"Claims that Donald Trump poses a grave threat to democracy likely contributed to Democrats' smashing success in Tuesday's elections. Ironically, the president's efforts to bring more democratic accountability to government may prove to be one of his most durable achievements -- despite persistent progressive pushback poised to ramp up under divided government. 

Although Trump is often described as an impulsive, undisciplined leader, he has remained sharply focused on advancing reforms aimed at increasing presidential power over the unelected federal bureaucracy. RealClearInvestigations' review of dozens of executive actions and agency regulations found that the Trump administration has taken historic steps to shrink the branch of government he runs, make agencies more accountable to elected officials, and reduce Washington’s regulatory control over the private sector."

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"Democrats swept elections coast to coast on Tuesday night and seized control of Congress and prized statehouses in the deep red South, as Americans punished Republicans for failing to finish the job of taming inflation and fixing an economy about to be transformed by artificial intelligence.

"Hispanic, young and independent voters who powered Donald Trump's improbable comeback in 2024 markedly shifted their allegiance to Democrats in the midterms, even putting a Democrat in a U.S. Senate seat in Kansas for the first time in a century and a Hispanic newcomer into the Texas gubernatorial mansion.

"Exit polls showed voters were fed up with high gas prices and inflation overall, and angry that Trump put America into a prolonged conflict with Iran before fixing the inflation he inherited from Joe Biden's administration.

"Three quarters of voters in Tuesday's election described the U.S. economy as in 'rough shape,' and 39% said it was the primary reason for how they voted. Forty-four percent said their finances were worse today than when Trump took office."

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"National elections take place every two years in this country, and whether it's a presidential cycle or a midterm election, overwrought commentators, partisan activists, and the candidates themselves repeat without self-awareness, let alone irony, a variant of the exhortation that 'this election is the most important of our lifetimes.' 

"Welcome to the 2026 midterms, a cycle striking not only for its high stakes but also for the sheer venom of the campaigns. Few candidates or their surrogates this year come close to passing the Adlai Stevenson test. The famously cerebral Democrat, twice nominated for president (and twice a loser to Dwight Eisenhower) said in 1956 that the greatest hurdle in any campaign is 'how to win without proving that you are unworthy of winning.'"

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"The Democratic battle for control of the House of Representatives is entering its final stretch, with Republicans defending a narrow majority and Democrats seeking the handful of seats needed to take control of the chamber.

"To win a House majority, Democrats would need to hold their own vulnerable seats while capturing a low number of Republican-held districts.

"Republicans currently hold a 220-215 majority with House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., holding the gavel and running the chamber.

"Democrats need a net gain of only three seats to reach the 218 required for control of the chamber, which would give House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., the gavel."

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"As we watch public buildings, stores, and places of worship go up in smoke in France, we wonder if it could happen here. The reality is that while youth in France suffer far higher unemployment, approaching 20%, our youth here have never had more education, better technology, greater opportunity, or higher living standards. And yet many are souring on America.

"And yet many are deeply dissatisfied. They are strangely pessimistic about the world, disturbingly open to socialism, and, most unsettlingly, view America itself unfavorably. And America's young women, who now have largely closed the pay gap and are a majority of students at college, law and medical schools, lead the pack in terms of negative attitudes towards the country."

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"The Doomsday Clock, last adjusted in January, has not since moved any closer to forecasting global catastrophe. But media headlines over the course of 2026 have moved in that direction and are suggestive that midnight is drawing nearer.

"Silicon Valley companies, including Anthropic, OpenAI, and xAI, are warning that artificial intelligence -- renamed 'super intelligence' by President Trump's executive order -- could lead to human extinction if left unchecked. Dario Amodei, the CEO of Anthropic, pegs that risk at 25 percent; Elon Musk at 20 percent.

"Even the Pentagon is in doomsday mode. In late September, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced Fortress America, a key element of which is to ensure that major U.S. military bases can continue operating for 90 days or more in the event that civilian power grids, supply chains, and critical infrastructure are disrupted or destroyed."

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"The U.S. has been running a real-time experiment on two approaches to criminal justice: the Biden-era emphasis on social justice versus the Trump administration's embrace of traditional law and order. The results are now in.

"The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) reported this morning that felony violent crime fell 25% in 2025. Rape declined 13%, robbery fell 27%, and aggravated assault dropped 31%. Property crime fell 19%. Except for rape, these are the largest one-year reductions recorded since data collection began 53 years ago."

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"The most likely scenario for next week's election is ... that no one will learn anything.

"I can say that with some degree of confidence because in the last five election cycles or so, the learning curve has been so flat that if it was a politician's posterior, President Trump wouldn't even notice it.

"Campaigns, individuals, parties and super PACs are going to have spent northward of $12 billion on this year's midterms. That will end up being something like $115 for every voter, but all they'll have to show for it is a kitchen trashcan full of junk mail. Washington has been a ghost town for weeks as lawmakers dare not be caught making any laws so close to the election. News outlets from the most local to the international have shifted into constant coverage mode for what is, even in the most robust case, a relatively low-turnout, low-stakes election."

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"The clock is ticking on the upcoming congressional election. House and Senate Republicans are facing some rough headwinds in these final days, including the president's negative job approval and their slippage with voters on the question of who can better handle economic issues. There may not be many cards left for the GOP to play, even with their cash advantages.

"But in all the talk of a blue wave, which may yet come, one crucial factor has been all but ignored by the commentariat and the media. The best card in the hand Republicans have been dealt is their positioning ideologically with voters -- their proximity to what remains a center-right electorate despite all the buzz about the rise of socialism in America."

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"Fake polls aren't always fake news.

"For the second time this year, a new pollster has been caught flat-out fabricating political survey data.

"In August, Median Strategies was exposed as bogus after claiming its published poll showed that socialist Francesca Hong had a 23-point lead in the Democratic primary for governor of Wisconsin. She lost.

"Now we learn that Wedgewood Polls, another new polling company that emerged this election cycle, was a complete fraud.

"The company admits that just one of the 17 polls it published this year was real."

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