Not a blame game but a good summary of what happen last night by Economist Robert Reich on Subsstack:

Something much larger is responsible for what occurred: anti-establishment populism. It’s burst forth against the mammoth corporations that have scored record profits while most Americans have had to pay more. Against the mega donors and super PACs that have flooded American politics with more campaign money — legalized bribes — than ever before. And against the Big Tech billionaires who have become the most powerful force in the American economy and society -- as well as Trump’s and the Republican Party’s most visible backers.The irony is that anti-establishment anger propelled Trump into the presidency in 2016 and again in 2024.

Many Americans had found his politically-incorrect rants and “America first” nativism to reflect their own anger at being disrespected or left behind. “I am your warrior,” he told supporters when he announced his candidacy for the 2024 election.But during his second term, Trump has morphed into the very establishment he had railed against. He’s given tax cuts and subsidies to tech billionaires in exchange for their help making him and his family billionaires, too. He’s promoted their AI, pushed their data centers, put Elon Musk in charge of “DOGE,” advocated their crypto, and went to war in the Middle East — not only causing gas prices to soar but making Big Oil billions (or, as Trump bafflingly boasts, “we’re making an absolute fortune in our country”) and enriching Big Tech weapons makers and investors, including his family.Many who voted for Trump in 2016 and 2024 have now abandoned him because of this blatant corruption, crony capitalism, and eagerness to be on the gilded side of America’s new Gilded Age.

According to CNBC’s late October poll, corruption was the top issue on voters’ minds.Meanwhile, anti-establishment populism has finally taken firm hold in the Democratic Party. “The biggest divide in this country is not left versus right,” said the newly elected Texas Senate candidate James Talarico. “It’s top versus bottom.”Sherrod Brown regained his Senate seat from Ohio largely due to voter anger at data centers and the Big Tech billionaires behind them.Abdul El-Sayed never tired on the campaign trail of reminding Michigan voters that his opponent, Mike Rogers, was backed by big corporations and mega donors.Even Kansas’s victorious Adam Hamilton — who during his run for the Senate adamantly rejected the leftist label his opponent wanted to impose on him — campaigned on making data centers pay for their own energy, banning lawmakers from trading stocks, expanding Medicare drug-price negotiations, and cracking down on price-gouging.Hamilton also rejected money from corporate PACs, as did most Democratic candidates for the Senate.

The real question to my mind is whether, come January when they control Congress, Democrats will take advantage of the new populism to enact measures most Americans need, such as Medicare for All, and reforms most Americans want, such as tougher anti-monopoly laws and limits on campaign contributions (even if this requires a constitutional amendment).Trump is likely to veto any such initiatives, of course, but at least they’ll lay down markers for the 2028 presidential election — which, judging from what we’ve seen in the midterms, is likely to be a populist doozie.Meanwhile, thanks to all of you who have worked so damned hard to help bring about today’s extraordinary victory. Our democracy worked. It held.Congratulations, all.

Last edited by Fitz (November 4, 2026 9:35 am)

I mentioned on the other thread that I watched some of the coverage on left leaning alternative media and I learned this morning that Breaking Points had the second largest live You Tube Feed last night. Second only to NBC election whiz kid Steve Kornacki. Actually wihz man. I like to check out the alt media sites either left or libertarian leaning as I find them to be less encumbered by mainstream media biases. 

Great to see one of these with a sizable audience.

David Cochrane on CBC News is so funny - one of his lines was “Kansas looked at Texas and said ‘hold my beer’” 😄 Reminds me of the most recent federal election, when the NDP failed so spectacularly, summed up by David perfectly - “the arse is out of ‘er”

I am not a fan of JD Vance but he released this quite remarkable statement and self own about the war with Iran and it's impact on the election yesterday. A case of jumping off a sinking ship ??


One of the things the data analysts on our side obsessed over was "composition"—whether the electorate looked close enough to 2024 for Republicans to win. And despite polls that showed a Democrat blowout, the data kept on telling us the same story: in some states turnout was merely OK, in other states it was downright amazing, and in no state was it catastrophic.

There was a genuine sense of optimism on our team: our people were showing up. So, I asked the smartest data guy I know, does that mean we're going to shock the world? "No," he told me. "We might do better than the polls suggest. But the data is telling us that a lot of Trump/Vance 2024 voters are pissed and planning to vote for the other guys. Our voters are turning out, but they may not vote for us." Well, that looks prophetic now. Our voters did show up. In Florida, for example, the electorate was 9 points more Republican than Democrat, just a couple points worse than 2024. Undoubtedly there were places we could have done better on turnout. But the main problem is not turnout.

The main problem is that many people who voted for Trump/Vance in 2024 voted for Democrats in 2026. There will be a lot of infighting and arguing over what happened and why that is. One of the pollsters I really respect told me that our economic messaging wasn’t sharp enough down the stretch. I’m sure that’s true. But the real reason we lost is obvious to almost everyone. Another pollster—one of the smartest people I know in politics, told me yesterday we’d lose the generic ballot by 13 points. I felt negative going into Tuesday, but even I was shocked by this. In his polling, he saw that a lot of Trump 2024 voters were angry and planning to vote for Democrats. He asked those voters who had abandoned us what would cause them to come back on our team.

The top four answers, accounting for nearly all of the responses were: 1) End the war 2) Focus on cost of living/inflation 3) Put America First 4) Change our relationship to Israel

Our voters showed up. And the above four reasons are why many of them voted for Democrats. This is according to a pollster who nailed the results. While many spent Monday attacking Rachel Campos Duffy for calling for a diplomatic resolution to the conflict, it turns out her political advice was sound. (She’s also a great person.) In the next few months, there's going to be a lot of gaslighting. Expect to hear any number of establishment politicians say the solution to our woes is amnesty. I'm open to the idea that we should change enforcement—by focusing more on businesses that hire illegal labor, for instance. But anyone pushing amnesty is lying to you. The reason we lost is the war. The president himself said so last night. If you'd like to argue it was worth it, that losing the Senate for the next 6 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.

I remain hopeful about our country. To the people who are pissed off and want to say, “I told you so”: you’re right, you did tell us so. Take that energy into electing Republicans who share your worldview. To the people who are just pissed at the results, you should be. Let’s take that anger and get back to the work of saving our country.

Last edited by Fitz (November 4, 2026 9:37 pm)

RadioActive wrote:

NBC won the returns ratings in the U.S., beating both ABC and CBS. 

CNN and MS Now were close on cable - and both beat Fox News, which always boasts about being the #1 American cable news network. Not anymore. Looks like some viewers abandoned them as fast as voters turned their back on Trump. 

RadioActive wrote:

NBC did something unusual with Steve Kornacki, who was at the "Big Board" all night giving the numbers. They'd go to him for analysis and then switch back to the anchors.

But while the latter guys and gals at the desk were doing their stuff on the main channel, the network also had a "Kornacki Cam" separate from the actual broadcast and the guy would just keep his own show going online between his on air segments. 

A neat idea, and I watched a bit of it on the network's website, but it did get a mite tedious after a while. Still, an interesting concept and I wonder if they'll do it again for the next election.

That Kornacki Cam I referenced earlier was a huge hit - and got the most eyeballs of any online election coverage. He was on live for 10 straight hours and finally left suffering from exhaustion. 

NBC News, Steve Kornacki ride 'Blue Wave' to historic election night ratings

As I mentioned above I was very happy that Breaking Points came in at number 2 behind Kornacki. Proving that views contrary to the mainstream have an audience, The show has four main hosts two from the alt left and two from the alt right.
 

RadioActive wrote:

NBC won the returns ratings in the U.S., beating both ABC and CBS. 

CNN and MS Now were close on cable - and both beat Fox News, which always boasts about being the #1 American cable news network. Not anymore. Looks like some viewers abandoned them as fast as voters turned their back on Trump. 

RadioActive wrote:

NBC did something unusual with Steve Kornacki, who was at the "Big Board" all night giving the numbers. They'd go to him for analysis and then switch back to the
But while the latter guys and gals at the desk were doing their stuff on the main channel, the network also had a "Kornacki Cam" separate from the actual broadcast and the guy would just keep his own show going online between his on air segments. 

A neat idea, and I watched a bit of it on the network's website, but it did get a mite tedious after a while. Still, an interesting concept and I wonder if they'll do it again for the next election.

That Kornacki Cam I referenced earlier was a huge hit - and got the most eyeballs of any online election coverage. He was on live for 10 straight hours and finally left suffering from exhaustion. 

NBC News, Steve Kornacki ride 'Blue Wave' to historic election night ratings

While it is true that FNC's numbers tumbled from the 2022 election, there was only 100,000 viewers separating the three cable networks. Hardly crash and burn, For crash and burn numbers, see CBS. Not even close to NBC and ABC.

I have been railing against the mainstream media on the board but that does not mean that everything on it is without merit. I have been a fan of Harry Enten on CNN since his days at 538, the now defunct election prediction site. I enjoy his polling segments and he does it with humour and comes up with funny phrases such as "nutter butter."

He gives the facts but without spin and adds an injection of humour. Below's a clip from Harry. 

Also I mentioned before that the only time I watch Fox news is on an election night when the dems are winning and the second clip is four hours of their election night coverage. I post it without comment except to say that it is interesting to watch as the realization of what happened becomes clearer as the night progresses. Still holing out some hope at 10 PM but not so much after 11 PM.






 

Listen starting at 1:43:17 on the Fox clip I posted above from election night and you will hear you know who calling in to his favorite network. 

I think Harry Enten on CNN is great!  Love his humour and exuberance.  He gets along very well with all of the hosts.  I have noticed that Seth Meyers often uses some of Harry's clips on CNN on A Closer Look.