… This Bulletin is out two hours earlier than normal because I wanted to release it before the polls closed as people settled in to watch the election results roll in. I will also be going live on the MeidasTouch podcast channel at 5:45 ET to talk about all the latest.
… Trump started off the day on Fox & Friends where he made a surprise announcement that sent shockwaves through militantly pro-Israel Republicans as well as the Israeli government. He said that he wants to cut off aid to Israel by the end of the year:
“We’ve already agreed that by the end of this year we won’t be paying Israel.”
“We were giving Israel $4 billion, but it gets cut off at the end of the year. Host: Why? Trump: Why? Because they don’t need it.”
“I’m at 99% approval rating in Israel. If people ever got tired of me in the US, I’ll move to Israel and become PM. I have the highest approval rating in Israel of anyone in history.”
… CNN’s Alayna Treene: “Notable Trump brought this up - unsolicited - on Election Day and acknowledged US aid to Israel is a potent ‘talking point’ that Democrats have used against Republicans.”
… Fox Business host Stuart Varney had Sen. Dave McCormick (R-PA) on right after Trump’s comments: “It sure looks like he’s pandering to the anti-Israel sentiment that’s developing in Congress, doesn’t it? I mean, is he really trying to win some votes at the last minute with this?”
… Varney then had Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) on: Q - “Trump told Fox that he will end all aid to Israel by the end of the year. Do you think the president is trying to jump onboard with the anti-Israel sentiment and pull in some last minute votes? Is that what he was up to. Scott: I don’t have any idea. I can tell you that I support Israel.”
… There is a segment of the MAGA base that is against aid to Israel, and I suspect that Trump was just given some polling data which suggested that his staunch support for Netanyahu and Israel may cause a turnout issue for some. There is really no other way to explain the timing of this bombshell.
Q - “What is your final pitch to voters? Trump: Well, we have to keep America great. We are great now and we were terrible two years ago. We were a laughingstock all over the world. We’re hot now, we’re the hottest country in the world. We’re respected by everybody. When President Xi was here he said it was amazing what I’ve done.”
Q - What’s next on Iran after the midterms? Trump: I’m not looking to kill lots of people, but if we have to, we’ll have to.”
“Europe has been good. They just gave the US the greatest gift were ever given. You know what it was? Greenland. We got Greenland.”
“I think the results are going to be better than you think. I did a tour and those stadiums were packed - I think it will have a great effect.”
… Politico: “They’ve spent months ‘war gaming’ and ‘table-topping’ for this moment. Now Democratic state AGs are bracing for the real thing: running an election while Trump controls the levers of federal power. They say that where once foreign powers and overseas cyber threats were their primary concern, today it’s federal agencies being run by a man who has famously refused to accept election results when he or his allies lose.”
… CA AG Rob Bonta: “He is the threat. He’s the interference.”
… “Courts in recent weeks have brushed back the admin’s attempts to force CA to sequester ballots, block certification in AK and threaten election workers nationwide with criminal prosecution.
… Bonta said he’s confident states are ready to respond to the admin’s actions. But he said two things are still keeping him up at night: The prospect that federal agencies will seek to seize or sequester ballots from local election officials before they are counted; and the potential presence of federal agents or military near polling places.
… Washington AG Nick Brown said he’s also confident the elections will go smoothly, but he has a different fear than Bonta’s: rogue county election officials. Though the vast majority of election workers do their jobs honorably under increased pressure and scrutiny, he said some had taken a page from Trump’s book on election fraud.”
… Brown: “I worry a lot about a number of people I would consider election deniers in positions of authority.”
… DOJ sent out an army of over 1,000 “election monitors” around the country. Elections experts noted that the vast majority of the places they were sent to are Democratic strongholds, many of which have high concentrations of Black and Hispanic voters.
… CA Gov. Gavin Newsom: “We passed a law to make it a felony specifically related to the chain of custody of ballots or machines. If they mess with that, Trump can’t pardon them. We’ll prosecute them.”
… CBS: “Voting machines at most polling sites in Westchester County, NY, were not accepting election ballots Tuesday morning due to an undefined issue, according to the county executive. The scanners started experiencing problems when the polls opened at 6 AM.
… Voters are being instructed to stay in line and fill out a paper ballot, which will be placed in orange emergency ballot bags to be counted later. The NY Board of Elections said there is no disruption to voting.”
… Statement: “Long-established emergency ballot procedures have been implemented, where completed ballots are secured, under bipartisan control, and will be counted. While technical issues can be frustrating, contingency procedures exist for precisely these circumstances.”
… NY AG Letitia James: “Westchester voters can still safely fill out and turn in their ballots at their polling locations. Your votes will count.”
… WNBC (NY) citing a statement from Westchester County: “Voting machine problems across Westchester County on Election Day! The culprit: paper ballots that are too thick for the machines to accept. The Board of Elections says ballots will be secure and every vote will be counted.”
… It is Rep. Mike Lawler’s (R-NY) district.
… Pollster Adam Carlson: “Westchester County represents over 40% of NY-17, and is the only blue county in the district. Hoping they resolve this quickly, but if they don’t and Westchester reporting is delayed, the initial results reported tonight (out of Dutchess, Putnam and Rockland) will be artificially red.”
… City & State NY reporter Rebecca Lewis: “Westchester source tells me that a complicating factor in trying to solve the voting machine issue is the fact the local GOP elections commissioner, Douglas Colety, was a no-show for Election Day (no time off requested). His deputies have been running things.”
Some of you may be reading this before the results are in, some during, and some after. Obviously I am writing this well before we know anything. Tomorrow there is no Bulletin because I do my weekly podcast Uncovered. We will devote this entire episode recapping the midterms with lots of analysis on the results and implications heading into 2027.
If you missed yesterday’s Bulletin, you can find it here.
… Gas Market Analyst Patrick De Haan: “New election day record: the highest ever national average for gasoline and diesel prices ever on election day. $4.12/gallon for gasoline, $6.28/gallon for diesel.”
… Pete Buttigieg on CNN compared the situation now with gas prices going up under Biden:
“This isn’t happening because of Covid. The gas prices aren’t happening because Putin started a war. Gas prices are happening because Trump started a war. Mortgage rates are over 7% because the Trump admin decided to give away $1 trillion in tax breaks to corporations and the wealthiest people in the country and blew up the deficit while doing so.”
“It’s not even that they tried and failed to lower costs. It’s that their choices have actively, directly increased costs. And they don’t care.”
“I actually think Speaker Johnson may have said it best today. He said this election is common sense versus crazy. For most voters, common sense is that Republicans should not have cut Medicaid. Common sense is we should not be at war with Iran right now.
Crazy is having the leader of the free world and the head of the Republican party, on