Day: November 4, 2026

Briefings

Background Briefing: November 4, 2026

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The Blue Wave That Swept Away Republican Majorities in the House and Senate Setting Up a Difficult Road Ahead For a Criminal President Not Used to Oversight

We begin with the Blue Wave that swept away the Republican majorities in the House and Senate setting up a difficult road ahead for a lame duck president who will have a real legislative branch acting as a check and balance on his future unconstitutional overreach and an investigator of his past criminal behavior. Joining us is Moira Donegan, writer in residence at the Clayman Institute for Gender Research at Stanford University and the co-host of the podcast In Bed With The Right and a columnist at the Guardian where her latest article is “The death knell of Trumpism has finally sounded.”

Why Has Trump Accepted the Humiliating Election Results So Far?

Then we examine why Trump has accepted the results of a humiliating defeat so far while offering the lame excuse that he wasn’t on the ballot and speak with Robert Kuttner, the co-founder and co-editor of The American Prospect and the Ida and Meyer Kirstein Chair at Brandeis University. Early in his career he was an assistant to the legendary I.F. Stone and Washington correspondent for Pacifica Radio. He was also a chief investigator for the Senate Banking Committee, and for 20 years wrote a column at Business Week. His books include Can Democracy Survive Global Capitalism? and his new memoir, Notes for Next Time: Surviving Tyranny, Redeeming America and we discuss his article at The American Prospect “Election Disruption: The Dog That Didn’t Bark.”

Do the Senate Victories of James Talarico and the Reverend Hamilton Mean a Religious Left Revival Will Challenge the Religious Right?

Then finally, with the Senate victories of James Talarico and the Reverend Hamilton indicating a revival of a religious left in our politics which have been long dominated by the GOP’s Religious Right, we speak with Anthea Butler, the Geraldine R. Segal Professor Emerita in American Social Thought and former Chair of Religious Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. She is the author of a number of books including The Rise of the New Religious Right and, most recently, White Evangelical Racism: The Politics of Morality in America.