A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo. Sign up for the email version.
High On Their Own Copium
Republicans are licking their wounds and surveying the carnage from yesterday’s election, but there’s no sign that it will break Donald Trump’s grip on the GOP.
You probably remember Trump’s immortal line from 2016: “We’re going to win so much, you may even get tired of winning.” The next line in that riff is the pièce de résistance: “Please, please, it’s too much winning. We can’t take it any more.”
Here’s how all that winning is looking right now 😭😭😭 …
- Former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) on Newsmax: “It was a secret sauce for disaster in Ohio. I don’t know what they were thinking. Thank goodness that most of the states in this country don’t allow you to put everything on the ballot because pure democracies are not the way to run a country.”
this Newsmax copium is actually hitting pretty good pic.twitter.com/7UpFEar53Y
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) November 8, 2023
- Sean Hannity on Fox News: “Democrats are trying to scare women into thinking Republicans don’t want abortion legal under any circumstances.”
- Newsmax anchor: “It does seem like the Republican Party generally has a real problem with winning.”
aw yeah this is the good shit pic.twitter.com/ivRA8AitOT
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) November 8, 2023
Headline Of The Day
“Democrats romp, Youngkin flops“
A Quick Recap
- Ohio: Voters enshrined abortion rights in the state constitution in another major backlash to Dobbs.
- Virginia: Democrats hold the state Senate and flip the state House to deny Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) statehouse control and to keep Virginia as the only Southern state without an abortion ban.
- Kentucky: Gov. Andy Beshear (D) was re-elected in a red state while campaigning for abortion rights.
- Mississippi: Gov. Tate Reeves (R) won re-election after a serious challenge from Democrat Brandon Presley.
- New Jersey: Democrats defied expectations and expanded their legislative majorities in both chamber.
Dobbs, Dobbs, Dobbs
- Semafor: Democrats’ post-Dobbs winning streak continues
- WSJ: Abortion-Rights Supporters Rack Up Victories, Putting GOP in Bind for 2024
- Politico: Abortion rights backers extend post-Dobbs winning streak in Ohio
- NYT: Abortion Rights Fuel Big Democratic Wins, and Hopes for 2024
2024 Ephemera
- The five remaining GOP presidential candidates sans Trump meet for their third primary debate tonight at 8 ET in Miami.
- CNN Poll: Trump leads Biden 49%-45% among registered voters.
- More real talk from Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA):
House Censures Tlaib
Nearly all House Republicans were joined by 22 House Democrats in censuring Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), the only Palestinian-American in Congress, for her criticisms of Israel generally and her defense of the rallying cry: “From the river to the sea.”
A Deeply Compelling Interview
I missed this from a couple of nights ago. CNN’s Anderson Cooper interviews Cali Callahan, a nurse with Médecins Sans Frontières who was trapped in Gaza when the war broke out and only made it out in the last week:
A Grim Farce
TPM’s Kate Riga on yesterday’s Supreme Court oral arguments over whether the government can ban domestic abusers from possessing firearms.
Ivanka’s Turn
Ivanka Trump is scheduled to testify today in the New York civil fraud trial against the Trump biz empire.
Still Nothing To See Here
Here’s what Hunter Biden Special Counsel David Weiss told the rabid Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee yesterday:
News You Can Use
Brian Beutler pulls back the curtain on one of political journalism’s biggest deficiencies:
The bad news, though, is that most political journalists are themselves political dorks who have hobbyist interest in p.r. strategy and political dark arts. And (as an ancillary benefit) so long as they’re focused on how various tactics and developments will affect opinion polling (Donald Trump wants to imprison his enemies—how will this go over in the Rust Belt?) they don’t have to trouble themselves with the nettlesome civic goal of helping to create an informed citizenry.
Preach, brother.
Behold!
The first images from the Euclid space telescope:
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