WASHINGTON, Nov 4 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump faced pressure from Republicans on Wednesday to change course after a midterm election rout handed Democrats control of Congress and voters rejected his handpicked candidates in key races.
Republican allies and strategists called for Trump to shake up his White House personnel, restore discipline and scrap policies they blamed for the losses, including the Iran war and tariffs, as his presidency enters its final years.
Veteran Republican strategist John Feehery called the results a "huge disaster" for Trump.
"He needs to clean house," Feehery said. "Every day from this point forward, he's becoming more and more lame."
But Trump showed little indication that he viewed the election outcome as a reason to change direction.
"I don't view it as a hit on me," he told Fox News late on Tuesday.
Donald Trump's big, rapid American AI buildout now faces a major slowdown as voters in yesterday's elections overwhelmingly supported candidates and measures that favored increasing restrictions on AI and data centers nationwide.
Outside Southwark Crown Court, dozens of photographers and journalists are waiting by a gate to the side of the building for the prison van to leave. Inside it will be Russell Brand. Each morning and afternoon during his trial, Brand walked into and out of Southwark Crown Court with his entourage, including his wife Laura. But this afternoon they left without him. Soon, the man who was one of most in-demand entertainers, will be heading to prison to spend his first night there, ahead of his sentencing on Monday.
Hollywood star turned right-wing commentator Russell Brand has been convicted of rape and sexual assault by a London jury. Jurors at Southwark Crown Court returned guilty verdicts Thursday on one count of rape and three counts of sexual assault, TMZ reported. The jury found him not guilty of two other rape charges and one count of attempted indecent assault. Brand, 51, had denied all the charges. The judge signaled that prison time is all but certain. "Obviously a custodial sentence of some length will result," the judge told Brand after the verdict. He is scheduled to be sentenced Monday. Read more
The Nasdaq Composite plummeted on Thursday, erasing the sharp gains from the previous session, as investors continued to rotate away from technology stocks and into more defensive areas of the market. The tech-heavy Nasdaq declined 4.2% and dipped into correction territory, while the S&P 500 was down 2.6%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 780 points, or 1.5%, as gains in stocks such as Chevron and Johnson & Johnson were not enough to spare the 30-stock index from the tech selling spree. The Dow erased around half of its advance from Wednesday's massive rally.
West Hollywood has become the latest city to create a domestic partnership registry for polyamorous relationships, with the city's five-person City Council unanimously approving the legal protections for alternative family structures.
Poland's Internal Security Agency rendered ineffective a Russian espionage ring, detaining five Polish citizens and a Russian woman suspected of spying for the Kremlin and illegally supplying materials, ammunition, and weapons to Russia. Elsewhere, Lithuania expelled three Ukrainian citizens accused of carrying out tasks for "hostile" foreign intelligence services in exchange for money. Estonia deported Russian citizen Leonid Karabeshkin and banned him from entering the Schengen Area over his alleged links to Russian secret services. The German polizei arrested a Ukrainian citizen on suspicion of spying for the Kremlin.
Background
California's proposed billionaire tax appeared headed for defeat on Wednesday in one of the final verdicts from voters in an election week that saw a wave of anti-billionaire sentiment elsewhere. The latest results on Wednesday afternoon showed California's Proposition 40 down by over 11 percentage points, with 60% of votes counted but the race not yet formally called. Read more
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers made NFL history by being the first team since 1974 to win a game without completing a single QB completion. Playing more rugby than football in soggy and rainy conditions in Tampa Bay, the Buccaneers defeated the Atlanta Falcons 16-0 last Sunday. The Buccaneers became the first team since the 1974 Buffalo Bills and the third team ever to win while completing zero passes. Of course, the NFL and the MMA are the "bread and circuses" of today's Amerikkka, distractions like Bill Maher and Joe Rogaine, all designed to deflect away from economic hardships by entertaining the hoi polloi; however, an occasional break from reading about the hated Axis of Evil (Dummkopf Trumpf, Benjamin Netanyahu, and Vladimir Putin), for some of us can be a welcome respite.
NE Patriots QB Doug Flutie made history 20 years ago
One of President Donald Trump's closest aides appears to have taken on a powerful new role after Republicans' brutal midterm night. Executive assistant Natalie Harp seems to have taken over the president's personal cellphone and is now deciding who gets to speak with him, The Independent reported Wednesday. For months, the White House has bragged about how easy it is for reporters to reach Trump, with members of the press corps able to dial his phone and land quick interviews at virtually any hour.
Democrat Nancy Lacore, a former Navy Admiral who was fired by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, is projected to win in the traditionally red House district in South Carolina against Republican Jenny Costa Honeycutt, according to Decision Desk HQ (DDHQ). Nonpartisan election handicapper Cook Political Report shifted the race for Rep. Nancy Mace's (R) 1st District seat from "lean Republican" to a "toss-up," as Lacore out-fundraised Honeycutt, a Charleston County Council member. Mace unsuccessfully ran for governor in the Palmetto State earlier this year.
I've got some demands for our new woke overlords Read more
Becerra will be California's first Latino governor since the 1800s. Read more
Prospective speaker of the House Hakeem Jeffries on Wednesday hailed the "American tsunami" of Democratic victories in US congressional elections that handed the party control of both chambers of Congress.
"It wasn't simply a blue wave. It was an American tsunami," Jeffries, who is poised to become the first Black person to lead the House when the new Congress convenes in January, told a news conference.
"We're humbled by the outcome," Jeffries said, vowing to "fight hard for every single American, wherever you may reside."
NBC News, with a group of other news organizations, conducted exit polling across the country in 45 key states.
The poll includes in-person interviews on Election Day, and it combines the in-person poll with other methods"mail, phone and online"to account for in-person early and mail-in voters.
The exit polls are not vote results, but instead a look at the thinking and motives of voters across the country.
Exit polls help the public better understand the makeup and motivations of the electorate.
No one knows what Trump will do this week or in the coming two months before the new Congress is sworn in. On other issues such as the Iran war, Trump has said that nobody knows what he will do. So he almost takes pride in being unpredictable.
But in the case of the midterm elections, his being unpredictable is exactly why so many people are worried.
Remember, this is a guy who once said in a 2019 speech that article two of the constitution allows him to do whatever he wants as president.
And in February of 2025, he posted on social media, he who saves his country does not violate any law. And of course, the one who is saving the country in Donald Trump's eyes is Donald Trump.
Perhaps the biggest reason for all the anxiousness surrounding what Trump might do is that the winners of the midterm elections will need to wait 2 months before they are sworn in. and that happens on January 3rd, 2027.
A lot can happen in 2 months.
