Welcome back, one and all. This week, a new world was born. Pronouns are going back into bios, and everyone who has an odd-numbered birthday needs to report for their gender reassignment on Monday. Evens are the week after. Asymmetrical haircuts are back, and so are MFAs in creative nonfiction. Pick up your kale or risk immediate hanging. Jews are, I’m so sorry to report, out. But at least it’s a return to form.
→ Blue tsunami: The final iteration of Trumpism has been roundly rejected. MAGA bye-bye. People took a good, hard look at Trump 2024–2026 and said: No, thanks. They didn’t like the tariffs. They didn’t like random deportations of longtime, law-abiding workers. They didn’t like the family grift. And, though it pains me to say it, people associate Trump now with Israel and Jewishness, and they don’t much like either of those things at the moment either. Republicans lost the House and the Senate. Trump is now a real-deal lame duck. Dems are about to get the largest majority in the House in 36 years. People are flipping Dem so hard that even a woman who was literally served with a felony warrant for auto theft at a campaign event defeated the local Republican incumbent. A democratic socialist just won the Los Angeles mayor’s race, unseating the progressive incumbent who I previously thought was pretty radical. Just look at those arrows (link for 2024 presidential votes and for 2026 Senate ones):
Here is a national exit poll asking about the importance of issues to someone’s vote:
GOVERNMENT CORRUPTION
Crucial/Major — 90%
Minor/No factor — 10%
COST OF LIVING
Crucial/Major — 89%
Minor/No factor — 11%
IRAN WAR
Crucial/Major — 74%
Minor/No factor — 26%
IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT
Crucial/Major — 73%
Minor/No factor — 27%
AI & DATA CENTERS
Crucial/Major — 56%
Minor/No factor — 44%
The presumptive next leader of the Republican Party, J.D. Vance, looks at all this and sees one word: Israel. Oh yeah, baby, here’s our story. It’s all happening. He wrote a eulogy for MAGA on X, saying that the loss is not about immigration enforcement or tariffs or corruption. No, no. Per J.D. Vance: “The reason we lost is the war.” His prescription for winning: “1) End the war, 2) Focus on cost of living/inflation, 3) Put America First, 4) Change our relationship to Israel.” So to translate 1. Israel, 2. Economy, 3. Israel, 4. Israel. Maybe he’s right! Maybe he’s wrong. But what’s clear is that this is what he’s going to build his political future on. It’s not crazy. You can certainly win elections on that. Me, when it comes to this election, I think there were some other factors swaying people too. Such as, perhaps, tariffs?
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