התמלול המלא של BULLETIN: DEMOCRATS SWEEP HOUSE, SENATE, CRUSH TRUMP - 11.4.26

them. How unpopular would Trump be during a third impeachment trial next year or in 2028? Is it worth it? Do you want to interfere with the 2028 election? Or is forcing him into a congressional straitjacket simply much more fun? Democratic senators, 54, 55, 56. They'd only need four or five renegade Republicans to throw his ass out. On the scoreboard, the Senate is probably going to end 55, 45 Democrats, 53 firm as I record this, maybe 56. Alaska will take a while, days, a week. An early statement from Mary Peltilla was very positive, but it's ranked choice voting, so who knows how long it will take. and how many Dan Sullivans she's actually beaten. In the House, the final score will probably be 255 Democrats to 179 Republicans. 256, depending on how it rounds out. I believe that these midterm results, when we have all the numbers in, will be devastating enough to make Trump not just a lame duck in terms of daily practical politics, but a lame duck just within the Republican Party. This will be their great reckoning. We have thought that before. Of course, this guy is some sort of... vampire cockroach, but these numbers are too stark for anybody to voluntarily side with this man for his lame duckness or his lame cockroachness. But what do you do now if you're a Republican thinking about 2028 and beyond, a presidential nomination specifically? What about who thinks there will still be some form of MAGA out there and want that gloss from it, but want it without Trump's baggage, which is now undeniable, which will now be positioned as 55 Democrats in the Senate or 54 or 56 and 255 in the House. What do you do about that? What do you do if you are Vance or Rubio? What do you do about Trump? Is he a liability or your greatest asset? The lady or the tiger, except behind both doors, is a tiger. What about simple re-election in the House or the Senate? How far does the de-Trumpification now go? Is this like the Republicans abandoning Nixon in 1974? Can you at all be associated with Donald Trump going into a congressional or senatorial or gubernatorial campaign in 2028? Because guess what? You sure as hell couldn't in 2026. Let's start with the Senate swing races at 1.33 a.m. Without actually saying I won over Mike Rogers, Abdul Al-Sayed addressed his supporters in Michigan and said he couldn't wait to serve Michigan in the Senate and, quote, the bad guys lost and, quote, we beat a machine. And he never actually said I am declaring victory or I have called Mike Rogers or I call on Mike Rogers to declare victory. that he got his backside whooped. Meanwhile, I understand Haley Stevens is now going to change her name to Halal L. Stevens. James Tallarico has won unbelievably strongly in Texas. When it got to 70% of the vote in, he was leading by 20 points. The amount of times that the media, national and international, had described Texas as ruby red, I lost count on that. It was not ruby red. It never was ruby red. It was slightly red. The victories by Cornyn and Cruz all these years were decisive, but they were not large, even as Bush and then Trump triumphed in that state. Talafrico? Who's the freak now, Ken Paxton? Ken Paxton was kicked so hard his eyes might straighten out. Soon-to-be former Senator Susan Collins. How delightful is this? She called Troy Jackson around midnight to concede in Maine. Five terms, all of them in which she said she was concerned, but she wasn't. Now she's effing concerned. Perhaps she's learned her lesson now. She threw in the towel, in fact, before any major news organizations or other vote counters called the race against her. Lost to the backup goalie Democrat. Bye, Felicia. Senator-elect Annie Andrews. This century, no Democrat had done better in South Carolina than to lose the Senate race by nine points. She swamped Darlene Graham. She conceded before 11 o'clock last night, and now Tim Scott can shove it up his invisible marriage. The margin there is about three, three and a half percent. Who, by the way, was the first incumbent Republican senator to be bought by the data center cartels? Darlene Graham, one of the shortest term senators in American history. Good work. And look out, ladies, Senator OBGYN Dr. Roger Marshall, the man who insists the 2001 attack on America was called 9-1-1, one of the dumbest people ever to put on a tie by himself, loses to Adam Hamilton by six points, whatever. It's really sad she didn't win by... 9.11%, right? Hamilton won Kansas City by nearly 50%. Kansas City, Kansas, obviously. Senator-elect redux Sherrod Brown, 2% over John Husted. Goodbye. Senator-elect Chris Pappas, first openly gay male in the Senate, winner in New Hampshire over Nepo baby Sununu by 13 or 14 maybe. Senator Peggy Flanagan by double digits in Minnesota over the local distributor there of sour, bitter whining, the ex-terrible football sideline reporter Michelle Tafoya. Hey, Michelle, you can't do this either. Sorry. Flanagan, first Native American woman in the Senate. Iowa, Josh Turek won in Iowa by about five points over Ashley Hinson. Keep an eye on him, though. Earlier in the day, he said he had not voted a straight Democratic ticket, even though he headed the Democratic ticket in Iowa. Hinson, quote, it's time to put politics aside. Dial down the rhetoric. I believe that's exactly what Hedley Lamar said at the end of the movie. blazing saddles. Turek is, despite our wondering that perhaps he's turning into another Fetterman perhaps, Turek is the first Democratic senator elected in Kansas since George S. McGill in 1932. Mississippi coming in as a tie. Cindy Hyde-Smith and Scott Colombe. Is it over? Is it going to take another day? Is it going to take another month? Late in the count, the percentages were 48.95% and 48.94%. Hyde-Smith, you may remember, blocked Scott Colombe's nomination for a judgeship. Bad call, Cindy. That's the Senate in the House. Democrats win by a national average estimated by The New York Times of 12 points per race. Mike

Johnson, who guaranteed the polls were wrong and the House would remain Republican, conceded shortly after 11 p.m. EST at a watch party. Watch your job go out the window and say hi to Speaker Jeffries for me. symbolism. Lauren Boebert never got her hands around re-election. Colorado 4th, it wasn't a final as I recorded this, but Eileen Laubacher, the Democrat, was up by 3%, 7,000 votes or so. Well, you know, Lauren Boebert will always have the live theater to rely on for income. Derek Van Orden, R, stands for rage-filled. Wisconsin 5, out by 6. The Democrat Rebecca Cook, he's probably going to blame interns taking photos of the Capitol for his defeat or those voices he keeps hearing in his head and doesn't see a doctor about. Brian Stile, another Trump hooker in the Wisconsin 1st, he's gone. The Democrat Mitchell Berman declared victory before 1 a.m., The district has not had a Democratic congressman this century. North Carolina, Fox, as I said, probably that will go to a recount. It was just about 100 votes apart. Richard Hudson in the Carolina 9th, head of the House GOP campaign committee, buy ya, gonzo. He lost to the Democrat Richard Ojeda. It's now no longer a metaphor in New Jersey. Tom Kane Jr. has actually vanished by almost 60-40. The New Jersey 7th, he falls to Rebecca Bennett, the military veteran. Kane disappeared from Congress for four months, and he continued this theme in his TV ads in which he did not appear live. Just still pictures of him with a voiceover saying he approved this message. if that's your real name. Minnesota 5th. Boy, that raid and those threats sure sidelined Ilhan Omar. 261,000 plus vote, and the Republican got 55,000. I believe the Republican refused to give his name to reporters. Oh, no, no, sorry. Name is Nagel. John Nagel. As in bagel. As in zero. 76% to 16% Omar. Pennsylvania, another Trumper falls. Ryan McKenzie flipped by Democrat Bob Brooks. And the symbolism here is about the college-educated voters and how they turned away from the Republicans. Congressman-elect Brooks, the Democrat in Pennsylvania, was not college-educated himself. Kentucky, six. That's Lexington, Kentucky. It doesn't get much more Kentucky than that. Trump, plus 18 in 2016, plus 10 in 2020, plus 15 in 2024. Zach Dembo, Democratic Navy vet, beats the Trump choice. Ralph Alvarado, eight, nine points roughly. Caveat, this district did twice vote for Andy Beshear for governor, so it's not pure red, but in the Congress elections and the Senate elections, it had been. Ex-Congressman Mike Lawler in the New York 17th, particularly delightful here. He conceded before anybody else called that race. The Trump whore who pretended he wasn't one falls to the Democrat Kate Conley. Rob Bresnahan is out in Pennsylvania, the stock trader guy, the guy who made more trades than anybody else this side of Trump. He lost in the eighth to the Democrat page community by about 10 points. In the Virginia second, the Democrat Elaine Luria, another veteran U.S.

Navy, beats Congresswoman Jen Kiggins, also U.S. Navy. The Sherrod Brown of the Virginia House races, Kiggins had beaten Luria for the seat in 2022, and now the revenge is hers. Missouri to Fred Wellman over Ann Wagner. Yeah, the Midas guy. Congressman Midas touch guy to you, Fred Wellman. Texas 23rd, that's Uvalde. the gun nut influencer the Republicans are trying to rub in everybody's faces there, Brandon Herrera, vanquished by the Democrat Katie Padilla Stout. And one state Senate report to throw in here in New York, state political guru Bill Mahoney of Politico New York writes, it looks like New York Democrats will wind up with their largest majority in the state Senate since 1846. That's even before I started. The exit polling nationally again in the Congress indicated that House voting nationwide was reflecting that same pattern again and again, as I mentioned in the Pennsylvania race. Counties dominated by working class whites had swung 14 or 15 points away from Trump and to the Democrats. Representative Greg Kayser of Texas, the leader of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said, quote, this is a mandate to deliver big change. Tonight is the beginning of the end of the Trump era. Tomorrow we begin building the better world that comes next. So at least the Democrats understand what they have accomplished here. And we're not all going to have to tell them, hey, focus. Governors. Greg Abbott has lost Texas by around 15 points, nearly matching the Tallarico victory over Paxton. Abbott claimed felons had voted. That's why he lost. What, Greg? Four million felons voted against you? Your problem was more like no felons voted. Abbott had said yesterday of Gina Honejosa, when a candidate running for governor thinks they can fool the voters, they pay the price every single time. Greg! Greg! You got one right. You're showing unsuspected depth. Congratulations to Governor-elect Amy Acton of Ohio, a win in the six-point range over the despicable Vivek Ramaswamy, who reportedly had already fueled up his plane in the middle of the afternoon yesterday to get out of town in a hurry. We're hoping that Acton's birth mother hitched a ride with him. Keisha Lance Bottoms, first black woman governor in American history of Georgia. And there's further meaning behind that, of course. If John Ossoff or Raphael Warnock were to run for president in 2028 and say, win, and maybe it's President Ossoff, the governor who would appoint his replacement to the Senate from Georgia would be Democratic Governor Bottoms. David Crowley, Wisconsin's first black governor, by six or seven over Congressman Tom Tiffany, who turned out to be just another fake Republican diamond. Governor Klobuchar in Minnesota, Governor Benson in Michigan. And guess what? It will stay New Mexico. Deb Haaland, Biden's Secretary of the Interior, is the first Native American governor of New Mexico. likely to be more than a dozen points over the Republican there. Ned Lamont, third-term Democratic governor of Connecticut. Rob Sand, Democratic governor of Iowa with an asterisk. He said he would work with Republicans. Of course, with Senator-elect Turek, the Democrat, and Chuck Presley's age now possibly determined only by radioactive carbon-14 dating, the question becomes for Governor-elect Sand, where are you going to find any Republicans in Iowa today? Byron Donalds, good news, bad news, you're the new governor of Florida. The bad news is you're a Trump guy and you're pretty much by yourself, big fella. Sorry. And in Texas, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, no, the other one, who said during COVID, you should die so your grandchildren's economy wouldn't be hurt, lost re-election as lieutenant governor. All right, what's next? I'm not sure, but I believe it involves a lot of subpoenas and incoming House chairman telling everybody in the Trump administration. And I mean, everybody in the Trump administration to, as they say, preserve all documents, please. As I said on the podcast on Monday, this makes Trump a lame duck with just two months. two months left to get anybody approved as a judge anywhere if the Democrats don't try to make some sort of deal. I mean, I suppose you could put in a traffic court judge somewhere in exchange for the dismantling of ICE or something, but if any Democrat listens long enough to the argument that there should be a new Supreme Court justice or a hearing, they have to self-defenestrate. So, on the same subject, if If Sam Alito and or Clarence Thomas go missing in the next couple of days, check Trump's whereabouts at the time in question. So starting January 3, when this new Democratic House and Democratic Senate come into play, not one Trump nominee, not one from traffic court to Supreme Court should be approved. If the Senate does this, then Chuck Schumer needs to self-deport. And ICE and the Iran war has to be cut out of the House budget. No money. Hegseth, Bill Pulte, Brendan Carr have to be impeached, along with anybody else who holds still long enough for the hearings. Internationally, despite rumors of negotiations and his underwhelmingly received revelation yesterday morning that U.S. aid to Israel, $ 4 billion a year, will end at year's end because he says Netanyahu told him Israel doesn't need the $ 4 billion anymore. Trump is still likely now, as a lame duck with a little operating room in the next two months, still likely now to escalate the war in Iran in some way, possibly still going for what Netanyahu promised regime change because he knows it will get Netanyahu another term as the head honcho in Israel. under those circumstances. And as I mentioned before, the final margins will dictate this utterly and in terms of its strength. But I think there is enough here to scare Republicans thinking about 2028 and ever holding office again at any level, whether that's presidential bid or just staying in the House or staying in the Senate. They have to now ask themselves this question, not just looking around the wreckage of the people they will never see again, who yesterday were senators and congressmen, They have to ask themselves, can you afford to still be tied to Donald Trump? Should you say you have never heard the word MAGA before and you don't know what it stands for? Should you be saying, is that some sort of hi-fi system for a stereo record player? Does it play my 78s? And what about those Republicans who want to be the 48th president? What about those who want the gloss of MAGA without the baggage of Donald Trump? What about Vance and Rubio? Who the hell cares? Democratic landslide. Enjoy it. Enjoy it. Enjoy it. And Merry Christmas a little bit early. A full Countdown podcast drops at midnight on Wednesday, Thursday morning. This has been a Countdown Bulletin podcast. I'm Keith Olbermann. Thank you for your attention to this matter. Countdown with Keith Olbermann is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.