just the MAGA base) being OK with even one American soldier being wounded or killed as part of this sort of operation: U.S. seeks UN approval for Gaza security force with two-year mandate
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I don’t actually believe them that they don’t intend to fire people but I could be wrong. I also hate the use of the word “compute” as a noun much the way I dislike the use of “effort” as a verb.
Walmart makes AI push: ChatGPT shopping, worker retraining ahead, CEO says
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One area where the Trump administration is making a little progress on costs: White House nears deal to lower prices for weight loss drugs
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Seriously? Their Professors Caught Them Cheating. They Used A.I. to Apologize. - The New York Times
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Today's Video
A great story by George Harrison (RIP) about the formation of the Traveling Wilburys. Imagine just hanging out with all those guys...