With the midterms less than a week away, the closing stretch of the campaign is full of bad omens for MAGA abroad and peak weirdness at home.
asserted
stretch → close → home
In Serbia and Brazil, Trump allies suffered stinging and surprising defeats driven in part by energized voter turnout.
asserted
allies → suffer → turnout
An anti-corruption youth movement spearheaded the surge in Serbia, while Brazil saw a dramatic comeback for President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who defeated staunch Trump ally Flávio Bolsonaro.
asserted
who → spearhead → Bolsonaro
“Both of the losing candidates, Bolsonaro in Brazil and Vučić in Serbia, wrapped themselves around Donald Trump,” co-host David Corn says on this episode of Stress Test.
asserted
Corn → lose → Test
“So we see in Serbia and Hungary authoritarian figures who try to emulate and ride the Trump wave being tossed out of office.
asserted
who → see → office
And in [South America], where we’ve seen a right-wing tide… they beat it back” in Brazil.
asserted
they → see → Brazil
There’s a growing sense that voters worldwide are fed up with government grift.
asserted
voters → ’ → grift
As David puts it: “Corruption seems to be the point of the spear.”
asserted
Corruption → put → spear
Meanwhile, the Israeli election—where the final results are still uncertain—also was something of a referendum on Trump, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attempting to retain power by promoting his close ties to Trump.
asserted
Netanyahu → attempt → Trump
Obama is getting spicy, hitting Trump on his tacky taste and alleged corruption.
asserted
Obama → get → taste
Trump, meanwhile, has been obsessively commenting on physical anatomy—specifically “asses”—in one of the stranger closing arguments in modern American political history.
asserted
Trump → comment → history
“This has to be, like, the definition of being off message,” co-host Garrison Hayes observes.
asserted
Hayes → have → message
Trump’s fixation on rear-ends extended to rapper Nicki Minaj, who appeared at a rally, where Trump asked her to stand and extolled her derriere, fueling the silly rumor she might be named press secretary after the brief tenure of Katie “Half a Scaramucci” Zacharia.
uncertain
she → extend → Zacharia
“It reminds me of what happened in 2016 when Trump was campaigning and he would say, ‘Hey, where’s my Black friend?’” David recalls.
asserted
David → remind → 2016
For Garrison, the gambit is all-too familiar: “Here we are in the closing moments of this midterm election, and the way that the Trump administration has decided to utilize a Black person in order to, I imagine, appeal to Black voters is offensive.
asserted
I → close → voters
It’s almost a caricature of the kind of racism that has become emblematic of this administration.
asserted
that → ’ → administration
All of this unfolds against an unprecedented deluge of generative AI “slop” and grotesque attack ads.
asserted
All → unfold → slop
David and Garrison run through the best and worst of the midterms’ campaign ads, ,
asserted
David → run → ads
They also unpack how the White House has weaponized viral memes for crude attacks—including altering footage from Charlie Wilson’s NPR Tiny Desk performance of the 1982 Gap Band hit “Outstanding” to include top Democrats, including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries in a sombrero—a callback to a racist tropeTrump’s crew hasdeployed before.
asserted
crew → unpack → sombrero
“This feels like the slop election in some ways, right?” Garrison says.
asserted
Garrison → feel → ways
Other ads have been total cringe, notably an ad from California Republican gubernatorial hopeful Steve Hilton that bizarrely equates voting GOP with experimenting with lesbian sex.
asserted
that → equate → sex
(Yes, you read that right.)
asserted
you → read → that
“Creepy, creepy, weird,” David says.
asserted
David → say → ?
What else can one say?
asserted
one → say → What
There are only a few more shows left before Election Night next Tuesday, when we’ll bring the biggest news of the day straight to your feed as soon as we can.
asserted
we → be → feed
Make sure to hit subscribe so you don’t miss an episode.
asserted
you → make → episode
The Aporia
