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Nov 5, 2020

The left just got crushed

When every legally cast vote has been counted, Joe Biden will probably have prevailed in enough states to claim victory in the presidential race, perhaps even ending up with a few more Electoral Votes than Donald Trump managed to earn four years ago. That means Trump will probably be out, defeated in his bid for re-election.But this is not a moment for Democrats to celebrate.In the expectations game, the Democratic Party whiffed and whiffed badly. The Biden campaign and its allies managed to drive up turnout — but so did Trump. Republicans put up a hell of a fight, and not just, or even mainly, in the battle for the White House. Democrats have almost certainly failed to win a Senate majority, and so far they have lost some ground in the House as well (while still on track to maintain control of the lower chamber of Congress).That means that Biden is on track to be a weak, ineffectual president governing at the mercy of Mitch McConnell's Machiavellian machinations.So much for the Democratic fantasy — the one that seemingly never dies — of unobstructed rule. Democrats didn't just want to win and govern in the name of a deeply divided nation's fractured sense of the common good. No, they wanted to lead a moral revolution, to transform the country — not only enacting a long list of new policies, but making a series of institutional changes that would entrench their power far into the future. Pack the Supreme Court. Add left-leaning states. Break up others to give the left huge margins in the Senate. Get rid of the Electoral College. Abolish the police. Rewrite the nation's history, with white supremacy and racism placed "at the very center." Ensure "equity" not just in opportunity but in outcomes. Hell, maybe they'd even establish a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to teach everyone who voted for or supported the 45th president just how evil they really are.No wonder so many Republicans turned out to vote. Democrats proved to be the most effective GOTV operation for the GOP imaginable.Yes, Trump and the Republican cheerleading section online and on cable news and talk radio harped on every extreme proposal. But this wasn't just a function of the fallacy of composition, where one loony activist says something off the wall and the GOP amplifies it far beyond reason in order to tar the opposition unfairly. These were prominent Democrats — progressive politicians, activists, and scholars and prize-winning journalists at leading cultural institutions — talking this way. Joe Biden himself usually did the smart thing and tried to distance himself from the most radical proposals. But in the end it wasn't enough to mollify fears of an ascendant left hell bent on entrenching itself in power and enacting institutional reforms that would enable it to lead a moral, political, and cultural revolution.And therein lies a paradox that should be obvious but apparently isn't: Democrats live in a country with a large, passionate opposition. Arrogant talk of demographic inevitabilities and transformative changes to lock Republicans out of power in the name of "democracy" has the effect of inspiring that opposition to unite against them, rendering political success less assured and more tenuous.There will be no court packing. No added states. Nothing from the toxic progressive-fantasy wishlist will come anywhere close to passing. Instead, we will have grinding, obstructive gridlock. Some will demand that Biden push through progressive priorities by executive order. But every time he does — like every incident of urban rioting and looting, every effort to placate the left-wing "Squad" in the House, every micro-targeted identity-politics box-checking display of intersectional moral preening and finger-wagging — the country will move closer to witnessing a conservative backlash that results in Republicans taking control of the House and increasing their margin in the Senate in November 2022, rendering the Biden administration even more fully dead in the water.That's the playbook. We saw it in 1994, when Republicans leveraged opposition to Bill Clinton's effort to pass health-care reform into a successful effort to take control of the House for the first time in 40 years. We saw it again in 2010, when Republicans leveraged opposition to Barack Obama's successful push to pass the Affordable Care Act into the largest shift of seats in the House in 62 years (and far bigger than the one Democrats managed two years into the Trump administration in 2018). This time the leverage is likely to come from culture-war conflict, but the Republican strategy will be the same.And that's probably the best-case scenario. It will be far worse if Trump somehow finds enough votes (or sympathetic judges) to enable him to hold onto power by the narrowest of margins, or if he encourages acts of militia-fueled violence in the wake of him failing to find those votes.Those scenarios wouldn't have been possible if the race hadn't ended up as close as it did.But it did. And that should give Democrats serious pause. For four years Donald Trump has proven himself a corrupt, mendacious ignoramus utterly unfit for the position he holds. He's led the nation through a pandemic that has left nearly a quarter million dead, is currently surging unchecked across the country, and has devastated the economy. And yet, the current tally shows him beating his showing from 2016 by 3.7 million votes. Trump may well come up short where it counts, but he still gained ground with the electorate relative to four years ago.So please, Democrats, look in the mirror and show a little humility. You're not nearly as self-evidently wonderful or widely loved as you'd like to believe. You are not destined to prevail anywhere. You share a country with a large group of people who hate your guts, and who aren't going to submit to your rule or go along with your giddy plans to remake the nation in your image. It's time to start acting like you understand this implacable fact and all it implies about the limits of your power and the parameters of the possible.American politics is a war of attrition right now. The sooner Democrats learn to live with that fact, the better.More stories from theweek.com A Biden presidency might essentially be over before it can begin Biden has now received more votes for president than any other candidate in U.S. history Critics shoot down Trump campaign's unfounded victory declaration in Pennsylvania

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The view in Wisconsin: Biden holds a slim lead after nearly all votes are counted. - The New York Times

The view in Wisconsin: Biden holds a slim lead after nearly all votes are counted. The New York Times
Biden moves closer to the presidency as Trump launches legal challenges CNN
EXPLAINER: Why AP called Arizona for Biden KOLD
America wakes up to a near worst-case scenario | Will Bunch Newsletter The Philadelphia Inquirer
Face it, Democrats: We're a center left democracy hijacked by Trump and Republicans USA TODAY
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McConnell says he wants coronavirus deal by end of year | TheHill - The Hill

McConnell says he wants coronavirus deal by end of year | TheHill The Hill
Mitch McConnell wins Kentucky Senate race, defeating Amy McGrath Vox.com
McConnell says stimulus bill is top priority when Senate returns The Washington Post
Mitch McConnell wins reelection in Kentucky, defeating Democrat Amy McGrath CNN
EXPLAINER: Why AP called Kentucky for Mitch McConnell Associated Press
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Martin Luther King Jr.'s Children Hit Back at Mitch McConnell for Mentioning Him in Victory Speech - Newsweek

Martin Luther King Jr.'s Children Hit Back at Mitch McConnell for Mentioning Him in Victory Speech Newsweek
Election live updates: McConnell discounts Trump's claim of victory; Biden ahead in Wisconsin, Michigan Tulsa World
Sen. McConnell wins 7th term in Kentucky Yahoo News
Sick of staring at that static electoral map? Social media memes offer different take Charlotte Observer
Mitch McConnell projected to beat Amy McGrath's well-funded challenge The Week
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Pet Valu retailer to liquidate US operations with 358 store closings, warehouse shut downs - USA TODAY

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Hollywood turned its nose up at horror — now streamers are racing for the next big scare - The Verge

Hollywood turned its nose up at horror — now streamers are racing for the next big scare The Verge

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Sofia Richie and Matthew Morton Fuel Romance Rumors With a Kiss - E! NEWS

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Ryan Fitzpatrick pays tribute to ex-teammate Isaiah Ford following trade - South Florida Sun Sentinel

Ryan Fitzpatrick pays tribute to ex-teammate Isaiah Ford following trade South Florida Sun Sentinel
Patriots, Dolphins make deals at NFL trade deadline | Pro Football Talk | NBC Sports NBC Sports
Miami Dolphins trade WR Isaiah Ford to New England Patriots ESPN
Goodbye Isaiah Ford: Breaking down Dolphins' trade decisions The Athletic
Why the Patriots added Isaiah Ford and Isaiah Mack on Tuesday Pats Pulpit
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After taking Michigan, Joe Biden is technically within one state — Pennsylvania — of the White House

Michigan has 16 electoral votes and is not expected by analysts to be particularly competitive.

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Royal Caribbean, Norwegian, Carnival Corp. cancel cruises through the end of the year

Royal Caribbean Group, Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. and Carnival Corp. announced they will cancel most sailings through the end of 2020.

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NC man says he was told at polls to cast second ballot. ‘How was I able to vote twice?’

“There’s definitely a flaw in the system, for sure. That’s concerning.”

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Flash of luck: Astronomers find cosmic radio burst source

A flash of luck helped astronomers solve a cosmic mystery: What causes powerful but fleeting radio bursts that zip and zigzag through the universe? Scientists have known about these energetic pulses — called fast radio bursts — for about 13 years and have seen them coming from outside our galaxy, which makes it harder to trace them back to what's causing them. Then this April, a rare but considerably weaker burst coming from inside our own Milky Way galaxy was spotted by two dissimilar telescopes: one a California doctoral student’s set of handmade antenna s, which included actual cake pans, the other a $20 million Canadian observatory.

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Israeli airlines are rushing to launch flights to Dubai by the end of the year as demand reportedly spikes

Israelis are so eager to visit the United Arab Emirates that some airlines are moving up flights to closer dates than initially announced.

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Judge orders Election Day sweep for missing mail ballots, including in South Florida

A federal judge ordered the U.S. Postal Service to sweep mail facilities for undelivered ballots on Election Day in areas nationwide, including South Florida.

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Republican Madison Cawthorn reacts to becoming youngest member of Congress: 'Cry more, lib'

North Carolina Republican Madison Cawthorn will become the youngest member in Congress, a title now held by Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

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Portland, Oregon, mayor declares win after tight contest

The mayor of Portland, Oregon, declared victory Wednesday after a bruising campaign that sandwiched him between a tough challenger to his political left and anger from moderate voters and business owners frustrated with five months of near-nightly protests that made the city a frequent lightning rod for President Donald Trump. Mayor Ted Wheeler said he had a clear mandate with more than 90% of the vote counted and was energized by his win. Challenger Sarah Iannarone, who has never held an elected office, said late Tuesday that she was going to bed and urged her supporters to wait until every vote had been counted.

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Trump sounds 'exhausted'

President Trump just capped off a frantic effort in the final stretch of his re-election campaign, holding multiple rallies a day several days in a row, including five apiece on Sunday and Monday. And it sounds like the hectic schedule has taken a toll.The president appeared on Fox & Friends on Tuesday morning as polls opened around the country, and many observers noted that he sounded exhausted.> I've never heard Trump sound like this. There was a clear difference in his demeanor and energy level between Kenosha & Grand Rapids last night. https://t.co/kJJO6CHYKC> > -- John T. Bennett (@BennettJohnT) November 3, 2020Even his rhetoric was a bit toned down -- Trump has stirred controversy throughout the campaign over how he may react to results on election night, and there have been reports (which he's denied) that he's planning to declare a premature victory if ahead. But on Tuesday, Trump merely said he'll declare victory "when there's victory, if there's victory ... there's no reason to play games." > An exhausted-sounding Trump on when he'll declare victory: "When there's victory. If there's victory ... there's no reason to play games." pic.twitter.com/MiuuPjTe1E> > -- Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) November 3, 2020More stories from theweek.com COVID-19 keeps proving everyone wrong Is this the year the New South turns blue? Democrats' first priority

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Republicans have edge to keep Senate and block Biden if he wins

Senate Republicans kept several endangered seats, leaving them favored to retain a majority, and with it power to stymie a Biden administration if he's president.

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Many coronavirus patients may have only gastrointestinal symptoms, study says

And the number of people affected by these symptoms are likely an underestimate.

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Eta's second act: Florida now in storm's path after it made landfall in Nicaragua as Category 4

While it's too soon to determine Eta's intensity, timing and impacts from wind and rainfall, Florida should pay attention to this system.

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About 100K ballots left to be counted in Michigan

Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson says about 100,000 ballots still need to be counted in the state's tight presidential contest. (Nov. 4)

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Federal judge says he'll force USPS Postmaster General Louis DeJoy to show up in court and explain what happened to mail-in voting

Judge Emmet Sullivan accused the Postal Service of slow-walking his orders and threatened to depose the postmaster general.

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Man 'forced' to inform on fellow Uighurs for China is shot in Turkey

An Uighur man who claimed to have been forced to inform on fellow Uighurs to Chinese authorities has been hospitalised in a serious condition after being shot in Istanbul, Turkish media reported on Tuesday. Yusufujrang Aimaitijiang had gone outside to get cigarettes when he was shot twice on Monday evening, the private news agency DHA reported. Mr Aimaitijiang suffered injuries to his shoulder and arm while the gunman escaped, the DHA report said. Members of Turkey's Uighur community said Mr Aimaitijiang was also known as Yusupjan Emet and Yusuf Amat. Using the name Amat, he told Al Jazeera in February 2019 that he was forced to inform on fellow Uighurs by China. "My role was to feed information to officials. I reported on everything people did - what they ate, drank, what they did in private in their homes, whether it was friends or relatives, I shared it all," Amat said. He said he started spying in 2012 because his mother was taken hostage, and officials tortured her and threatened to keep her unless he agreed to cooperate. He claimed he had been sent to spy abroad between 2012 and 2018 in countries such as Afghanistan, Pakistan and Turkey, Al Jazeera reported. He added that Beijing has "countless" such informants across the world, some of whom also abduct Uighurs and bring them back to China. There are around 50,000 Uighur refugees in Turkey, which has linguistic and cultural connections with the Uighurs. Many have fled a crackdown on Uighur Muslims in northwest China, where camps and prisons have been used against them in the Xinjiang region. Beijing says they are vocational centres aimed at combating extremism. READ MORE: How Turkey is sending Muslim Uighurs back to China without breaking its promise Uighurs tell Australian inquiry of 'harassment' from China