Sit down, Don, you fat motherf---!

Democrats have won the biggest landslide (D+15) in any election since 1974, with the possible exception of 1976. And what happened in 1974? That's right: the previous champion in the Most Corrupt President in History contest got his ass handed to him. Because no matter how anyone tries to spin it, the biggest loser of the night was the OAFPOTUS. He wanted everyone to pretend he was on the ballot yesterday. Well, everyone did.

We're still counting votes, with two Senate seats (Alaska and—no shit!—Mississippi) still too close to call, not to mention a few House races, including the Colorado 4th where danger-to-herself-and-others Lauren Boebert is close to losing to RAdm. Eileen Laubacher (USN, ret.). In the results we do know:

• The North Carolina State House has swung decisively to Democratic control, while three State Senate seats have not been decided. Democrats only need one to take control of that body, which would give them the opportunity to undo the mid-decade redistricting farce the Republicans thrust upon the state last year.
• Democrats won every statewide office in Texas but one, and shifted the State Supreme Court from 9-0 Republican to 5-4.
• Democrats flipped five governor races, including Georgia, Iowa, Nevada, Ohio, and Texas, the race in Kansas too close to call and in Alaska likely to go to ranked-choice counting.
• Almost every county in the country shifted left, as did every demographic group, most notably hispanics (D+28), Asians (D+17), and people without college degrees (D+18).
• Sadly, every judge up for retention in my county survived, including the the three rated "unqualified" by more than one bar association. The one whom almost all the judicial watch groups wanted to get rid of squeaked in with 61.8% (60% is required to stay on the bench). People, read your fucking judicial guides!

And now, the analysis:

• The Economist applauds the rebuke to the OAFPOTUS: "Mr Trump has had the party in a headlock for a decade. Politicians who have, willingly and reluctantly, pledged their fealty to him now face a difficult choice. Criticise Mr Trump and he may try to end their career in a primary. Cling to him and he could end their career in the general."
• Radley Balko insists that Democrats need to hold the OAFPOTUS to account, and worries that presumptive House Speaker Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) is already looking to let things slip by: "If we don’t make it clear that this administration’s violence, racism, corruption, and crime are aberrant and intolerable, we’ll instead make clear that they’re neither. And we’ll make it easier for the next Trump, the next time around."
• Brian Beutler also wants Democrats to use their mandate: "I beg of everyone to ask themselves what Republicans, in their panic, are telling themselves this morning about how they lost the biggest midterm landslide since at least Watergate: Was it that they mismanaged the marginal price of things? Or was it that Lindsey Graham’s old prophecy ('If we nominate Trump, we will get destroyed...and we will deserve it') finally came true?"
• Adam Kinzinger also wants accountability: "Democrats will have the solemn responsibility to investigate the mind-blowing corruption of the Trump administration. There’s no telling how deep it goes and there will be more than any one committee can handle. Democracy prevailed last night. Now let’s go restore its foundations, hold the corrupt accountable, and build a brighter future for this country we love so much."
• Paul Krugman concurs "it wasn't just the economy:" "The main point for now is that MAGA took 2024 as proof that Americans want fascism, and acted on that premise. But tens of millions of Americans in effect said, no, that is not what we want. That is not who we are."
• Matt Ford attributes the failure of the MAGA movement to being "very, very stupid:" "Trumpism is not a protest against how the world works. It is a rejection of the very concept of knowing how the world works. Ignorance is a virtue, and knowledge is a vice."
• Molly White loves that the crypto and AI industries spent $250 million losing: "Of the twelve competitive races called so far, the side backed by crypto and AI super PACs lost nine. The PACs spent $74.7 million on the losing side of those races, compared to $28.3 million on the winning side. You can expect a very different story out of the industry. I have written before about these PACs’ 'back the winners' strategy, where they toss relatively small amounts of cash behind near-certain winners, both to buy (or reward) loyalty and to juice their win rates."
• Multiple news outlets also tried desperately to maintain their neutrality while reporting that Elon Musk's $450 million failed at every level of Texas politics. He moved to Texas because he wanted to live in a red state, and now he lives in a blue one. Poetry.
• Anne Applebaum hopes this is a stake in the heart of autocracy, but fears it's just one battle in a longer war: "Americans can also be cheered by the fact that despite everything, people all over the country voted today, as is their right. There were no meaningful attempts to stop the vote. Turnout in many places was significant. Over the past eighteen months, I’ve heard many people wonder out loud whether ordinary citizens, playing by the rules, could fight back against an autocratic president and shape their country’s future. And it turns out, they can."
• Yascha Mounk has six big thoughts about last night and Matt Yglesias has 17, with a bit of overlap: "[A]ll political eras must end eventually, and the Trump Era likely ended last night. The rebuke which the American people have delivered to him is profound. The reasons are many: inflation, corruption, the war of choice with Iran, the wanton cruelty of the administration, and much more. The most important reason is even more simple: Trump made huge promises in 2016, and again in 2024. Nobody believes them anymore."
• Even Jeff Maurer sees something hopeful as "reality is populism's Kryptonite:" "A politician like Trump who promises quick fixes will eventually have to contend with the fact that the narrative they spun to voters was utter bullshit. Trump’s extreme policy ignorance virtually guaranteed failure. Trump finally promised too many ponies and too many sex robots. He will probably spend the next two years elevating the word 'ineffective' to dizzying new heights."

It's a great day to be a Democrat. Now we need party leadership to get it through their muddled heads that the time for accountability is nigh.