Traditionally in American politics, one might expect the historically unpopular leader of a political party that is currently in power, on the eve of midterm elections that look poised to reset the balance of power across Congress, to deliver some kind of message brimming with hope and good feelings.

“Stay the course,” you might expect that normal President to say.

“Trust us, and we’ll deliver for you.” Something of that nature, you know.

The sort of things a competent political leader might say.

A slightly less conventional pitch, on the other hand, is to more or less promise that you’ll be immediately reigniting a deeply unpopular war that has already cost the country more than $50 billion in taxpayer dollars as soon as the midterms are over, while using phrases like “I’m not looking to kill lots of people, but if we have to, we’ll have to.” Guess which of these two pitches Donald Trump chose to make on the topic of Iran within the last 24 hours, while speaking with Fox News hosts? Trump on Iran: “I’m not looking to kill lots of people, but if we have to, we’ll have to” — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 8:30 AM · Nov 3, 2026 Truly, here is a man with the worst political instincts imaginable, who somehow managed to bull his way into the presidency twice anyway by simply making the coarsest, stupidest appeal to the lowest common denominator and then not delivering on any of it–except for the promise of brutal immigration enforcement, that is.

In pretty much every economic measurement, however, the second Trump administration in particular has left the global economy in shambles, facing skyrocketing energy and shipping costs from an oil crunch that then filter down to every class of consumer goods, only amplified by his simultaneous attempts to institute broad tariffs all over the place.

Gasoline, we will note, is as of Tuesday the most expensive it has ever been on an election day in America.

Surely this bodes well for Republicans, almost all of whom have entirely stopped referencing Trump in election advertising? And surely what they needed on top of that was Trump implying what we’d already been reporting for weeks: The U.S.

intends to join Israel in stepping up the intensity of the Iran War once again as soon as the midterms are over.

Trump freely admitted as much once again during the same Fox News interview, suggesting that the U.S.

might strike Iran’s extremely fortified Pickaxe Mountain, the underground bunker system where intelligence believes the country has moved most of the supplies and equipment for its nuclear material enrichment program.

As Trump blithely boasted on air on Monday night, immediately before Americans headed to the polls: “Now, we might have to go after Pickaxe [Mountain], but that’s not a big deal.

We can do it in literally — we can do that in one hour, OK, as soon as we....