I don’t know how to properly describe this to do it justice – but this is funny, weird, adorable, and inexplicable.  It’s mainly the latter, but you can’t leave out the first three.  I’ll just add that it’s highly-worth the 3-minute watch of the most enthusiastic pet fish you will have ever seen, so loaded with personality (yes, really) that acts like an excited puppy with its owner.  It loves being hand-fed and petted.  But it’s better than even that.  I don’t want to give more away, though, because there’s the fun of “Wait, what??!!” discovery.  But be sure to watch starting at the 2:45 mark when the owner talks about offers she’d had to buy the fellow.  This is ‘Snappy.’
​

 
 
It’s not surprising how MAGOPs have responded to Tuesday night’s shellacking in all the major election races.  They ignored reality, said all is well and attacked Zohran Mamdani.
 
Two quotes stand out as being core to the MAGOP reaction.
 
My favorite quote was from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.  He referred to Mr. Mamdani as “the new leader of the Democratic Party.”
 
Zohran Mamdani is not even the new leader of Democrats in New York state.  To be accurate, he’s not even the leader of Democrats in New York City yet.  But yes, he will be eventually.  But as I wrote yesterday, “mayor of New York” is not a stepping stone to national politics.  In the entire history of the city, no mayor of New York City has ever gone from the job to any national office.  Ever.  In 250 years!!  No former NYC mayor has become the U.S. president, never become a U.S. senator, and not ever become a U.S. congressman.  But Ken Paxton wants everyone to think that Zohran Mamdani is the national leader of Democrats.  As I wrote, as well, New Yorkers eat their mayor for lunch.  The day after he takes office, half the city will have something to yell that they hate about him.  (I mentioned this to a friend from New York.  He laughed and said, “Not just half, probably three-quarters.”  I explained that I’d said only the day after – and my friend again laughed, and then agreed.  “Okay, yes, the day after.”
 
And most of the MAGOP attacks on Mamdani were about him being “a communist.”  Which, of course, isn’t true.  But it is scaaaaaarry sounding.  I sent replies to as many as possible to please explain the difference between a communist and socialist, because there is one.  And I can be as close to 100% certain as possible that none of them knows what that difference is.  Further, I pointed out that he isn’t even a socialist – but a Democratic Socialist, like Bernie Sanders.  And that is not a socialist, because words matter.  Even pesky adjectives.  It’s like the difference between your doctor telling you that you have an illness and a terminal illness.  Or the difference between a psychologist saying Trump is a narcissist and a malignant narcissist.  One is a description of personal ego, the other is a medical condition of someone who will burn down your house with himself in it if he doesn’t get his way.  A Democratic Socialist is basically someone who believes in democracy and the democratic process, but fully supports the extensive use social programs and safety nets – like Social Security, Medicare, SNAP, the ACA, childcare tax credits and such.
 
The other great quote came from MAGOP Sen. Markwayne Mullins of Oklahoma. He was on CNN, and said --
 
"Well I say, first of all, I don't know if we really lost. I mean that sincerely..."
 
To her credit, CNN host Kasie Hunt responded, “I find that improbable.”
 
Improbable is, of course, only the starting point.  Yet this was a common theme among a great many MAGOP officials on social media.  Denying that the shellacking was really much of even a loss.  It’s largely what Speaker Mike Johnson said, dismissing the results as largely been in Blue states.  Except they aren’t – New Jersey and Virginia may tilt a little Blue, but they are Purple.  New Jersey hasn’t had a governor elected from the same party three terms in a row for many decades – until yesterday.  Virginia currently has a Republican governor.  And the House of Delegates was split 51-49 for Democrats.  That’s Purple.  Until yesterday, when Democrats flipped 13 seats!  But still, Markwayne Mullins was more blunt about it than anyone.
 
And his comment was pure MAGOP. Following the lead of a delusional leader. Don't admit defeat. Say you didn't lose. Say it was rigged. Say it was stolen. Say anything to avoid reality and outrage the base and create distrust in elections.  That’s one of the core tenets of fascism.
 
It was a horrific night for MAGOPs, and a great one for Democrats.  All around.  Huge.  That said, I don’t draw too much importance from this one limited group of elections – however, I also don’t ignore that there is much meaning to it.  Most of all, it reinforces Trump’s 37% approval – and 25% approval among Hispanics.  And shows that “motivated” voters cannot be ignored and the advantage of that falls heavily on Democrats.  Nor that without Trump on the ballot, the full MAGOP base (who don’t pay attention to or care about politics, but love Trump) won’t be voting.
 
And, of course, most importantly, it’s still a year from the Mid-Terms – but while it’s likely to get even worse for the country, it will also worsen significantly for Trump and MAGOPs.  It also means they will put more election intimidation actions into operation.  But the opposition knows that, is preparing, and the voter support will grow.  As Trump’s dementia and actions worsen.

Starting in the late afternoon yesterday, I began watching the news – though not so much listening, since what was being said until results started coming in were meaningless.  However, what I did pay attention to were the exit poll results to a range of questions in New Jersey and Virginia.  That said, even those were fully meaningful, because I don’t know what percentage of votes they related to.  However, since it was coming on 7 PM in the East, as the polls neared closing, I thought they probably covered most voters who had cast their ballots in person.  So, with all this in mind, the wrote to a friend that sense I got was that Democrats will be doing very well.
 
And I said that, too, since the exit polls don’t include mail-in ballots, and those lately have favored Democrats.
 
Still, though, when sending that email, MSNBC had a chyron saying that New Jersey is “expected to be a nailbiter.”  Well, that struck me as weird.  I knew that polls in that race had tightened, but my understanding was that Mikie Sherrill was up by about 5-8 points.  And (if so), while that marginally close, it certainly isn’t a “nail-biter.”  (After all, six points is a 53-47 win, which is very healthy.)  In fact, five days ago, the respected Quinnipiac had Mikie Sherrill up by eight points.  More to the point, I kept focusing on those exit polls on specific issues, and it just suggested to me that she would win with a respectable margin.
 
Moreover, I stood by what I wrote here yesterday:  that motivation to actually vote is a huge factor that adds perspective to who people prefer in polls.  And Democrats have a massive lead in motivation.  Additionally, I’ve extensively written here, as well, how the core MAGOP base voter absolutely loves Trump, but won’t necessarily go to the polls if Trump isn’t on the ballot.  And Trump is not on the ballot – and will not be on the ballot in 2026.
 
And I knew, as I’ve written here over and over – in all the Special Elections since Trump took office, Democrats have picked up an average of 16 points.
 
So, I sent off my email.
 
The good news for we All Night Election Viewers is that at least New Jersey and Virginia (and NY City) are all on the East Coast, so the results would likely be early.
 
California is another matter.  The state traditionally counts very slowly, often taking days.  Though there’s only one contest on the ballot, so one would think it could take shorter.  But even if the process takes its normal sluggish time, Proposition 50 is up by 20-25 points in the polls, so I figured the networks might even call it early.
 
And so I sat back to see.  Made my pizza.  Got my snacks out.  And waited.  Knowing that my guesses meant nothing.
 
And after only about an hour and a quarter in, Abigail Spanberger was ahead by so much, running far ahead of Kamala Harris’s 2024 numbers, that she was projected to be the winner.
 
It was a half-hour later that Democrat Aftab Pureval was projected the winner for mayor of Cincinnati over MAGOP Cory Bowman.  With 22.1% of the vote in, he was up 81.7%-18.3%.  [UPDATE:  The final result was 78%-22%.) Why is that notable?  Because Mr. Bowman is the half-brother of “JD Vance.”  (You will recall that Mr. “Vance” was born James Donald Bowman.  Later changed to James David Hamel.  Later changed to James David Vance. Then, J.D. Vance.  And finally, perhaps, “JD Vance”.)
 
And a half-hour later, Mikie Sherrill’s “nailbiter” election saved the nails of all Americans, as she was already projected to be the winner.  Leading 57-43% with 61% of the vote in.  It will likely get closer…but there’s a significant likelihood as I write this is that the margin could be double-digits.  So much for being a “nailbiter. 
 
The results for Mikie Sherrill later went to 57-42% with 94% of the vote in.  (Quite the “nailbiter”!)
 
And Abigail Spanberger had a near-identical 57-43% with 95% of the vote reported.
 
And all three Democratic judges for the Pennsylvania Supreme Court were re-elected by landslide margins.
 
And then the Democratic candidate Zohran Mamdani won the race for New York City mayor – by almost 10 points.
 
And in California, the vote for Proposition 50 – which could bring five more House seats to Democrats -- was so massive that MSNBC projected it would pass with 0% of the vote in!!  (With 64% of the vote now reported, as I write this, it’s leading by 30 points.)

And in arguably the most meaningful but under-reported results, Democrats had a slim 51-49 majority in the Virginia House of Delegates – but flipped 13 seats, and they now hold a 64-31 margin, with five seats undecided!
 
There’s a notable story that wasn’t mentioned on the coverage I saw.  It’s that Trump sent DOJ monitors to Virginia, New Jersey and California to intimidate voters and to create distrust in the elections so that he could call close results “rigged.”  But these results blew that fascist effort out of the water.
 
To be clear, these were results in limited states, so they aren’t “proof” of anything.  Though what they are, without a doubt, are very solid victories -- two of them in largely “purple” states and all of them supporting a direction that national polls (with Trump’s 37% approval and every Special Election averaging a pick-up of 16 points by Democrats) – show the country is headed.  So, the question now becomes:  when will MAGOPs in Congress start to be concerned about their own jobs by following a hugely unpopular leader who is a convicted felon, adjudicated rapist, and guilty business fraud…with dementia that is degenerative?
 
I don’t necessarily think there will be much of an immediate break.  But I do think the support is shaky.  I also think that there is now a good chance the government shutdown could end this week.  And – importantly – it won’t be because (as MAGOP Senate majority leader John Thune suggested, no doubt in dear hope) it’s the Democrats who cave.
 
So – what will MAGOPs say today?
 
A friend quipped that Mike Johnson can’t comment because he hasn’t seen the results yet.  I suspect Trump will focus on Zohran Mamdani and also saying the elections were rigged, despite such massive blow-out results.

What we do know though is that MAGOP Rep. Andy Ogles of Tennessee (the same fellow who put out a Christmas card with his entire family holding semi-automatic weapons around their Christmas tree...) already posted a tweet last night saying he was going to ask the House that it look into using the 14th Amendment to block Zohran Mamdani from taking office.  Yes, he really did.  Mind you, I have no idea what on earth he thinks that will do (and I'm not alone among all those I saw respond) since the 14th Amendment doesn't have anything remotely to do with prohibiting anyone from taking office -- and seems to do the exact opposite, providing all citizens with equal protection under the law.  But what I do know is that Mr. Ogles tweet shows the sweat-inducing terror of losing power, while also displaying the fascism we've come to expect from today's MAGOP in Congress.
 
By the way, a word about the New York mayoral race:
 
MAGOPs were obsessed by it.  And obsessed by Zohran Mamdani.  But the thing is -- no mayor of New York City has ever been elected to national office after leaving the job!  Ever.  In 250 years!  What the race was about is who the people of New York City wanted to be their mayor. Mamdani showed a blueprint for some Democrats, though hardly all, the Democratic Party is too diverse.  He himself is young, so he could have a political future beyond NYC.  But, of course, this is New York – any mayor first has to survive the city, which eats mayors for breakfast.  Tomorrow, half of New York will probably already have something to complain about him.
 
But Trump and MAGOPs will likely try to point at Zohran Mamdani and at supposedly rigged elections.  Or anything that has nothing to do with the truth.  Which is that the public hates what Trump and MAGOPs have done to the economy, tariffs, military in the cities, deporting people without due process, demolishing the White House and a 79-year-old convicted felon and adjudicated rapist who has dementia which is degenerative – and a 37% approval.
 
If MAGOPs want to ignore reality, let them.  Because that’s a terrible way to fix the problems you won’t acknowledge exist.

If you didn't see Jon Stewart's Monday hosting of The Daily Show, his Main Story was basically about Trump and MAGOPs dealing with the government shutdown and those they care most about.  It's a wonderful, highly-pointed report, and extremely funny.
​

We'll keep this fairly short, since I have a much longer (much...) article in preparation that deals with this and many more related points in an upcoming article.

But in part --

MSNBC aired a special on Friday where their anchors held a Town Hall in New York.  I recorded it, though just skimmed through.  It was worth skimming though if only for a story that Chris Hayes told.

Hayes started by pointing out huge problems ahead with Trump and MAGOPs, but also huge positives for those in opposition.  And among the latter, he noted how unpopular Trump was, with only 43% approval -- and with significantly lower approval for his handling of specific issues. And he added that some polls have Trump's general approval even lower, at just 37-38%.  Hayes then commented, "I know many of you are wondering why it's not 10-20%," which got a lot of nods and sardonic laughs .

And that's what brought up his piece of history.

Hayes explained that one of the greatest landslides in presidential history came in the 1932 election between Franklin Roosevelt and Herbert Hoover.  With the Depression raging, FDR won 42 states to Hoover's only six, and received 472 Electoral votes to just 59 for Hoover.  And for all that, Hayes went on, in the midst of the Great Depression and this massive landslide -- "Herbert Hoover still got 40% of the vote."  

(For accuracy sake, that's rounded up.  Hoover got 39.6%.)

His point being that there is a base below which it's incredibly difficult for any presidential candidate to go below, and Trump's approval -- only nine months into his term -- ranging between 37% and 43%, while not in the middle of the Great Depression, is truly terrible.  And far worse than most people think.  

This all relates to a comment I made to a friend on Sunday.  I said that motivation to vote is critical for elections.  Especially Mid-Term elections, when fewer people are motivated to vote.  And particularly important in this coming Mid-Terms because of something that rarely gets mentioned:  that a large part of the MAGOP base avoids politics and only comes out to vote when their cult leader Trump is on the ballot -- and Trump will not be on the ballot next year.  I said that I sense Democrats are massively motivated to vote in 2026...and that I didn't have the feeling that MAGOPs are nearly as much.

Yesterday, CNN released a poll, which included a question on voter motivation.  For the MAGOP, "highly motivated" was 46%.  And for Democrats -- 67%!!

Having support is important -- as is not having supports.  But whatever your level of support is, getting people to actually vote is something else entirely.

In the end, poll numbers are one thing to watch.  But they don't exist in a vacuum. And perspective is not only essential, but arguably what matters more in interpreting them.  

​If you didn't see "Last Week Tonight" with John Oliver last night, the Main Story about about police chases.  Yes, they're popular to watch on TV, but the reality and huge danger from them is another matter.  The show deals with it in detail...as well as a lot of sardonic humor.