This Is How The Blue Wave Unfolded

Hi readers, happy Thursday! Today we’re covering the blue wave, Israel’s post-election chaos, the Republican blame game, and why some Rice Krispies aren’t rice or krispy anymore.

“The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.” ― Franklin D. Roosevelt

A Day For The Democrats

Tuesday’s midterms saw the U.S. swept by a blue wave. Within just a few hours of polls closing nationwide, it became clear that Democrats had seized control of the Senate and House of Representatives from Republicans, flipping historically red states including Texas, South Carolina, and Kansas. Democrats will hold 54 Senate seats to the GOP’s 44, meaning they were able to snatch 7 seats from their rivals. The House will be even more Democrat-controlled, with the party holding 240 seats against the GOP’s 147, a change of 30.

In Texas, Democrat James Talarico won a U.S. Senate seat, defeating embattled Republican candidate Ken Paxton 55.2% to 42.9%, marking the first time a Democrat has won a Texas statewide election in three decades. The GOP also lost the state’s governor’s race, with Gina Hinojosa unseating incumbent Greg Abbott, 52.8% to 45.7%. Kansas bucked trends in a similar fashion, electing its first Democratic Senator since 1932 – Methodist pastor Adam Hamilton won his seat over incumbent Roger Marshall by a decent margin, 50.9% to 46.1%. Democrat Abdul El-Sayed also made history by becoming the first Muslim American to be elected to the Senate after winning his race in Michigan.

A few takeaways from the midterms: Democrats made gains with younger voters, Hispanic voters, and lower-income households, as well as with people in urban areas. That trend essentially undid the rightward shift that voters made during the 2024 election, and was largely driven by concerns about affordability that were made worse by Trump’s war with Iran.

With both houses of Congress in the hands of the Democrats, we’re likely set up for 2 years of political deadlock as the President and legislature butt heads. While Congress won’t be able to pass much with Trump office, Democrats are already planning to investigate Trump, his family, and their political allies for their (allegedly) shady dealings. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, in particular, is in the crosshairs of both Republicans and Democrats, as the Trump administration is apparently weighing the idea of making him the fall guy for the Iran war.

Making A Mess Of The Knesset

• While the U.S. midterm elections have wrapped with a clear victor, Israel’s parliamentary elections (which were held last Tuesday) are far from resolved. In order to establish a new government, a party or coalition needs to have the support of a majority of Israel’s 120-seat Knesset – currently, Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right Likud coalition holds 53 seats, while the centrist bloc led by Gadi Eisenkot holds 48. 

• Yesterday, Israeli President Isaac Herzog began the process of building a new government by hosting consultations with various political groups in order to pick which party will be given the first chance to form a governing coalition. While the position of president is largely ceremonial, Herzog does have the responsibility of picking which party gets to try coalition-building first, and isn’t obligated to hand that chance to the party with the most Knesset seats.

• Meanwhile, controversy is still swirling in regards to the legitimacy of last week’s election, which saw Arab-Israeli parties snag a record 19 seats in the legislature – a total which could decide which coalition is able to establish a working government. Some far-right leaders claim that Qatar funded movements aimed at increasing voter turnout within Arab communities, while others are calling for the heads of the Arab parties to be jailed until those election fraud claims are cleared. Despite those claims, Israel’s elections agency has stated that there’s no evidence that outside interference affected the election process.

Additional World News

• British man infected with Ebola in DR Congo to be flown back to UK (BBC) 

• Canada spat exposes widening rift between Merz and von der Leyen (Politico)

• Indian navy rescues 20 crew from Iranian fishing boat hijacked off Somalia (AP)

• UK to deploy facial recognition in biggest-ever immigration crackdown (Guardian) 

• French blood banks hit alongside cyberattack on European supermarkets (Reuters)

The Republicans Have The Blues

• In the wake of their party getting swept out of power during the midterms, Republicans are still figuring out what exactly went wrong. Vice President JD Vance kicked off the blame game with a 600-word post on X yesterday, claiming that the reason Republicans lost was the U.S.’s war with Iran. “The reason we lost is the war. The president himself said so last night,” he wrote.

• “To the people who are pissed off and want to say, ‘I told you so’: you’re right, you did tell us so,” he went on. “Take that energy into electing Republicans who share your worldview.” While he was the one who kicked off the war, Trump didn’t offer much objection to his vice president’s statement. “I think it’s largely true because it drove the gasoline up a little bit short term,” Trump said. “But at the same time, if I had it to do again, I’d have to do it again because long term, it’s the only answer.” Meanwhile, Vance highlighted four ways for Republicans to win back voters by 2028: ending the Iran war, focusing on cost of living issues, “America First” policies, and changing the U.S.-Israel relationship.

Additional USA News

• Voters Set $400 Million of Elon Musk’s Money on Fire (Wired, $)

• 6 takeaways from Democrats' big wave on election night (NPR)

• Datacenters were on the ballot. US voters rejected them (Guardian)   

• Abortion rights weren’t the story of the midterms. They still won. (Vox)

• As GOP points fingers over stunning midterm losses, Trump admires his ballroom (Politico)

• Dow has best post-midterm elections day in 44 years as Democrats take control of Congress (CNN)

My Rice Krispies Are Neither Rice Nor Krispy

• Rice Krispies aren’t made of rice anymore. At least, not fully. And this only applies to the U.K. and European markets. But still. This week, Kellogg’s publicly confirmed that its popular puffed-rice cereal (as well as its chocolate variant) won’t be made with whole rice grains anymore, with the new recipe relying on corn flour and rice flour to try and replicate the original. The company told the BBC that the change was necessitated by extreme weather that occurred in Spain in 2022 and 2023, which apparently cause shortages in the rice that the cereals are made out of.

• Customers were the first to bring attention to the change, claiming that their morning Rice Krispies were missing their trademark snap, crackle, and pop, which occurs when milk hits the cereal. Eventually, the breakfast cereal conspiracy theorists made so much noise that the company went to the press to put an end to the saga. According to Kellogg’s, the snap, crackle, and pop should all still be there, but customers “might notice that the sound may be quieter and not as instant as before.” Luckily for our American audience, the change will only affect the U.K. and Europe, as WK Kellogg's – the U.S. branch of the food giant – is separate from Kellanova, the branch affected by the rice shortage.

Additional Reads

• Kalshi Also Won the Midterms (NYMag)

• Those Jeff Bezos hair transplant photos are very fake (Verge)

• That feeling of values crumbling has a name: civic grief (Psyche)

• The Brain Injury That Made Edward Freytag a Musical Genius (NYT, $)

• Apple unsure when it will get more foldable iPhones ahead of Christmas (BBC)

• Hackers behind $6.3bn Binance heist ‘used malware and bogus job interviews’ (Guardian)

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Peanut For Your Thoughts

I really didn’t expect the Democrats to win at that scale. What a day!

Editor + Writer: Marcus Gee-Lim

Designer: Joe Stella