Walter Kirn and I will be back on air tonight, watching Election Night lunacy and pondering questions big, small, and in between, as the calendar flips from Midterms to Campaign ‘28. Walter will be broadcasting from his end in Las Vegas, “looking out toward the very stretch of desert where tourists used to watch Atomic Bombs being tested”:
We will not be holding a drinking game, but if we were to, the following would be “drink” lines: “Most important election of our lifetime,” “Eggs,” “Communists,” “greatest threat in our history,” and, “I’m not saying it’s antisemitism, but…” Results are almost a foregone conclusion, with Democrats opening at least a six-touchdown lead in the House and likely turning the Senate too. The biggest source of true, gambling-addict suspense will involve learning how far off the polling industry has been, particularly in Senate races (I’d take the over if Vegas set the line at +2 for Democrats).
Back in March, a GOP member of congress told Politico that “we lose 60 to 70 seats” if Donald Trump ordered a ground invasion of Iran. That didn’t happen, but the Iran fiasco may yet prove that disastrous for the administration, as Republicans are currently judged to have maybe 160 safe seats left, down from the 219. No matter what results come in tonight, the end of midterms officially opens the door on a new era for the Republican Party, so we’re almost certain to see shameless jockeying in the form of ad-hoc TV appearances by a slew of undeclared 2028 candidates arguing for this or that post-Trump direction. Walter and I will of course observe these performances with appropriate gravitas and reserve.
Tonight will be a celebration for Democrats, but that party has issues too, symbolized by late-breaking news in the Michigan Senate race. Democratic primary loser Haley Stevens just threw her support behind Republican Mike Rogers over nominee Abdul El-Sayed, essentially judging the GOP less dangerous than the DSA. The New York Times ran an editorial called, “Don’t Be a Haley Stevens,” but bet on it, longtime professional pols in the Democratic Party and the up-and-coming DSA movement will commence all-out pitched battle soon, and don’t be surprised if the endgame involves defections more shocking than the neocon rush to the blue side in 2016.
Of course, Walter and I have some catching up to do before we get to any of that, so it might be a long night. We promise to do some actual work monitoring returns, but mostly I’m looking forward to working with my old friend, and catching up with the ATW faithful. You can find us at the links below, or visit Walter and me on X. Let’s all have a few laughs tonight:
i wasn’t going to watch returns, buuuuuut now i MUST 💕💪 so glad to have a kirn/taibbi reunion!!
YESSSSSSS!!!!!!! ♥️♥️♥️