National security enjoyer. Former head of TSA Public Affairs, DHS Director of Speechwriting, Journalist. Views expressed are mine and correct.
Washington, D.C.
Joined June 2012
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By decree of his excellency General George Washington, commander in chief of the Continental Army, on this July 4th, in honor of our Independence Day:
Americans are to refrain from all blackpilling, squabbling, complaining and mogging (exceptions made for mogging Europeans).
All good citizens shall be expected to be merry, patriotic, andof a general happy temperament.
Criticism of size and quantity of fireworks displays, aircraft flyovers, and food and alcohol consumption shall not be accepted and offenders will be shot.
The reason for the Republicans’ midterm massacre is because voters believe Trump abandoned them on preventing future wars and affordability.
That’s it.
The exit polls and data show it.
Anyone trying to philosophize beyond that is (probably) trying to sell you something.
A key takeaway from the midterm is that principles are no longer a driving factor for many voters.
Data shows millions of folks who came out for Trump in 24 turned on him last night—just as they turned on Biden after voting for him in 2020.
These people are voting purely for whoever they perceive will give them what they want in the immediate. They are not going to give anyone a second chance.
A refreshingly candid and honest take.
One of the things the data analysts on our side obsessed over was "composition"—whether the electorate looked close enough to 2024 for Republicans to win. And despite polls that showed a Democrat blowout, the data kept on telling us the same story: in some states turnout was merely OK, in other states it was downright amazing, and in no state was it catastrophic. There was a genuine sense of optimism on our team: our people were showing up.
So, I asked the smartest data guy I know, does that mean we're going to shock the world? "No," he told me. "We might do better than the polls suggest. But the data is telling us that a lot of Trump/Vance 2024 voters are pissed and planning to vote for the other guys. Our voters are turning out, but they may not vote for us."
Well, that looks prophetic now. Our voters did show up. In Florida, for example, the electorate was 9 points more Republican than Democrat, just a couple points worse than 2024. Undoubtedly there were places we could have done better on turnout. But the main problem is not turnout. The main problem is that many people who voted for Trump/Vance in 2024 voted for Democrats in 2026.
There will be a lot of infighting and arguing over what happened and why that is. One of the pollsters I really respect told me that our economic messaging wasn’t sharp enough down the stretch. I’m sure that’s true.
But the real reason we lost is obvious to almost everyone.
Another pollster—one of the smartest people I know in politics, told me yesterday we’d lose the generic ballot by 13 points. I felt negative going into Tuesday, but even I was shocked by this. In his polling, he saw that a lot of Trump 2024 voters were angry and planning to vote for Democrats. He asked those voters who had abandoned us what would cause them to come back on our team. The top four answers, accounting for nearly all of the responses were:
1) End the war
2) Focus on cost of living/inflation
3) Put America First
4) Change our relationship to Israel
Our voters showed up. And the above four reasons are why many of them voted for Democrats. This is according to a pollster who nailed the results. While many spent Monday attacking Rachel Campos Duffy for calling for a diplomatic resolution to the conflict, it turns out her political advice was sound. (She’s also a great person.)
In the next few months, there's going to be a lot of gaslighting. Expect to hear any number of establishment politicians say the solution to our woes is amnesty. I'm open to the idea that we should change enforcement—by focusing more on businesses that hire illegal labor, for instance. But anyone pushing amnesty is lying to you.
The reason we lost is the war. The president himself said so last night.
If you'd like to argue it was worth it, that losing the Senate for the next 6 years was worth it, then do so. Argue it was a worthwhile cost to pay. Agree or disagree, that's at least honest.
But everyone knows why we lost. And any honest conversation about where we go from here must start there.
I remain hopeful about our country. To the people who are pissed off and want to say, “I told you so”: you’re right, you did tell us so. Take that energy into electing Republicans who share your worldview. To the people who are just pissed at the results, you should be. Let’s take that anger and get back to the work of saving our country.
Russ Read retweeted
Reddit is absolute cancer that’s done legit, measurable harm to the world. The sooner it’s gone, the better.
The site is full of truly evil people who should be in prison… it’s THAT bad.
> be reddit
> foster culture of rampant anti-capitalist woke circlejerking on the platform
> advertisers can’t make $ from ads b/c reddit users are commies who think all businesses are evil
> realize only way to profit is to license content to AI labs for training
> AI labs already scraped all the content
> require login to prevent future scraping
> SEO traffic goes to zero
> usage drops 90%
> die a slow unremarkable death
If Isa Casahuga’s apology is sincere, she should be prepared to accept the consequences of her actions.
If she’s sincere, all good Christians should forgive her… but she should still face consequences.
Forgiveness doesn’t absolve the offender of punishment.
Russ Read retweeted
I am the grumpiest person I know, and I affirmed every single child of over 300 of them with their costumes, face paint etc. I was so impressed how many kids said please and thank you. It gave me faith in humanity. I used to live in SF where there were no children. At least DC has kids!
Russ Read retweeted
Parents, PLEASE check your kids’ Halloween candy. I just found a Snickers bar filled with Justin Herbert interceptions.
Russ Read retweeted
Eye-popping increases in regulatory costs for home builders in @WSJ today: "new building codes.. have forced builders to construct more complex and expensive homes."
Russ Read retweeted
Much of this description could easily apply to Rhodes himself during the Obama-era Syria catastrophe, particularly when it came to Assad’s use of chemical weapons. Perhaps projection is a form of progressive atonement now. Rather awkward, however, that Rhodes is clearly going after his fellow National Security Action colleagues, Jake Sullivan and Jon Finer. What those think tank all-hands must look like!
This from @brhodes is probably the best description of how the Democratic foreign policy elite has gone about the mundane perpetuation of US power in the post-Obama era.
Russ Read retweeted
JUST IN: Johannesburg, South Africa, is reportedly on the brink of a "total collapse" of its water system as worsening shortages leave residents without running water for weeks.
It’s all a scam until proven otherwise at this point.
The FBI says it has identified more than 830,000 potentially fraudulent federal student aid accounts tied to stolen U.S. citizens’ personal information. Investigators report more than $32 million in losses so far, with five defendants charged and $750,000 in cryptocurrency seized.
For more updates, watch OAN on OAN Live or click the link in our bio.
The collective blood pressure of Charlotte just dropped significantly.
BREAKING: The #Panthers have fired DC Ejiro Evero, per @JFowlerESPN.
Evero has been Carolina's DC since 2023.
