Saturday's Final Word

The web blew some tabs in my direction, I clicked them with my mouse today ...

@BrianAtlas We do not condone violence of any kind, and we are no longer sponsors of this podcast.

— Cash App (@CashApp) November 6, 2026

Ed: Via Twitchy. Pretty sick stuff. Is this 'canceling' or accountability? Or is it just playing by the same rules the Left has imposed on its opponents for years? 

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Breitbart: Cash App, Chewy, Boll & Branch, and Lola Blankets said on Friday that they no longer sponsor or advertise leftist Jennifer Welch’s I’ve Had It podcast, according to company statements and customer service messages shared online amid backlash.

Cash App condemned violence in announcing it was no longer sponsoring the show. Chewy and Lola Blankets addressed their ties to the podcast in responses shared by customers, while Boll & Branch publicly ruled out future advertising. Their statements did not all specify when the sponsorships ended. ...

Both Boll & Branch and Lola Blankets were listed as sponsors in the description of the podcast’s October 27 episode, “Everybody’s a F**king Expert,” which included discount offers for their products.

Cash App’s relationship with the show was documented in earlier episodes. Welch promoted Cash App during the episode “Who Gives a Zuck?” During the episode, they also thanked the company for its sponsorship and included a download link and advertising disclosures.

Ed: Looks like Welch had a pretty decent business model for her podcast. Maybe she won't care if she loses corporate sponsorships. I don't think Welch really needs the income, although I'd bet she prefers to keep it coming in. This could end up poisoning other business opportunities, though.  

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...It is an ironic moment given the use of such boycotts by the left in the past, including targeting Musk companies and specifically X (which did not succeed). For companies like ZipRecruiter, Welch's unhinged attacks on conservatives may not be the market draw they wanted.

— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) November 7, 2026

Ed: True. However, the overall impact will likely be that consumer brands will refuse to advertise on any politics-oriented platform. We saw this impact several years ago when the Left went after corporations for sponsoring far less incendiary commentary and established platforms. Turley often writes about an era of rage, and advertisers may grow even more risk-averse to political commentary after this episode. 

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Not the Bee: The two prominent progressive podcasters lost it. They spent the next few moments laughing hysterically at the prospect of digging up the body of an assassinated man and "killing" him again.

Welch even joked about zooming in for Fox News before adding, "No comment."

It's difficult to watch without feeling a measure of disgust. The joke itself is grotesque, but the delight these two women take in it is … something else.

And when you remember that Charlie Kirk left behind two young children who will grow up without their father, the cruelty becomes even harder to stomach.

There is something profoundly worldly about this kind of behavior. It is what happens when consciences are seared, power is worshipped, contempt becomes a virtue, political opponents cease to be human beings, and when the capacity to delight in another person's suffering is mistaken for sophistication.

Ed: Indeed, and this is also Turley's argument. To change that culture, disincentives for that behavior have to do real damage, either reputational or financial, and be broadly accepted as just. It's the last part that may be the most difficult to establish, because the same online culture rewards wagon-circling and tu quoque diversions. 

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Jennifer Welch and Angie Sullivan posted an apology to Instagram after numerous sponsors dropped them. Normally, I’d give them grace, but they have consistently said some of the hateful, outrageous things imaginable over the last year without remorse. I don’t believe they’re remorseful now, either.

— Tom Bevan (@TomBevanRCP) November 7, 2026

 I don’t believe they’re remorseful now, either.

Ed: That's because they're not. That's not an apology; it's a lecture. They're still exploiting Kirk's assassination for their own virtue signaling; they're just choosing a pseudo-altruistic alternative in gun control. 

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It is heartbreaking to see antisemitism in my hometown. I was born in Wyncote, near Philadelphia, and it makes me angry and ashamed to see hatred tolerated there. The numbers show this is not an abstract concern. The Anti-Defamation League recorded 465 antisemitic incidents across Pennsylvania in 2024, an 18% increase over 2023. It tracked 189 incidents in Philadelphia and 51 in Montgomery County. These reports include harassment, vandalism, and assault; they are not all classified as crimes. (https://t.co/LNbuEF4lCN, https://t.co/VD98Hg5XEp) Hateful expression harms more than its immediate target. In a 2025 survey of Jewish Americans, 79% said they were concerned about antisemitism, and 52% said they had worried about their personal safety because of their identity. Nearly half reported taking steps to increase their security. A research review also found that exposure to hate is associated with worse psychological well-being, more negative stereotypes, and less trust between groups. (https://t.co/VD98Hg5XEp, https://t.co/YJT6NcR4VF) It takes me back to the racism I experienced in the 1960s: signs throughout the South declaring that Black people could be refused service, along with separate “white” and “colored” signs on bathrooms and drinking fountains,”no niggers”. I remember what that hatred looked and felt like. We cannot accept it in any form, directed at any people. I wish I could be there to stand with those protesting HATE. I am asking elected officials and other leaders in Philadelphia: Where are the clear statements condemning antisemitism? When hateful language is excused or repeated, it can make hostility seem acceptable and deepen fear and division. Leaders should speak plainly and consistently: antisemitism and hate have no place in our communities. What the hell? We have to speak up. Reggie Jackson The Mr. October Guy

— Reggie Jackson (@mroctober) November 7, 2026

... I wish I could be there to stand with those protesting HATE. I am asking elected officials and other leaders in Philadelphia: Where are the clear statements condemning antisemitism? When hateful language is excused or repeated, it can make hostility seem acceptable and deepen fear and division. Leaders should speak plainly and consistently: antisemitism and hate have no place in our communities.

What the hell? We have to speak up.

Ed: God bless Reggie Jackson for speaking up, and Sen. John Fetterman as well. I now officially forgive Mr. October for blasting three homers against my beloved Dodgers in the 1977 World Series. I kid, I kid, but seriously, Reggie Jackson is a mensch. 

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Salena Zito at WashEx: Pennsylvania was one piece of a national sweep. With Arizona and the Georgia House now settled, Democrats flipped 12 legislative chambers in one night. Eleven came from Republicans; the 12th, the Minnesota House, had been tied. Democrats netted at least 330 seats and went from 39 of the 99 chambers to a projected 51. It was the biggest single-election shift in state partisan power since 2010.

It was also 2014 in reverse. In President Barack Obama’s second midterm, Republicans netted 300 to 350 legislative seats and took 11 chambers from Democrats. They came out holding 68 chambers, matching a high-water mark last reached after the 1920 election. The two nights were almost the same size, and 2026 was slightly larger. What differed was where each party started. Republicans in 2014 were adding to their 2010 Tea Party gains. Democrats in 2026 were climbing out of a hole; they held only 29 chambers when Trump was first elected. Pennsylvania lived the 2014 version. Democrat Tom Wolf ousted a Republican governor even as Republicans expanded their legislative majorities, which set up years of budget standoffs.

Why does it matter? Because much of American governing happens in state capitols. Legislators decide how billions of dollars are spent on classrooms, corrections, and health coverage. In Harrisburg, the new majorities have pledged to lift the minimum wage, write abortion rights into state law, and fund mass transit; the state’s wage floor is still the federal minimum of $7.25. Wisconsin Democrats can now expand Medicaid. Even where Democrats only broke a supermajority, it matters: new Democratic governors in Iowa and Ohio can veto bills knowing Republicans lack the votes to override them.

Legislatures also write election law.

Ed: Be sure to read it all. It certainly will matter in Texas for the next two years, at least. Republicans will find that out the hard way. 

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🚨Among White Male Voters, the number preferring a candidate who advocated Trump-like policies fell from 49% in January 2025 to 32% in October 2026. ✅Roughly half of those White Men leaving the Trump base now prefer Traditional Republican policies while the other half prefer Traditional Democratic policies. ✅The decline in Trump support included 25% among White Men without a college degree, 6% among those with a Bachelors Degree, and 3% among postgrads. ✅Among White Male Evangelical Christians, the decline was 25 points (from 69% to 44%). ✅Among White Male Bible Believing Christians, the decline was 28 points (from 67% to 39%). https://t.co/42zTw1jeIc

— Scott Rasmussen (@ScottWRasmussen) November 7, 2026

... while the other half prefer Traditional Democratic policies. 

✅The decline in Trump support included 25% among White Men without a college degree, 6% among those with a Bachelors Degree, and 3% among postgrads.

✅Among White Male Evangelical Christians, the decline was 25 points (from 69% to 44%). 

✅Among White Male Bible Believing Christians, the decline was 28 points (from 67% to 39%).

Ed: This is what Republicans have to correct over the next two years. Doubling down on the previous two years will not recover these voters. 

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Daniel Foster at NRO: A dummymander is what happens when a party gets too clever with its gerrymandering, spreading voters too thinly across too many districts in an effort to squeeze out the most seats at the margins. Logically enough, when you go too far, you end up with more skin-of-the-teeth seats and fewer safe ones. That, uh, matters when you take a pasting like Tuesday’s.

Consider the overall results. Republicans redrew congressional districts across the country with the hopes of picking up 15 Democratic seats. According to Decision Desk HQ, they appear to have won just two of those new districts. (By contrast, California Democrats engineered a five-seat gerrymander of their own and appear to have captured all five.)

But it’s even worse than that. In some places, Republicans actually sacrificed seats they already controlled in pursuit of seats they hoped to gain. Elsewhere, they came astonishingly close to doing so. And in Indiana, a group of conservative Republican legislators who resisted Trump’s demands, and were subjected to months of abuse and political retaliation for their trouble, may have saved their party from an even more spectacular humiliation.

Ed: Meh. Water under the bridge, and to some extent, irrelevant in the mass shellacking that took place. The risk of diluting strong districts came up during the push for mid-cycle redistricting, but was largely dismissed. Losses in state legislatures more or less moot this issue, though; the wave took place at all levels. It's the same as the "candidate quality" discussion in Texas – Republicans lost all of the statewide offices this cycle, even Greg Abbott, who was considered safe. Perhaps the best that can be said about this is that it's much better to give voters a reason to vote for you than to put all your focus on reshuffling the deck. 

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What DeSantis is up to right now https://t.co/rQoiA4loUi

— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) November 6, 2026

Ed: DeSantis positioned himself well for 2028, whether he intended to do so or not. He held onto Florida in a massive wave election, although he's also part of the redistricting debate. At least at first blush, Republicans will need to give voters a real change in direction for the 2028 election, not by abandoning the winning conservo-popular agenda but by promising fresh leadership and direction for it. 

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Victor Davis Hanson on X/Twitter: It is too soon to calibrate the direction of the post midterm Democratic and Republican Parties.

But if the first 72 hours are any indication—and despite the soon to be Speaker’s denials—the Left is already bragging about subpoenas, and it is intoxicated by the notion of investigations and impeachments.

Heady Democrats have entirely forgotten the politically suicidal fashion of the 2021-4 five civil and criminal courtroom circuses, the Mar-a-Lago raid, and the blue state deballoting efforts.

All that and more fueled the Trump recovery.

Ed: It's a great essay, so be sure to click through and read it all. VDH's title says it all: "The Midtern is Not the Endterm." We should have an honest debate about what led to the GOP's massive setback, and then plan for the agenda and leadership that will recover from it. 

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Nation Torn Apart By Routine Election Starting To Wonder If Government May Be Too Powerful https://t.co/hyMcKB0oOx

— The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) November 7, 2026

Ed: Hmmmmmm .... 

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Last night's lyric: "The Dream Police" by Cheap Trick. 

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