Bulwark Takes

Trump and Vance threw everything they had at Abdul El-Sayed, but Michigan voters elected him to the U.S. Senate by seven points. In an exclusive interview with Jonathan Cohn, El-Sayed reflects on the anti-Muslim attacks against him, why he believes Republicans’ strategy failed, and his plans to challenge Trump and shake up Democratic leadership.
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Sam Stein and Will Sommer break down Donald Trump’s bizarre response to Republicans’ crushing midterm defeat. While Republicans are scrambling to explain what went wrong, Trump headed to the White House ballroom construction site to celebrate chandeliers, kitchen layouts and the final steel beam, seemingly more interested in his vanity project than the political disaster unfolding around him. The spectacle was especially surreal as MAGA turns on itself, with Laura Loomer, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Mark Levin, Nancy Mace and other right-wing personalities trading insults and pointing fingers over the losses. The knives are out, and Trump is nowhere to be found.
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Andrew Egger and Will Sommer discuss Trump DOJ’s sweeping Election Day deployment of federal monitors, the questions surrounding where they’re being sent, and the growing concerns over federal interference in the midterms.
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It’s Election Day, and Donald Trump is making some surprising last-minute moves, including an announcement that he’s cutting off military aid to Israel. Andrew Egger and Bill Kristol break down Trump’s increasingly desperate closing message, the possibility of renewed strikes on Iran, and the decisions that have put Republicans in such a precarious position, from the Minneapolis ICE crackdown to the war in Iran and a seemingly endless parade of corruption scandals.
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Sam Stein and Andrew Egger give their takes on Trump’s bizarre closing pitch ahead of the midterms: a trip to the Reflecting Pool to brag about algae removal, vandalism that never happened, and his plans to renovate a DC golf course. Instead of making a final appeal to voters, Trump spent his time talking about monuments, promenades, statues and a proposed triumphal arch. Sam and Andrew discuss how Trump’s obsession with beautifying Washington DC has become a fitting symbol of a presidency increasingly consumed by personal passion projects as his broader agenda stalls.