It was epochal and marks a new era in our political history. And for once everyone rushed to name clearly what happened.

The morning after the 2026 midterm elections, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was searingly blunt. For the Republican Party it was “close to an extinction level event.” Its effects will “reverberate for the next decade or more.”

“It was a Watergate-level repudiation,” said Ted Cruz, soon to be Texas’ lone Republican senator, on a podcast.

Ronna McDaniel, Republican National Committee chairman in the first Trump term, told Fox News on Wednesday the election wasn’t only a Democratic wave, it was “a Republican rebellion.”

Read it all.

Peggy Noonan, the Reagan speechwriter who has spent decades as the Wall Street Journal’s keeper of the old Republican flame, has written the GOP’s obituary. Her verdict: Trump is the author of the ruin.It wasn’t the war alone, she argues. It was the prices. The tariffs. Above all, the corruption, showy and shameless: crypto, pardons, federal contracts for his sons’ companies. Then came the decadence. Three days before the election, Trump threw a jungle-themed Halloween party with a caviar bar while Americans outside the gates added up their grocery receipts.Ron DeSantis called Tuesday’s results “close to an extinction level event” for his party. Trump’s response: sign a ballroom beam, declare his office a national monument, and blame Fox’s polls.Noonan has a line for that: “Please. It was you, Fredo.” When a Reagan speechwriter is quoting The Godfather at you, the party is over.https://t.co/Gptx4aHDHV

— Bucky (@BuckyNoseBest) November 6, 2026

Surfers call it the washing machine. When a giant wave throws you off your board and plunges you underwater, you lose all sense of where you are. That is what befell Donald Trump and his party on November 3rd, as they were slammed by tens of millions of American voters. They have still to grasp just how much their country has changed.

Already it is clear this was not a normal midterm swing against a sitting president, but the biggest wave-election since the aftermath of Watergate more than 50 years ago. Democrats won control of both chambers of Congress, flipping seats deep into once-safe red waters, from South Carolina to Texas.

The coming days will spell out two further lessons. One is that this is not just a triumph for Democrats, but also for American democracy. Voters cannot be taken for granted. If they are angry, they will turn against parties they have long supported. The other lesson, which follows from this, is that both parties now need to find a new way of doing politics—one that spends less time riling up their constituents and more getting things done on their behalf.

The wave has swept across America.

Read it all.

Donald Trump’s humiliation offers America an opportunity https://t.co/Naxd9wxajs https://t.co/sXRA5MiMCp

— The Economist (@TheEconomist) November 5, 2026

The national elections, just completed, added five states that will be completely controlled by Democrats next year, i.e., legislature and governor. They are, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.

Every one of these is ripe for legalizing assisted suicide, as that policy is now part of the liberal/progressive issue agenda. Most have already seen serious efforts to legalize doctor-prescribed death — even when Republicans held some power. Indeed, the electorally late (defeated for reelection) Governor Joe Lombardo of Nevada vetoed a legalization bill a few years ago.

Every one of these is ripe for legalizing assisted suicide, as that policy is now part of the liberal/progressive issue agenda. Most have already seen serious efforts to legalize doctor-prescribed death — even when Republicans held some power. Indeed, the electorally late (defeated for reelection) Governor Joe Lombardo of Nevada vetoed a legalization bill a few years ago.

Other states that are already governed by a so-called Democratic trifecta, but which have not yet legalized assisted suicide, are Virginia, Maryland, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. Efforts have been made to legalize assisted suicide in all of these as well, with Massachusetts voters rejecting assisted suicide in 2012 — thanks in large part to the opposition by Ted Kennedy’s widow.

I think all of these states will see renewed legalization attempts in the next two years. 

Read it all.

The other Democratic trifecta states have already legalized assisted suicide. But that is never the end of it. The first laws passed are not meant to be ceilings but launching pads. https://t.co/w842Yov8xR

— Wesley J. Smith (@theWesleyJSmith) November 5, 2026

But at least those young men had plenty of options for gambling online and buying legal weed. Here we come to the territory where the new right simply failed. Many of its tribunes had promised cultural renewal, a more assertive religious conservatism to counter progressivism’s moral framework, a war on porn and other digital addictions. This was the aspect of the new right that liberals attacked as theocratic or “integralist,” but they didn’t need to worry, because in the second Trump administration it only showed up in social media posts about Reformation Day and St. Michael the Archangel.

Otherwise, the new right in power was a force for libertinism, with corruption in Washington, D.C., going hand in hand with policies that favored vice. The pro-life movement vanished, the quest for pro-family policy was stillborn, and the idea of a new patriotic elite for a new America dissolved into a grifter’s mindset, leering side-eyed at Sydney Sweeney’s bust. Any religious revival in the wider culture probably helped elect religious Democrats, not a sinful-seeming GOP.

Nothing in this sad story means that the new right is simply finished. It’s not like there is some other form of conservatism more attuned to late-2020s reality waiting in the wings.

But the movement will be starting over. It needs leaders who either find a way to separate themselves from the Trump record or else were on the outside all along. It needs to repudiate corruption and stupidity. 

Read it all.

Read @Douthat60 on how the new right failed.https://t.co/io5ZKvZWMU https://t.co/sTh251EKgl

— Oliver Wiseman (@ollywiseman) November 4, 2026

he architect of the Republican midterm collapse stepped out from the rubble on Tuesday night and insisted it wasn’t his fault.

“I wasn’t on the ballot,” President Donald Trump posted to social media. “And if I was, we would have won IN A LANDSLIDE.”

Except, of course, the Trump name was stamped on every brick. His war of choice in Iran drove up US gas prices and alienated supporters drawn to his pledge of no more foreign conflicts. Allegations of profiteering by the president and those close to him, and his obsession with gilding the White House, went down badly with voters struggling to pay their bills. His handpicked Senate candidates in ruby-red states like Texas and South Carolina proved so unpalatable that Democrats won for the first time in decades.

“The Democratic strategy was to nationalize the election and make it all about Trump. To tell voters they can end Trump and end Trumpism right now. That pitch resonated with people on the left,” said Steve Bannon, Trump’s former chief strategist. “This became a referendum on the president.”

Read it all.

The architect of the Republican midterm collapse stepped out from the rubble on Tuesday night and insisted it wasn’t his fault. https://t.co/CgzEVvTdGk

— Bloomberg Government (@BGOV) November 4, 2026

Dorchester County voters have approved a new one-cent education sales tax that will help fund school construction, renovations and other improvements in Dorchester School Districts Two and Four.

With 100% of precincts reporting Tuesday night, unofficial election results showed 31,643 voters, or 59.96%, supported the referendum, while 21,128 voters, or 40.04%, voted against it. The tax is expected to take effect April 1, 2027, and will remain in place for up to 15 years.

Read it all.

(WCIV) Dorchester County voters approve one-cent education sales tax https://t.co/L8ksJ4XiDY 59.96% supported the referendum, while 21,128 voters, or 40.04%, voted against it #southcarolina #midtermelections #lowcountrylife #taxes #politics #midterms2026

— Kendall Harmon (@KendallHarmon6) November 4, 2026

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.

The Democrat notched just under 50 percent of the vote, while Honeycutt trailed with just over 48 percent, with all votes tallied as of early Wednesday.

Read it all.

Nancy Mace’s former very red South Carolina house seat (where we are) goes narrowly blue https://t.co/IgcdQYD2gJ 49.7 to 48.6ish #midterms #elections #southcarolina #houseelections #midterms2026

— Kendall Harmon (@KendallHarmon6) November 4, 2026

In the end, it wasn’t just a wave. It was a wipeout.

A Democrat won a Senate seat in Kansas for the first time since the Herbert Hoover administration. The party picked up Senate seats in Texas, North Carolina and South Carolina. Republicans even fell short in House districts in the South where they had tried to give themselves an edge by drawing new, gerrymandered maps.

The sweeping Democratic victories on Tuesday night offered a decisive rebuke to President Trump and his aggressive, often chaotic second-term agenda.

The party seized control of both houses of Congress. Voters rejected Republicans in conservative states that supported Mr. Trump by double-digit margins just two years ago, in places that had not seen competitive elections for major seats in decades.

Even some Democrats were stunned by the extent of their wins, which included defeating Greg Abbott, the three-term Republican governor of Texas; and Susan Collins, the five-term Republican senator from Maine.

Read it all.

NYT top #midtermelections this was all about a negative vote on the president and his policies #politics #usa https://t.co/OUkC2Lqi9p

— Kendall Harmon (@KendallHarmon6) November 4, 2026

America’s referendum on President Donald Trump’s second term is underway.

With polls set to open Tuesday morning for the US midterm elections and tens of millions of early ballots already cast, voters say they are frustrated by the high cost of living, fuel prices that spiked after the launch of the Iran war and uncertainty over where their jobs and the world’s largest economy are headed in the age of AI.

Democrats are expected by many to take control of the House of Representatives, with opinion polls signaling for months that the party has a wide enough advantage with voters to overcome headwinds from Republican-led redistricting efforts.

Winning the Senate is more uncertain but has shifted from being a Democratic pipe dream mere months ago to a real possibility, with the GOP unexpectedly playing defense in traditionally safe bastions like Kansas, Texas, Alaska and South Carolina.

Read it all.

Trump isn’t on the ballot Tuesday, but his policies and record are front and center as US voters decide control of Congress https://t.co/zYDJPfcizp

— Bloomberg (@business) November 3, 2026

The economy, healthcare and the situation in Iran lead in importance to U.S. voters in this year’s election, among 11 issues rated. Half of registered voters say the economy and healthcare are extremely important to their vote, and 47% say the same about Iran. Roughly four in 10 rate income and wealth distribution (44%), gas prices (42%), immigration (40%) and abortion (38%) as extremely important.

About a third rate crime and the Israeli-Palestinian situation (35% each) as extremely important, while construction of AI data centers (30%) and climate change (29%) rank lowest.

These results are based on registered voters interviewed in an Oct. 1-19 Gallup survey, which asked Americans to say whether each issue is extremely important, very important, moderately important or not that important to their vote for Congress this year. Majorities of voters rate every issue except climate change as at least very important.

Read it all.

The Issues Voters Say Matter Most This Midterm https://t.co/9JCE1hHYMv

— james starosta (@jimjudistar) October 29, 2026

American spy agencies had gathered striking intelligence.

A top executive at a Singapore-based data center company was under scrutiny for possibly steering advanced Nvidia A.I. chips to China. And now American officials had concluded that she was a Chinese intelligence asset, funneling information to Beijing.

But what came next was even more alarming. Surveillance of the executive, Alice Huang or Huang Le, a Chinese citizen, revealed that she had developed a close relationship with Jensen Huang, Nvidia’s chief executive.

For years, Washington has worked to deny China the technology needed to match or surpass the United States in the intense global competition for superiority in artificial intelligence. The discovery that Beijing was getting reports from someone with direct access to Mr. Huang, one of the most powerful figures in the A.I. revolution as well as an influential ally of President Trump’s, set off alarms at the White House.

Read it all.

Wow.https://t.co/ovzrTKn4CR https://t.co/VlJTst2k4X

— Ryan Mac 🙃 (@RMac18) October 29, 2026

The Church of England’s Deputy Lead Bishop for Housing has spoken of the ‘ambition and determination’ needed to break the cycle of homelessness as she attended a special summit on tackling rough sleeping.

The Bishop of Hull, Eleanor Sanderson, joined the Chief Executive of Church Urban Fund, the Rt Rev Rob Wickham, (pictured with Bishop Eleanor, above) and other faith representatives at the Rough Sleeping Summit hosted in Downing Street.

The event brought together businesses, charities, civil society organisations and local leaders, to commit to local and national action to end rough sleeping through the provision of homes, jobs and practical support. 

Ending rough sleeping was the Prime Minister’s first pledge when he entered Downing Street, and he announced a further £432 million yesterday to be set out in the Budget later this week, towards this goal.

Read it all.

“This ministry fosters hope, dignity and a sense of belonging for everyone in our communities.”The Bishop of Hull joined the Chief Executive of Church Urban Fund, the Rt Rev Rob Wickham, at the Rough Sleeping Summit hosted in Downing Street.📰 https://t.co/GxBdeVapv5. https://t.co/k7LUiBns29

— The Church of England (@churchofengland) October 27, 2026

In a dramatic reversal from the first round of voting, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil was re-elected on Sunday, besting his conservative rival and defying a right-wing wave that has swept through Latin America.

In just three weeks, Mr. Lula found more than 10 million new votes. He gained ground nearly everywhere, attracting vast new support in major cities like São Paulo and in his strongholds across the northeast, according to official results.

After a chaotic Election Day, Mr. Lula’s right-wing rival, Flávio Bolsonaro, said that he would not accept the results and called for the election to be annulled.

Mr. Bolsonaro led by two percent in the first round of voting, and few pollsters expected Mr. Lula to turn things around. Many candidates who were eliminated endorsed Mr. Bolsonaro, and analysts expected he would pick up most of their votes.

But Mr. Lula reversed what had been a conservative shift, the results show. He reestablished his dominance in small towns. He made gains in working-class suburbs around some of the country’s biggest cities. He appeared to be helped by a broad, unexpected increase in turnout.

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Deu no @nyt!How Lula Came Back https://t.co/7Fib4h9Ez7 via @NYTimes

— Carlos Alberto Jr. (@cajr1569) October 26, 2026

The Bishop of Leicester is seeking to ban election materials containing a picture of a religious building that “suggests a close connection” between a candidate and the place of worship or the religion associated with it. 

Rt Rev Martyn Snow has tabled the amendment to the Representation of the People Bill, which refers to the use of churches or other religious buildings to imply endorsement. The proposals and briefing documents do not single out a particular party.

On the Faith in the Public Square Substack, the bishop and social policy advisor Florence Gildea said in recent years there had been “more leaflets – of all colours: red, yellow, blue and turquoise – with candidates posing in front of church buildings”.

They set out concerns about compliance with charity law, of churches being seen to endorse parties or candidates, as well as how church leaders or congregations will often only know images had been used “when a leaflet drops on the floor, leaving no means of recourse”.

The article highlighted the principle of elected politicians representing all their constituents, akin to the parish priest having a duty of spiritual care to all parishioners; not giving “the impression that they are aligned with a particular religion and that followers of that faith could expect to receive preferential treatment if the candidate were elected”.

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An amendment banning the publication of election material containing a picture of a religious building that “suggests a close connection” between the candidate and the building — or the religion associated with it — has been tabled by Bishop of Leicesterhttps://t.co/KXQlWrGsRP

— Madeleine Davies (@MadsDavies) October 19, 2026

Whatever Christian nationalism is, it takes its form and energy from its context. Over the past 12 months, the think tank Theos has been researching the apparent rise of Christian nationalism in Europe, with studies under way in France, Germany, Poland, Hungary, Romania, and the UK.

What is clear, even at this stage, is that the nature of this phenomenon alters depending on whether, for example, you are living in a once Roman Catholic but now firmly and formally secular polity (like France), a nation that has self-consciously seen itself as the gatehouse for Christian European Civilisation (like Hungary), or a country, such as Britain, that has a remarkably deep Christian history, a formally Christian “constitution”, but very low levels of church attendance. All these factors pour into and colour the phenomena of Christian nationalism.

The UK research, which has just been published in the report Beyond “Christian Nationalism”, shows that there is something that could legitimately be termed “Christian nationalism” in today’s Britain. But it also shows that the concept of Christianity that you have in mind (belief? practice? ethics? identity?), and the concept of Britishness (civic/political? cultural? ethnic/natal?) will, not surprisingly, shape the way you think about how the two relate to each other….

Finally, for all that this group are strongly Christian — 81 per cent claiming affiliation, 81 per cent being baptised/christened, 49 per cent definitely believing in God or some “higher power” — they are not strongly church-attending: only 13 per cent attend weekly, compared with a sample average of 11 per cent. Nor do they show particularly strong levels of prayer.

Read it all.

📈 Analysis: Defining Christian nationalism depends significantly on context, ✍️ Nick Spencer @theosnick #ChurchTimes #Analysis https://t.co/Nmnx8EkQRD

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) October 20, 2026

In Britain, students are being urged to walk out of lessons on November 20 as part of a strike across Europe. The Socialist Students group says it’s to protest against capitalism, climate chaos, the housing crisis, the “genocidal war against the Palestinians” and unemployment. This is what’s been termed “the omnicause”. And it’s being synchronised across western Europe.

In other words, we’re witnessing a much broader and deeper challenge than merely a crisis for France. It’s a war on the West being waged by groups with disparate agendas taking advantage of a civilisation in deep trouble. Those involved are leftists, anarchists, Islamists, assorted grievance artists and useful idiots imagining they’re marching for the “oppressed” of the earth — and with malevolent outside actors stirring the pot. Thus Vladimir Putin’s economic envoy, Kirill Dmitriev, said of the French riots: “Left-wing globalists are sowing migration-driven chaos.”

Fox News reported this month that of 50 groups involved in the month-long French “student” protests, only 15 were actually student groups. The other 35 were a transnational network that included labour unions, communist or socialist organisations and a Palestinian advocacy group.
These groups were advancing political agendas involving capitalism, “austerity”, policing, military spending and Israel. One far-left environmental group declared in the midst of the riots, “Glory to the rebellious high school students … for an antifascist uprising.”

These insurrectionists are seizing their moment in a society that’s become demoralised in every sense. It’s lost both knowledge of and respect for its own historic identity and culture. 

Read it all (subscription).

Absolutely stunning essay by @DouglasKMurray about the crisis in France. It includes this quote. https://t.co/XBw5Xr5lTp https://t.co/rW0GFvDAvj

— Rod Dreher (@roddreher) October 20, 2026

The benefits and risk cloak more central driving factors among AI titans: the will to power, the desire for wealth, the hunger to be in charge. The sheer technological sweetness, too—the hard problem followed by the elegant answer. Scientists involved in technological breakthroughs always have a sweet spot.

But about four years ago, when reports of AI’s advancement began to break through to people paying attention, there was no declared objective: “We’ll split the atom, win the war, put man on the moon.” There was no clear product or labor-saving device. AI simply promised to change everything. It would create intelligence itself, an artificial but superior version of human intelligence. Then we’d figure out what to do with it, and what it will do to us. It will transform the human condition. For better or worse? Let’s strap in and find out.

Our society, our country, never decided to “do” AI. History will be perplexed by this. Something so big, so epochal, and people had no say? There was no vote, no debate. Some people started to do it and raise capital, and we shrugged. “It’s the next step.” As Sam Altman said early on, electricity, computers, the internet—now this. Americans always take the next step.

The creators and owners of AI might be pressed to answer the question: Exactly what purpose were you pursuing, and how, with a sense of the downsides, did you expect us to like it?

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From @WSJopinion: History Raises Its Eyebrows at the Week in AI by @Peggynoonannyc https://t.co/diQJHPj1c5

— The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) October 18, 2026

Although we differ on the specifics, both of us believe in hell. This makes us part of a shrinking majority. Only 59 percent of Americans today believe in hell. That’s down from 71 percent in 2001. But these figures, while striking, fail to capture the remarkable shift currently underway in the United States. No one talks about hell much anymore, at least not publicly—not even religious people. We’ve both attended weekly religious services for most of our adult lives, and there’s just no other way to put it: Hell comes up less.

Hannah Arendt was one of the few modern philosophers who grasped the political consequences of losing belief in hell, writing, “The most significant consequence of the secularization of the modern age may well be the elimination from public life, along with religion, of the only political element in traditional religion, the fear of hell.” The contemporary retreat from hell has any number of causes, many of them understandable. As pastor Robert Golding notes, modern people find the concept of hell “illogical, unnecessary, and cruel.” Innovations in criminal justice now emphasize rehabilitation over mere punishment and bristle at the thought that anyone—even hardened criminals—deserves endless punishment or, worse, death.

Many readers will, no doubt, scoff at this idea. They might protest, “I could never believe in hell!” That’s okay. We’re not going to try to convince you to believe in it. One need not believe in hell to grasp its importance or its utility.

For the good of our democracy, you should want your religious neighbours to take their belief in hell more seriously—not less. And even if you don’t believe in hell, you should take some time to ponder its political utility and ask yourself how you intend to make up for its absence in your own life.

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Hell can be good for democracy because it helps us delay judgment until some unspecified point in the future, allowing us to "chill."My essay in @commentmag with @matthewkaemingk adapted from our new book CAN RELIGION SAVE DEMOCRACY? 🧵https://t.co/6cqdSCgRvE

— Shadi Hamid (@shadihamid) October 13, 2026

Given the lack of evidence of any mass radical ideology of Christian nationalism, then, why does that narrative gain so much traction in today’s discourse? We can point to a few reasons. 

First, as the country has become more progressive in many ways, those who support the idea of a Christian nation are now further from the mainstream and thus look more extreme than they used to even if their views haven’t much changed. 

Second, there is a group of politicians, theologians, and right-wing influencers who really do advocate for radical ideologies that can be reasonably labeled “Christian nationalist” in the most alarming sense of the phrase. It’s easy to confuse those very visible cases with the more moderate expressions we find in population data. 

Third, it’s fair to say that the image of right-wing politics has gotten uglier over the past decade, meaning politically conservative Christianity suffers from guilt by association.

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Racist theocrats do exist in America. But most conservative Christians—even those who want a “Christian nation”—don’t share their beliefs or goals.Sociologist of religion Jesse Smith examines 3 myths about Christian nationalism: https://t.co/xMKPQy6JJ4

— Christianity Today (@CTmagazine) October 12, 2026

“The Green Party’s motion declaring Zionism to be racism touches on questions of profound moral and political complexity. For my own part, I do not believe that Zionism can simply be equated with racism. I recognise the ways in which the policies and actions of successive Israeli governments have contributed to dispossession, inequality and the denial of Palestinian rights, and I believe these must be confronted honestly.

“I am also concerned that this motion may leave many Jewish people feeling misunderstood, marginalised or unwelcome within a political movement that should be committed to the full participation and equal dignity of all communities. 

“At the same time, we should recognise what Zionism means for many Jews: a profound longing for safety, belonging and self-determination, shaped by centuries of persecution and the Holocaust. That history cannot simply be dismissed. Nor can acknowledging it be allowed to obscure the equal dignity and rights of Palestinians. Both peoples have legitimate claims to safety, freedom and a future in which they can flourish.

“This matters particularly in Britain….”

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‘Antisemitism is evil, it must be confronted wherever it appears’The Bishop of Willesden, Lusa Nsenga-Ngoy, the Church of England’s Lead Bishop for Interfaith Engagement and Vice-Chair of the Commission on Interfaith Relations, spoke at the Standing Strong: Extinguish Antisemitism rally in London earlier this week.Read the full address at: https://t.co/Rmkhfn7r55@Lustherev #antisemitism #interfaith #HopeNotHate

— Woolf Institute (@Woolf_Institute) May 15, 2026

The global surge in interest rates has exposed…[France], once considered an oasis of relative stability in Europe’s financial markets, as one of the continent’s weakest links. France now pays more to borrow than former crisis hot spots like Greece and Italy. Its government is running a budget deficit surpassed only by the United States among its peers. 

Last week, a slow-burning selloff in France’s government bond market took an alarming turn as it spread across the continent, reviving memories of the eurozone debt crisis last decade. France’s 10-year borrowing cost has risen toward 5%, the highest level since 2002.

Investors are bracing for things to get worse. The rise in rates is saddling the government with higher costs just as it needs to refinance a mountain of debt borrowed during the era of ultralow interest rates. France has more than $1 trillion in debt coming due by 2030, and next year is set to sell a record of about $380 billion in debt into a market where once-reliable sources of demand have evaporated.

France’s central bank is no longer buying government bonds and is instead letting its portfolio shrink as bonds mature. Once-steady investors like Japanese asset managers have also stepped back. Hedge funds that have stepped into the void have been burned by the recent volatility.

“France has been this free rider in Europe for years, if not decades. It has gotten away with fiscal murder,” said Kevin Thozet, a portfolio adviser at the French asset manager Carmignac. “It worked as long as people were not noticing. Now people have started to notice.”

Read it all.

After years of overspending, France has emerged as one of Europe’s weakest links. Investors are bracing for things to get worse. https://t.co/MGG0wEfhzS

— The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) October 6, 2026

Flávio Bolsonaro dealt President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva a bruising first-round defeat Sunday, finishing ahead of the leftist leader and putting Brazil’s right within reach of taking back power in Latin America’s largest nation.

Flávio Bolsonaro, a 45-year-old senator and the eldest son of imprisoned former President Jair Bolsonaro, received 47.3% of votes, short of the 50% needed for an outright victory, while da Silva got just 44.8% with 98% counted late Sunday. Other right-wing candidates won a combined 5%, leaving the 80-year-old incumbent fighting for his political survival ahead of the Oct. 25 runoff.

The result—and major victories by conservatives in concurrent congressional and state elections Sunday—underscored the strength of right-wing sentiment in Brazil that none of the major polls had managed to capture. On the eve of the vote, Datafolha had put Bolsonaro at 42% of votes against 45% for da Silva.

Brazil’s right has gained ground in recent years, fueled by anger over violent street crime, the growing political clout of evangelical Christians and frustration among businesses and middle-class voters over taxes, spending and the left’s stewardship of the economy.

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Brazil’s election is another example where a right wing candidate does better than the polls suggest. That was true for Trump in 2024 and for the AfD in Germany’s recent state election. Stigma means the polls systematically undercount the right’s support. https://t.co/qd9wq29vpE

— Robin Brooks (@robin_j_brooks) October 5, 2026

The federal government’s budget deficit is the amount by which spending exceeds revenue; in 2026 that is projected to be $2.1 trillion. The government’s budget debt is the total amount owed to creditors; in 2026 that is projected to be $32 trillion. Those are big numbers. If you personally owed someone $32 trillion, you (and your creditor) might be a bit concerned. 

Obviously, the U.S. government has more resources than you do, so we need a different gauge. The most often-used measure compares the size of the debt to GDP, which measures the total amount of production in the country. The CBO estimates that in 2026, the debt-to-GDP ratio will be around 101 percent. (The only time it was higher—106 percent—was at the end of World War II.) If the U.S. government wanted to pay off its entire debt right now, it would need all of the income generated in the entire economy this year. That seems very alarming until you remember that the government doesn’t have to pay off its entire debt this year. If you have a home mortgage, it is likely that the value of your debt exceeds your current income, but you aren’t worried because you do not have to pay off the entire debt today. 

Nevertheless, when the size of government debt is equal to the size of the GDP, many people get worried. Reinhart and Rogoff, for example, showed that when debt-to-GDP ratios are higher than 90 percent, economic problems arise. But a country with the economic size and power of the current United States can presumably weather a higher ratio than the norm. Theoretically, there is a debt-to-GDP ratio that will create problems even in the largest economy in the world, but we have no way of precisely determining that limit from the experience of smaller countries in the past. 

While it is hard to estimate the effect of the existing debt-to-GDP ratio, the trajectory of that ratio is noteworthy.

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Bad news – we cannot grow our way out of the debt. pic.twitter.com/5fWs28zRIX

— Marc Goldwein (@MarcGoldwein) September 24, 2026

A.I. has made the gap between policymaking and technology one of the widest ever, according to more than 20 interviews with lawmakers, technologists and policy experts. Many governments are torn between wanting to harness A.I. and fearing its risks. And they are further mired by national politics, limited technological know-how, geopolitical divisions and reluctance to fall behind in a race that could shape economic power and national security for decades to come.

Many countries are waiting for the two leading A.I. nations — the United States and China — to take a cue from their A.I. policies. Yet in the United States, the Trump administration has been divided over A.I. safety, with President Trump saying regulation would hurt innovation and cede ground to China. China itself has imposed some rules on A.I., especially to censor chatbot content, but also raced ahead with development.

“There’s this assumption that there are adults in the room on this issue, but there are no adults in this room,” said Sean Ó Heigeartaigh, director of the AI: Futures and Responsibility Program at the University of Cambridge, who is a member of a European Union advisory board on A.I. “That is what makes all of this so completely terrifying.”

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The title of James Patterson’s and Thomas Howes’s book Why Postliberalism Failed is not inspired by a belief that the contemporary American postliberal movement (made most famous in Patrick Deneen’s book Why Liberalism Failed) has collapsed. Quite the contrary: the authors believe that, in spite of an apparent retreat of postliberalism, the movement continues to influence contemporary American political discourse. Indeed, people who have publicly endorsed it (and who continue to defend postliberal positions) are in positions of the highest power in the U.S. government. All the more reason, Patterson and Howes argue, to understand what makes postliberalism tick. 

The authors helpfully summarize the whole postliberal platform (not just its integralist wing, the subject of Kevin Vallier’s excellent book All the Kingdoms of the World), which is diffused throughout hundreds of articles, social media posts, and several books. Postliberals reject liberalism’s protection of individual liberty as a precursor to communism, atheism, and other ills; they instead “advocate for restoring a divinely ordained hierarchy, with the Church providing spiritual rule and the state political rule.” (In theory the state submits to the Church if the two bodies disagree.) Demoting individual freedom means centrally organizing the economy (“in collaboration with state-approved guilds or cartels”) and concentrating all political power in a unitary executive that governs through bureaucracy (hence many postliberals’ sympathy for China’s present government). Unlike conservatives, who (out of respect for everyone’s freedom and dignity) try to effect political change through constitutional processes, postliberals employ cultural Marxist tactics, “us[ing] political power to reward their friends and crush their enemies.” They accept the administrative state and seek to populate it with their own numbers, “put[ting] that bureaucracy to work providing a kind of right-wing welfare state.” Whereas progressives use federal bureaucracy to advance sexual liberationism, many postliberals would use it to advance patriarchy. Finally, postliberalism rejects America’s responsibility for helping to uphold the law of nations; the United States should be neutral in all global conflicts, they say, even if that means allowing stronger countries to annex weaker ones. 

One of the book’s greatest achievements is to show in detail the similarity between contemporary postliberal theory and dozens of regimes that have actually existed in relatively recent history (although not in the memory of young postliberals), all of which failed to usher in the Christian society they promised (hence the book’s title). Contemporary postliberalism is not a discovery made by the American New Right in the last two decades; postliberalism has been a constant temptation of Western conservatives, especially religious ones, at least since the French Revolution. We’ve been through all this before, and it has always ended badly. 

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John Doherty of @WitherspoonInst reviews @ThomasDHowes and @McGillPatterson’s Why Postliberalism Failed @PublicDiscourse — https://t.co/ME7aLT2aOF

— Matt Franck (@MatthewJFranck) September 24, 2026

Robots — the sector Mr. Xi first championed in his 2014 speech — have been a particular success. China has more than 2 million robots in its factories, more than in the rest of the world combined. Some Chinese researchers have argued that robots may be more promising for achieving general-purpose intelligence than large language models — Silicon Valley’s chosen method — because they can learn from interactions with the physical world.

Those rapid gains have fueled anxiety in Washington, where fears of being overtaken by China have become the main argument against reining in A.I. A congressional advisory group warned that China’s quick adoption of A.I. in robots and other practical applications would generate huge amounts of new data that could then be used to further improve its models. In July, the U.S. government proposed restricting imports of humanoid robots, a move Beijing denounced as discriminatory.

For people like Mr. Liang, the robotics company founder in Shenzhen, the signs of China’s progress are already all around.

He still admires American entrepreneurs, but he no longer looks only to them for inspiration. He wears smart glasses from Huawei. He has hired interns from American universities who are eager to learn from China’s robotics expertise.

“Before, we all used American technology as the benchmark, and we’d joke about ‘C-to-C’: ‘copy to China,’” Mr. Liang said. “I think it’s the mission of this generation of Chinese entrepreneurs to let the world know that some Chinese companies are different.”

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How China’s Leader Plans to Win the Future With A.I.

A decade ago, Xi Jinping asked if China could master A.I. His push is remaking the economy, challenging the United States and keeping society under control. @vwang3 https://t.co/1NxAUK6oSR via @NYTimes

— Ashis Basu 🇨🇦 ashis.bluesky.social (@BasuAshis) September 23, 2026

Iran, China and groups in Israel used artificial intelligence in novel ways in recent months to create first-of-their-kind influence campaigns on social media, ratcheting up concerns among U.S. officials and security researchers about the fast-evolving technology.

The countries and groups combined A.I. tactics to ramp up the speed and scale of online campaigns beyond what people could easily achieve and with minimal human interaction, U.S. officials and security researchers with knowledge of the efforts said.

First, the countries and groups turned to Chinese “open-source” A.I. models, which are increasingly powerful systems that are freely available to download and modify. Then they used those A.I. models to create “agents,” which are bots that can operate software and complete tasks on their own.

Once hundreds of those A.I. agents were let loose, they autonomously opened networks of fake accounts on platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, X and TikTok, the officials and security researchers said. The agents then rapidly seeded the fake accounts with false posts about politics and current events to sway opinions and inflame issues.

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Mr. Kramer doesn’t shy away from pointing the finger at Germany’s newer demographic sources of antisemitism, even as he cites the latest official figures, which show right-wing extremism as the single largest identifiable source of antisemitic crime. In 2024, he says, 48.4% of antisemitic offenses were classified as right-wing, compared with 31.1% as fueled by “foreign ideology” and 11% by “religious ideology.” He stresses that “antisemitism linked to Islamist and anti-Israel milieus has risen sharply since Oct. 7 and is now a major part of the threat picture.”

And so, 25 years after it opened, Berlin’s Jewish Museum must face up to an existential challenge. It’s no longer enough to “explain Jewish culture to Germans from a Jewish perspective,” as Ms. Berg describes the institution’s founding mission. It must adapt to—and push back against—a spate of ugliness and violence in Germany that flows from sources old and new, from a resurgent right that many believe is nostalgic for a Nazi past and from an arriviste cohort of Islamist Jew-haters who teem in Germany’s cities.

“We cannot ever be complacent,” Ms. Berg says, as she navigates the barriers outside her buildings, each bollard proof of how hard it is for a German Jew to live in peace.

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Fun Fact: Daniel Libeskind, who designed the Jewish Museum Berlin, and the National Holocaust Momument in Ottawa, is the uncle of Canada's NDP leader, @avilewis. https://t.co/edrdD9AwDz

— Phil Pothen 🇨🇦 he/him (@pothen) September 9, 2026

The Prime Minister has pledged to change what he calls the “unacceptable” law that prohibits Roman Catholic and Jewish Prime Ministers from advising the Crown on ecclesiastical appointments.

In a statement to the House of Commons on Thursday of last week, Andy Burnham, who is the first Prime Minister to be a Roman Catholic on taking office (News, 4 September), said that the restrictions were an “antiquated and archaic anomaly”.

The “restrictions set out in the Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829 and the Jews Relief Act 1858 prevent persons professing the Roman Catholic and Jewish faiths only from advising the Sovereign on appointments to the Church of England and Church of Scotland”, he said.

As such, Mr Burnham had transferred his constitutional responsibility for advising the Sovereign on church appointments to the Lord Chancellor and Justice Secretary, Alex Norris.

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EXC: Legislation to remove the constitutional bar on Catholics advising the King on Church of England appointments being introduced in the Commons tomorrow

It’s our first Catholic prime minister’s first billhttps://t.co/ojXo0L6Yuv

— Patrick Maguire (@patrickkmaguire) September 14, 2026

MPs have voted against proposals to legalise assisted dying in England and Wales, bringing the latest effort to change the law to an end.

Following a debate in which both sides made emotional speeches, the House of Commons voted 286 to 270 – a majority of 16 – against the proposed legislation.

The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill would have allowed adults with fewer than six months to live to apply to be given help to end their own life, subject to certain safeguards.

A similar bill in the last parliamentary session was supported by MPs before stalling in the House of Lords. The decision from MPs on Friday rules out the prospect of changes to the law on assisted dying in the short term.

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The assisted suicide Bill is dead. After two years of debate, MPs have rejected it by 286 votes to 270.

A victory for vulnerable people — and a reminder that bad legislation becomes harder to defend the more closely it is scrutinised, writes @AdamPollockhttps://t.co/d7JZTQ5iiU

— The Critic (@TheCriticMag) September 12, 2026