The Bulwark Daily

Trump’s loyalist foot soldiers in Congress are still sticking by him but the power of the presidency is ebbing away from him.

Nearly a week after the midterms, Trump made a feeble rigged election claim. He also made a phony offer to work with Democrats on an immigration deal, hoping somehow to distract them from their oversight powers. And like a true mob boss, Trump elevated tough guy Stephen Miller to keep the administration from falling apart—and to protect the grift. But he knows he was swamped in a massive defeat and that the country now has the possibility of a very different future. Still, the ICE terror state is ongoing, and the Dems have to push for the release of nonviolent immigrants from the internment camps.

The MAGA coalition is falling apart, Fox News is flummoxed, and Trump is having to grapple with being rejected by huge swaths of America. Steele only has double birds for Republicans who played along with the 10-year hijacking of the party and are now trying to clean up their act. And in a way, the country gave double birds to the administration over DEI, based on the diverse slate of candidates who’ve won statewide office all over the place.

Kansas Senator-elect Hamilton was not recruited out of the Democratic Party pipeline. The Methodist pastor chose to challenge Roger Marshall because he didn't like what was happening in the country, including with ICE agents and cuts to healthcare. But he was also bothered by people in DC claiming to be Christian but not acting like it.

Republicans are already starting to plan for a post-Trump future after last night's wipeout. Sarah, JVL, and Tim savor the victories, including Talarico's and Hamilton's, which represent a complete rebuke of the politics of the Trump era; and physician-senator Annie Andrews who will actually challenge the quackery of RFK Jr. But there's also time for tears for Elon: After wasting hundreds of millions of dollars to try to buy a senator, JVL reminds him to get an apartment near Capitol Hill (or maybe flee to a country that would want him).