THREE BRIEF POINTS…
By Terence Smith
- OVER THE YEARS, politicians have argued that the next election (in which they just happened to be a candidate,) was…”The most important election of our lifetimes…” They have used this tired cliche again and again. Today, just 48 hours before the 2026 Midterm elections, with the control of both houses of Congress teetering, and a frightening two final years of the Trump Era just ahead, it has never seemed more true.
- TRUMP IS LOSING IT. If you harbor any doubts on this, just watch any of the 28 rallies the 47th President of the United States conducted in safely Red states in the run-up to Tuesday’s election. Or, read the remarkable, two-column lead story in today’s November 1, 2026, print edition of The New York Times. Headline: “Trump’s Speech Becomes More Vulgar and Muddled.” Subhead: “His Appearances Onstage at 80 Are Raising Questions About Age and Stability” Indeed they are. Using an AI analysis of the President’s long, rambling remarks, the authors, Peter Baker and Dylan Freedman, conclude that Trump, in his advanced years, is speaking at a fourth or fifth-grade level. That seems about right, but I am not sure a fourth or fifth grader could get away with saying “Norway sucks!” And “Norway has become a shit-house country!” Just because the Nobel Prize committee passed him up again for the Peace Prize.
- ISRAEL HELD AN ELECTION AND NOBODY WON. True, the voters gave Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s reactionary, right-wing coalition a few more seats than his opposition bloc, but not enough to command a majority in the Knesset, the parliament. Stay tuned for some fierce bargaining in the days and weeks ahead. One obvious solution: the Opposition bloc could summon the political courage to embrace one or more of the successful Arab-Israeli parties and take the country into a new and more progressive era. (Don’t hold your breath!)