Politics

Marco Rubio, the so-called "Secretary of Everything" in the Trump administration, has vigorously rejected the idea that he is about to resign. "I don’t know where these things come from, to be honest with you," he told the New York Times, following reports in the Independent and Bloomberg that, after the crushing midterms, he would be stepping down to work on his 2028 presidential bid. "I love the work I’m doing… And plus I always laugh when they say he’s going to leave his job. I go, 'Which one?'" But where did those reports come from? The Independent story, which came first, cited "senior party sources and senior figures in the UK government." The UK government? That seems a bit rum.

Now that the Democrats have secured majorities in the House and Senate, what will they do? “I heard they submitted articles of impeachment this morning!” said one gentleman to his cellphone as I passed him near Columbus Circle. I didn’t recognize him but the odds are pretty good that he spoke with the full authority of the Party.  After all, impeaching Donald Trump was the mandate of the millions of voters who turned out on Tuesday for the sole purpose of freeing the nation from this would-be king. On the other hand, a lot of those voters took the time to explain to pollsters and journalists that their top issue was the cost of living in the United States, rephased as “affordability,” or simply “the economy.

Amid yesterday’s blue deluge, a number of interesting ballot initiatives – a citizen-initiated referendum on a particular measure – were also voted on. Cockburn has compiled some significant or curious ones for your reading pleasure... California billionaire wealth tax – Failed  Proposition 40, which would have levied a one-off 5 percent tax on the net worth of the state’s billionaires, has been defeated 56 percent to 44 percent. Bernie Sanders supported the measure, but Governor Gavin Newsom was not in favor, and Silicon Valley funded the opposition.

There’s a wonderful old gospel song called “Ain’t Nobody’s Fault But Mine.” That phrase has never passed the lips of Donald Trump, and he’s not about to start uttering it now. But a lot of other Republicans are at least whispering it, and a few are singing openly from the hymnal. They point to President Trump’s over-promising and under-delivering on the pledges he made in 2024. They also note that he told voters this year to think of him as being “on the ballot,” at least in spirit.  The spirit was willing but the ballot box was weak. The Republicans didn’t just lose.

“I’m going to become a Political Pundit, both good and bad, on the reasons these Candidates won and lost!” So concluded Donald Trump, nonsensically, as his party’s disastrous midterm results came crashing in. Trump, now 80, is becoming less and less coherent. In a speech on Monday, he claimed: “I’ve actually kept far more promises than I made.” On the campaign trail, he kept talking about Senator Jon Husted’s “powerful” bottom. And now, as the colossal wreck of his leadership emerges, he’s taken to fantasizing madly about alternative careers. “If people in the United States get fed up with me,” he said this week, “I’ll move to Israel and become prime minister.