Michael joins me again to talk about last night’s election results and Trump’s coming tariff announcement. Democrats won the Supreme Court race in Wisconsin, and over performed in other races. Florida’s First District went from R+32 to R+15 according to the current count, while the Sixth District shifted from R+33 to R+14. We debate whether Elon was rational to put so much money and effort into the Wisconsin Supreme Court race. My argument is that Republicans need to do something about the fact that the other side is more energized, along with the fact that Democratic voters are more educated, which makes current trends worse. Elon did not help them win in Wisconsin, but giving away giant checks is at least a strategy. The alternative right now seems to be to just accept that Republicans are going to get crushed in every election from now until 2028.
Michael and I do our best to speculate on what might happen with tariffs based on current reporting. We recorded this beginning at 1ET, while Trump’s big announcement is at 4ET, so by the time you listen to this there may be more information.
We go on to talk about a blockbuster report in The New York Times from over the weekend: “The Secret History of the War in Ukraine.” Michael and I go over what we learned that is new here, and how the story changed our perspective on the conflict. As for the future of the war in Ukraine, I wonder whether Trump seems to be just getting bored with the conflict. The most likely scenario now looks to me to be a petering out of American support as the Europeans assume more responsibility and the fight continues. Michael, in contrast, seems to find it easier to imagine Trump escalating support to Ukraine.