The Democrats destroy Trump - what happens now?

0:00This is Matt Rogers from Lost Culture East. That's with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang. This is Bowen Yang from Lost Culture East. That's with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang. You know when people try a new food and suddenly it's like, okay, hold on, I got a new favorite food. That's the reaction a lot of people are having when they first try Kewpie mayo. Yeah, it's the one with the red cap and the little baby on the bottle. You've probably seen it at the grocery store. And this mayo is different. Most mayonnaise uses whole eggs. Kewpie only uses egg yolks, which gives it this rich umami flavor. It's smoother, deeper, almost buttery. Once people try it, they start putting it on everything. Egg sandwiches, fries, burgers.

0:35Chefs use it. Restaurants use it. People who really care about flavor use it. Put it on just about anything. Then you'll understand. Kewpie, the original Japanese mayonnaise. This is a global production. Well, I'm a little bit surprised. I thought they'd do better. We had tremendous rallies. We had about 30 of them. There were thousands and thousands of people outside, let alone inside. Couldn't get in. They'd watch from big screens on the outside of the buildings and they were excited it was great excitement uh so i'm a little bit surprised i thought that i could transfer those people into candidates but maybe in certain cases you know don't forget we had a lot of candidates that did win also but in certain cases they didn't win i felt badly about

1:23darlene i felt very badly. She's gone through, you know, her relationship with Lindsay was extraordinary. It's just essentially mourning and campaigning at the same time. And then on top of it, this happens. But I'm a little surprised. I thought they'd do better. It has been an absolute bloodbath. The Republicans have been eviscerated by a landslide that they didn't see coming way worse than their worst fears. The joke doing the rounds is that Trump failed at regime change in Iran, but somehow he managed it in Texas. This is beyond the Democrats' wildest dreams. What on earth happens now? Welcome to the News Agents. The News Agents. It's John. It's Maitlis. And it's Lewis in downtown Austin,

2:19which has witnessed tonight a remarkable sea change in American politics. truly one for the ages. For those watching rather than listening, I'm going to step out of shot for a moment just to give you a sense. We're standing right by the State House in Austin, the home of the Texas legislature. There is a huge crowd which is assembled outside. It feels a little bit, John and Emily, a bit like, you know, the last scene in Return of the Jedi when the Emperor has fallen and there's a sort of feel of liberation all around it, people honking their cars, sense of elation. I mean, the atmosphere actually is completely electric. And they are absolutely right to mark it. Because as Emily was saying at the start there,

2:57this is beyond, let's just take this state for a moment. This is beyond what the Democrats had dared hope. Yes, there had been a huge amount of expectation. They had dared to dream that maybe James Tallarico, that 37-year-old millennial candidate for the Senate, might be able to take that Senate seat. But it has been way more than that. Up and down the ballot, Democrats have swept away all before them. The Republican governor race, Greg Abbott, we were at his watch party, which became something of a wake in downtown Austin. Twelve years of control of the governor's mansion just under him alone coming to an end. Huge change of seats between the parties, between the Republicans and the Democrats in the statehouse.

3:44And I think, you know, let's Democrats in the state house. And I think, you know, let's just take Texas for a second. I think it is worth doing it. This is a state which in so many ways is the beating heart of the modern Republican Party. Its psychology runs through it. The equivalent, I think, just imagine what the equivalent would be. It would be as if California had suddenly been taken over by the Republican Party at almost every level. Imagine the shockwaves that that would send through the Democratic Party. That is what is happening tonight for the Republicans. And ultimately, there can only really be in a state that Trump carried himself by 12 points in 2024. I think this is going to be in this state, but across the country as well,

4:26the start of a civil war in the Republican Party about what comes next. It feels as if one way or another, the chapter is closing on MAGA and on Trump and the decade in which he has dominated not only the Republican Party, but the American Republic itself. Let us bring you up to date with what we actually know as we come on air. It's half past midnight for us here, but American elections will happen very quickly indeed. And when we left the studio downstairs, we just saw that the Democrats had made their sixth Senate gain. They have managed to flip six senate seats so far they have taken the senate they have taken the house with a very decent cushion a very decent majority and we are still keeping an eye on a

5:13couple of races that we will get to that we've been watching closely for you over the last few days in maine and of course in michigan and these are seismic the changes that have taken place since 2024 when Donald Trump obviously won the presidential election and if we go through some of those states uh Iowa which Trump won by 10 points in 2024 well Josh Turek the Democrat has won that Kansas that Trump won by 16 points the Democrats have won Maine that Trump won by seven points the democrat has won beating susan collins who'd been there since 1997 ohio you know trump took it by 12 points and of course texas and most remarkably perhaps of all south carolina trump won that by 18 points in 2024

6:00and the the republican candidate darlene gra Graham uh sister of Lindsay Graham lost to Annie Andrews and lost quite convincingly yeah and sometimes there is I think an ambiguity in the message that you can take away from an election after our general election you know the phrase that was used was a loveless landslide we We weren't sure quite what we were in love with, but we knew what we didn't want. This time round, the message has felt very palpable and really quite direct. And that is voters did not want any more of Trump's policies. And they blamed him. They blamed him directly for his war in Iran, for his grocery prices, for the price of oil, for his corruption and for his erosion of democratic norms.

6:50And if there's one thing, I think, unifying the winners tonight, and there aren't that many things that pull together some of the democratic socialists with the preachers from the south, there are a lot of things, a lot of ways in which they're different. But the ways in which they're the same is that they all sent a really strong message of rejection. I think what's so interesting about that, and you're so right about the policy aspects of this, look, there are certain elections where a government loses power because dreadful things have happened. You know, the Ukraine war or COVID or whatever it happens to be, living with the consequences of Brexit in the UK. This defeat, this massacre that has taken place tonight,

7:36this blue tsunami that has engulfed the Republican Party was made in the building behind us here. It was made in the White House. It was made by Donald Trump. His failure to release the Epstein files fully, having pledged to do so. The corruption and the money-making that has gone on. The tariffs policy that has driven up prices. The Iran war, having promised not to start any wars, and the cost of oil from the Strait of Hormuz being shut all these things are policies of choice that Donald Trump made and have impoverished the American people and he is now paying the price for that and it's really harsh how vicious the American public have been in their repudiation of Trump in these midterm elections. John, I think the words you just used is completely correct.

8:26This is a repudiation for the ages. I mean, we talk so much, don't we, about American politics being deeply polarised. There's no doubt whatsoever that American politics has obviously become these two trenchant tribes. And yet, despite that, despite that polarisation, the American public, despite all the gerrymandering and despite all the money spent and all of the rest of it, have managed to find a way to express not just their distaste, but to give one of the bloodiest noses to any incumbent administration and to any president in a set of midterm elections that we've seen for half a century, because that is what this is. I remember, don't the two of you, when we were sat where you're sat now two years ago in 2024,

9:08it looked like Trump and the Republicans had managed to achieve a realignment in American politics. African-American voters, young voters, young men in particular, Hispanic voters, Latino voters, non-college educated white people. it looked like there was a new Trump coalition that could sustain the Republican Party, possibly for a political generation. What a long time ago that feels. In only two years, through the different policies and the different choices that Trump has made that you've described, whether it's Iran or tariffs or whatever it has been, frankly, the sniff and whiff of and smell of corruption. Through all of those things, he has managed to throw away what could have been a golden opportunity for the Republican Party.

9:53Because what have we seen tonight? Let's just again take Texas where I'm standing now. Look at what's happened with the Latino vote. We saw districts and areas of Texas, which swung in double digits towards Trump at the last election swing back in one district by 75 percentage points back towards the Democrats through his fecklessness he has thrown away what could have been an historic opportunity for a permanent realignment which he knows could now be in the Democrats hands just want to give you a little bit more of a sense of what it's been like in downtown Austin tonight. I caught up with a few of the Republicans who were leaving, tails tucked firmly, I think, behind their legs from the Greg Abbott watch party.

10:32And some people, I think it's fair to say, in Texas tonight, who've been a little bit happier. You just said you couldn't quite believe it. Yeah, I couldn't quite believe it. Hispanic, Hispanic conservative. And I was behind the governor from the very beginning. And I'm very disappointed. But to be honest, I understand a little bit why the results were the way they were. Telerico had this movement, this democratic socialist movement behind them. And to be honest, Republican voters are a lot more open-minded. They might vote Republican on some things, but maybe a D. But Telerico is D straight down the line. Do you think that for the Texan Republican Party, the Abbott loss hurts far more than the Paxton one?

11:13I think so. He's the leader. He's the leader of the Texas legislature, the local party, the grassroots. He's the leader of the grassroots. And Paxton would have represented us on the foreign stage, Senate and foreign policy. So the leader of our grassroots movements, precinct chairs, all that. Fuck this town! He just got toppled. We uh... Hey the horse you ride on! I'm happy to walk on. Tallarico's a queer! Oh come on guys. Come on. Obviously I think there's some anger and some animosity. Saying Tallarico's a queer, I mean, that's... I think some people had a little too much to drink. Just to explain, just off camera just now, a couple of people at the party just said Tallarico's are queer.

11:54I think they had too much to drink. That's below the belt, isn't it? It's a bit rash. Just animosity. It's not appropriate. Oh, boy. Look, a lot of what the anger comes from, a lot of these people, I mean, a lot of these people worked for Abbott. A lot of these people just lost their job. So people are upset. But they still don't need to be. They shouldn't be saying that. I agree. They shouldn't be saying that. But they're just having a rough night. So if you lost your job, you'd be upset, too. Yeah, I probably wouldn't call someone a queer as a pejorative term. We won, but people are upset. We toured the other night in Austin, and you still had a bit of optimism. Yes, I did. But Republicans have lost all down the ballot.

12:36Who do you blame? Well, perhaps the blame is on all of us, I guess. So I think that in time, we will win the next round. You look really upset. We have to. I feel Abbott was a wonderful ally and friend to our organization. He was very good to us. My first act as chair was to endorse him. So he helped us a lot. He was a good man. It is a tragedy. But we continue the fight. We can never give up. Let's be frank. How much does the president have to take the blame for this? I, uh... You know, we, uh... We shall see. Go to hell! You go to hell! You're not a find out! You're a find out! Go to hell! You gotta help! You're gonna find out! Go back to fucking... Why do you think everyone's so angry? Why is everyone so angry?

13:36Um... When you give up your freedom, that makes you angry. I mean, you just told us to fuck you, sir. I did. Because we don't need this politics here. Texas is Texas. We've been here 250 years, and everybody wants to come to America. Everybody wants to fuck it up. Well, why did you say to us, fuck you? What's the anger about that? Because I'm tired of all the bullshit going on around us. You know, they... It's just anger. Yeah. This is the deal. But we'll make it. It's not against you. No, no, I understand. I'm just... But it's... I'll tell you. Yes. They can't... This is the deal. But we'll make it. It's not against you. No, no, I understand. I'll tell you. They can't. This is the deal. Yeah.

14:08They can't meet in the middle. The Democrats think you have to believe their way. America used to believe in the middle. When I was in college in 1993, my roommate and I voted different ways. It wasn't a big deal. We both had different opinions. Do you think the belief that the Dems are going to introduce Sharia law is the middle? No. It's the socialists. It's the democratic socialists. The Democrats, no. The Democrat socialists, yes. You seem afraid, madam. You seem angry and afraid. I am very afraid. But we used to be able to meet in the middle. What are you afraid of? Because we can't meet in the middle anymore. If you don't believe a certain way... Do you think the Republicans have their own role to play in that?

14:56No. Not at all? No. I have to say, friends, it is surprising. I did not see this... I did not think that Abbott would lose. Um, but I, uh, I'm glad the democratic process continues and we'll, uh, we'll do our best to get him next time. But it's, uh, this is a major, uh, major loss for the Republican Party. So these are the scenes. These are the scenes. Hey, how you doing? What's going on? Hey! Why are you so happy? You're not a newsagent. I'm your pet. You're not a newsagent. Why are you so happy? I'm your pet. Why are you so happy? You're not a newsagent, iron your pants! You're not a newsagent, why are you so happy? Iron your pants! Why are you so happy? Because Abbott's gone! Because Abbott's gone? What does that mean to you sir?

15:35Everything! What does it mean to you sir? Well it doesn't mean that much to me because I'm not American! But why are you happy he's gone? Because he's awful! He's a terrible governor. He's terrible. Yeah, I know you were talking about the return of the Jedi. It actually put me in mind of the fall of Saddam Hussein in Iraq in 2003. I don't know why I'm laughing, but it's all the... Statues toppling. Yeah, statues toppling. Look, you put me in mind, actually, of that night here, up on the rooftop two years ago, where we saw Trump take complete control of the executive, complete control of the legislature. He won the House, he won the Senate, and he'd made his picks on the Supreme Court. And I said at the time, it's all on him.

16:24Do you remember? I said, if there's one lining, this is all on him now. If it's brilliant, well done, it's on him. If it goes to hell, it's all on him. And actually there is an argument that this is what happens when you have too much power. He won all the swing states. He got the House. He got the judiciary. He got Congress in the palm of his hands. He sewed up an entire party, an entire movement. He made sure that no one could criticise him. He got rid of anyone who dared speak truth to him. This is what happened. It is on him. It was on him. He has now lost this because he couldn't actually accept that anyone else could have something to help with with the way america was governed and i and i do think frankly and i know it's early days i'm not trying to

17:11pour a bucket of cold sick but it's a sort of salutary lesson for the democrats they don't want to be in a position where they're sort of getting carried away on too much power to the point where they they forget what they've been put in power to do in the first place? Well, look, you know, we're sitting up here. It's now 20 to 1 in the morning, 20 to 6 probably in London. The White House is still lit up and it looks a picture of absolute serenity and calm. And you can be absolutely 100 percent sure that it is not calm and serene inside. Because Donald Trump is raging. And the messaging that we've had in the last hour is just extraordinary. That he's gone from saying, yeah, I'm talking to Democrat leaders.

17:58I'm going to work constructively. And, you know, I don't want to just be the guy who comes out and vetoes things. And then he's he say it's all fox news's fault they did this and they did that and if only you know greg abbott the the governor of texas where lewis is who who lost his seat if greg abbott hadn't only you know been a republican in name only he'd have won that seat he should never have split with me and you just sense that rage and it's kind of he's ricocheting around all over the place. And we just don't know what Trump tomorrow morning is going to do, what he's going to say, whether he's come to terms with it, whether there's been any moment of self-reflection or sense of do I need to change what I do now?

18:38Well, this is just such a fascinating moment for the future of the Republican Party, isn't it, John? Because in a way, we are really in uncharted territory here, not just in the scale of the Democrats' victory, but in the sense that in a way, Trump has actually never really had a truly bad set of election results. Certainly not like this. He tends always to overperform. 2016, overperforms, unexpectedly wins the election. 2018, yeah, they lose the House, but actually win a few seats in the Senate. 2020, of course, he loses the election overall, but still overperforms relative to what a lot of people thought. And of course, in 2024, he wins the election at a cancer. This is the first time when Trump and MAGA have had an unadulterated drubbing at the hands of the electorate.

19:18There can be no spinning this, although I'm sure Trump in all of his different ways will try. Therefore, to me, one of the most interesting things is what you can hear the noise behind me. This is one of the most interesting things about this election is that it is truly, I think, the biggest test yet of Trump's hold over the Republican Party. To what extent now does the bandwagon start to move on? To what extent does it consider to be that actually the Trump endorsement, which has been everything in the chokehold era that Trump has had over the GOP, to what extent does that start to become a devalued currency now? Because so many, let's just take the Texas Senate race. What is one of the reasons that,

20:00why is one of the reasons that Tallarico has won tonight? It's because trump chose to endorse kem paxton a deeply flawed candidate someone who had been impeached for corruption by his own colleagues in by his own republican colleagues in the texas legislature rather than endorsing the guy who had already been in the seat for years and years and years a guy called john cornyn is this finally an opportunity i wouldn't hold my breath here, but you never know. Is this an opportunity just to the point that Trump has been delegitimized most at the hands of the electorate? Is it an opportunity for a different form of Republican Party, maybe an old form of the Republican Party, to start to fight back and say,

20:40look, Trump's won us two elections, the ride's been good, but now we've got to start to move on. And just quickly, I have to say, two people I feel being pretty uncomfortable with now looking forward, who? J.D. Vance and Marco Rubio. Because it feels to me that if ever there were an opportunity for someone in the Republican Party not connected with Trump on the outside of Trump who can say, let's turn the page on Trump. If there were ever an opportunity for them running up to 2028, my word, it has to be now, as opposed to Vance and Rubio, who, of course, have made their bed with Trump. Who knows? Maybe they're right at the point now where they'll come to regret it. I have to say, I think you might be moving too quickly.

21:22And I know this feels like an absolute shocker of a night for Trump, but there will be people, as you say, who are managing to spin a completely different narrative on this tomorrow. And earlier this evening, we heard from the vanquished Vivek Ramaswamy, the man who put out an ad which essentially made his opponent's child rape the centre of his criticism. It was execrable. It was disgusting. And the American people decided that he wasn't fit to govern and he lost the race. But when he started speaking, just listen to the language he uses. He talks about serious concerns. There is that air of menace and threat that if the Democrats get in, they're all going to be doing terrible things to the country.

22:15They're going to be turning it upside down. They're going to be making America unsafe. And I wouldn't be surprised if over the coming weeks and months, that is the kind of language that you will hear the MAGA incarnation take I think it's really interesting I think that the Republican Party those people whose careers have gone up in flames tonight because of Donald Trump are now in this exquisite agony of do I dare do I finally do I at last show some courage and say what I think of Donald Trump and what I've been saying to all my friends for years which is that they all think he's kind of slightly deranged and a problem but they're bloody terrified of him I still think he has enormous potential for menace

22:57to damage yeah to damage them and so they kind of think oh god I don't know what to do do I you know have I finally got a bit of courage have i finally got a bit of backbone am i going to stand up to him and i suspect there may be one or two will do and you've seen that with some of the people who have lost their seats because of donald trump like tom tillis and you know a couple of others or do they just keep their mouths shut i just remind you what happened in 2021 when there was an attempted coup on the Capitol. We knew what Republicans thought then. We knew that they blamed him for that. And yet, actually, what happened? Within the space of 10 days, we saw Lindsey Graham, Mitch McConnell,

23:36a whole raft of senior Republicans who, frankly, should have known better just go along with the guy at the top. Well, look, we'll be back in a moment and we're going to talk about what the Democrats are going to do with all this power they've now got. This is Matt Rogers from Lost Culture East. That's with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang. This is Bowen Yang from Lost Culture East. That's with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang. OK, we've been talking about QB Mail for a minute now, Bow, and wow, the feedback we're getting. I mean, so many of y'all love this stuff. You're stopping us in the street going, I love Kewpie. And if you're thinking, wait, what is Kewpie? Uh, do you not have the internet? It's the OG Japanese mayonnaise.

24:21The one with the red cap and the little baby on the bottle. Once you know it, you start seeing it everywhere. People ask what makes it different from basic mayo. Well, the answer? Egg yolks. Yuppie is made with egg yolks only, giving it this incredibly rich umami flavor that elevates everything. Burgers, fries, sandwiches, chicken, noodles. Chefs use it. Restaurants use it. People who really love food and flavor use it. Whatever you're eating, Kewpie it. So if you haven't tried Kewpie yet, find the bottle with the red cap and see what everyone's talking about. You'll understand. Kewpie, the original Japanese mayonnaise. We've spoken a lot already about the Republicans. We should, of course, talk about the Democrats.

25:11What a remarkable revival this has been. Again, when we were sat there two years ago, John and Emily, we were talking about the destruction almost, it felt, of the Democratic brand. And in fairness, actually, the Democrats, in so many ways, they have been gifted this, haven't they? Because they, it's not as if they have actually been, they love public education, it's not as if that actually in so many ways they have solved the big problems of the Trump era or thought about how to remake themselves. Trump has handed them so many advantages that they never otherwise thought that they would have. What is certainly true is that they now have a generational regeneration in so many ways. You know,

25:50you think about some of the people elected or reelected tonight, whether it is, you know, John Ossoff, AOC is already there and so on. What are they going to do with that power that they now have in these big majorities that they're going to have in the Senate and the House? Well, I think we can all definitely predict there are going to be we are going to move from an era where there has been one of the most supine congresses in modern American history to one of the most combative. They are going to be subpoenaing. They're going to be investigating. They are going to be potentially impeaching. Not Trump, I think. I think they're going to be too smart to go down that road again. But I would be feel pretty uncomfortable tonight, for example, if I were Pete Hegseth in a war

26:30or Defense Department or whatever the hell he calls it these days. Might as well they go for the funding on the Iran war. They're going to have power. The Democrats in Washington, D.C. now in a way that they have been defanged for the last two years and is going to set up a remarkable confrontation, I think, even more pugnacious than the last time at the heart of Washington for the remaining two years of the Trump presidency? I wouldn't underestimate, I think, the change that the Democrats have been through themselves. I don't think this was just about Trump. I don't think this was just about Trump. I don't think it was just repudiation. I think after the Biden-Harris defeat, they took a long, hard look at themselves.

27:14And one of the things that they decided was they needed younger people with more energy and character and belief, quite frankly. And if they've taken one thing away from the Trump years, I think it's that sense of having to be able to communicate properly, having to be able to take a message and sell it. And the people that have done that very well, clearly Mamdani has in that time won as mayor of New York because he mastered an ability to speak to the people that he wanted to talk to and to speak to them in a way that made them think he had, what is it, the sunshine at his back, the wind at his back, the sun in his face. It was a more approachable, more optimistic delivery than certainly the Democrats have had for a long time. And if you look at somebody like

28:02Al-Said in Michigan, somebody who has said, these are the three things that I want to deliver, affordable healthcare and cheaper prices, and I want to get this country back on track. He's been very rigid, actually, in the messages that he's tried to share. And I think the Democrats have partly learned that from Trump. I think they've learned that you have to energise people. You can't just expect them to vote because they're Latino or expect them to vote because they're black or brown or expect them to vote because they work in a car plant or they've been in manufacturing. That's gone. You have to earn the vote. And I definitely think the Democrats have gone out and said, OK, we get it. We've had the drubbing and we're not going to make that mistake

28:47again I think that's I think that's true Emily but I mean it's true to say what what I was getting out there is the party brand for the Democrats continues to basically be through the floor you know they barely improve their image but you're completely right I think they have changed I mean in the special report we did from Texas yesterday or whenever it was now the hours sort of all merged into one don't they I, one of the things I've been really struck by is, I mean, in terms of the Democrats now, I think one of the big battles for American politics going up to 2028 and into the 2030s as well is that question. They're all populist now. They're all populist now. There's no question that Trump has had a profound impact on the

29:22Democrats. You know, they talk, the language they talk now, almost across the board, is so much more akin to the politics and language of Bernie Sanders than it would be to say of Hillary Clinton, the constant invocations of the billionaire class, of a rigged game and all of that. And I think what the Dems did do cleverly this time, particularly someone like Tallarico here in Texas, is link those two issues together, corruption and cost of living. His argument was it is because Trump and the White House are so corrupt that they rig the game against you and why you're paying more at the pump and you're paying more for your grocery prices and everything. So that focus, I think, on corruption being sort of traveling around Texas the last few days, I've been surprised at the extent to which

30:02you sort of sometimes think this might be a kind of slightly sort of more middle class, more educated concern. No, this is something that strikes me, which is now running through and pervasive the American electorate. The idea that corruption is starting at the very top and is embodied in so many ways in Donald Trump and in many Americans' mind, in many of his mates, including Elon Musk and the rest of them, who, of course, let's not forget. Let's bear a thought for Elon, shall we? Two hundred and fifty million dollars into the Texas Senate race. And what's happened in Texan politics overall? Democrats have got the governor's mansion. They're probably going to take the Texas Senate. They're going to take

30:38races across the board. And he's moved his whole businesses here and they're going to regulate him anyway. Poor old Elon. No, I think it's undoubtedly true that there is both a spectacular opportunity for the Democratic Party now with such an overwhelming majority in the House and the Senate to be able to proceed with certain bits of legislation. I also think there is a risk and I think that if the party is seen just to be being vindictive and out to screw hegseth however much he might deserve it or whoever else and just be endlessly subpoenaing and calling people up and inquiring and not setting out a sort of governing idea of what the democratic party is for and what it's about, then it might squander that opportunity.

31:26And I still think we've got an unresolved question. Look, you know, Abdel Al-Said has won his race in Michigan, even though, you know, he faced fierce opposition. He had his kind of Democratic opponent coming out and saying that she was going to back the Republican candidate. So he's emboldened by this. And the progressives and the Democratic Socialists of America are emboldened by what has happened in these races. So the establishment Democrats can't turn around and say, well, you know, if you're a socialist or a progressive, you can't win in America. They've shown they can. And whether it's going to be a progressive you can't win in america they've shown they can and whether it's going to

32:05be a progressive democratic party or whether it's going to be a more traditional josh shapiro type party the governor of pennsylvania who's been returned you know i think these are unresolved questions that the democratic party need to work out pretty quickly if they're going to keep this momentum going and take it forward into 2028 so i think there are massive opportunities it's a huge victory but i think the heart and soul of the democratic party is still up for grabs look there is a phrase that um americans use commentators use which is you can walk and chew gum at the same time and i think it will be incumbent on the democrats to show that the real kind of villains at the heart of this corruption don't just get away with it

32:52otherwise you know what are you for if you're not calling it out because as lewis says it's tied into corruption is tied into not just the cost of living but also the question of democracy and and who you are as a state but they also have to get on and do things for affordable health care and end whatever's going on in iran and make sure that ukraine wins the war against putin and and and and i guess the point is that they have got this opportunity now particularly if trump is as scared as he was sounding this evening there was a full five minutes when he was actually tweeting out that he was happy to work with the Democrats in Congress to, his words, get things done. I think reading carefully between the lines, he means,

33:36please don't impeach me again. Please don't come after me. Please let me carry on doing the ballroom and flying the private jet and don't take my family money away. I don't mean family money. I mean American taxpayers' money away. Please let me have all that and i will work with you and i think the democrats are should be smart enough to see through that you can get stuff done and you could also prosecute where that needs to happen i think the democrats would be well advised not to over extrapolate or over interpret these results in the sense that as I say This feels to me an election where we always talk them is this a realignment? Is there gonna be something permanent from this like in 24 and actually it all feels so much more contingent to me, right?

34:19It feels in a way as if American politics. It's resembling what we're seeing a lot in European politics, right? Which is that, you know, incumbents time after time after time are falling at the ballot box. I think what's so extraordinary about this is that, as I say, somehow that same effect has managed to overcome the polarisation of American politics. So, you know, if they start to become more extreme versions of themselves, if they start to indulge in some of perhaps their worst habits from the past, then this could all come back and bite them on the face pretty quickly. I think, though, you know, just taking the party politics outside this for one moment, I do think tonight has been a really healthy moment for American democracy in the sense that if we think what the

34:58kind of what the counterfactual might have been, let's imagine Trump does well, the Republicans do well or not that badly and so on. I think the message does well, the Republicans do well, or not that badly, and so on. I think the message from that, let's take Texas. Someone like Musk can spend a quarter of a billion dollars and basically buy a Senate seat, because that's more or less what he would have been able to do. The message that would have been sent is that, more or less, we know the corruption we've seen in the Trump White House, the fecklessness. I mean, the guy has literally over the past year or so said, I don't much care about cost of living. I'm not too bothered about it. I'd rather build my ballroom, all of that sort of thing. The message that would have

35:30sent the kind of decadence of it, I think would have been deeply corrosive for the Republican Party. Actually, we were talking to a couple of Republicans just leaving the Abbott Party. Yeah, they were crestfallen. They look gutted. Most of them looked in a state of shock and grief, in fact. But one guy said, you know, this could be a moment where we start to have an honest conversation about what the future looks like. And at least the message will have gone out that American voters, yeah, they're polarized. Yeah, most of them actually will hold their nose a lot of the time, even when their party is a bit shit, whether that's Democrat or Republican. But there are limits. And I think what the truth is over the last two years is that through their fecklessness, recklessness,

36:06and sometimes, to be honest, arrogance, the Republican Party, and Trump in particular, pushed those limits to their outer boundary. And tonight, the American people decided to snap them back. You know, Lewis, we've talked about the Republican Party. We've talked about the Democratic Party. I think there's another little group that we should talk about, you know, finally, in all of this, is the tech bros, the billionaire class, who now find themselves, I suspect, feeling pretty vulnerable. The people who pledged, you know, 25 million towards the Trump bull room in return for, well, what? In return for what? What have they done? What have they promised? What have they done? What are the dirty deals that have gone on which have led to the massive enrichment of Donald Trump?

36:48And I bet a lot of these guys are ringing their lawyers now and saying, I'm putting you on standby because I reckon I'm going to be in the crosshairs right now. We'll be back in just a moment. This is Matt Rogers from Lost Culture East. That's with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang. This is Bowen Yang from Lost Culture East. That's with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang. Okay, we've been talking about QB Mail for a minute now, Bow. And wow, the feedback we're getting. I mean, so many of y'all love this stuff. You're stopping us in the street going, I love Kewpie. And if you're thinking, wait, what is Kewpie? Uh, do you not have the internet? It's the OG Japanese mayonnaise. The one with the red cap and the little baby on the bottle.

37:36Once you know it, you start seeing it everywhere. People ask what makes it different from basic mayo. Well, the answer, egg yolks. Kewpie is made with egg yolks only, giving it this incredibly rich umami flavor that elevates everything. Burgers, fries, sandwiches, chicken, noodles. Chefs use it. Restaurants use it. People who really love food and flavor use it. Whatever you're eating, Kewpie it. So if you haven't tried Kewpie yet, find the bottle with the red cap and see what everyone's talking about. You'll understand. QB, the original Japanese mayonnaise. Well, just before we go, we're going to try and get some sleep now, and then we're coming back first thing in the morning here to record the newsagents. Not first thing, second thing.

38:26OK, second thing in the morning. We're coming to record the Newsagents USA, where hopefully we'll have a fuller picture. And just as I'm sitting here, it's quarter to one in the morning, and I can hear chanting out on the streets by the White House, where small gaggles of people have gathered to shout at Trump and protest. Washington is a city that goes to sleep very early. It goes to sleep about nine o'clock. People have their dinner here at 5.30. They're all in bed by nine and they're all kind of jogging or running around like doing, sorting the world out by about 5.45am. You're talking about yourself, mate, Liz. No, I'm not. But it is quite a quiet city. And tonight there are definitely yelps and loud noises

39:09yeah and people are out celebrating and there are the few little honking horns it's not quite it's not quite texas it's not quite talarico land but it definitely feels like there is a flavor in the air because people haven't seen this before. We were just talking to Miles Taylor on our overnight show. And he said the only time in Washington's past that this has happened before was when Donald Trump didn't win in 2020. And when Osama bin Laden got killed by the Navy SEALs. We will see you tomorrow, a bit later on. I don't know. We'll be back, though. Bye-bye. Bye for now. This is Matt Rogers from Lost Culture East. That's with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang. This is Bowen Yang from Lost Culture East. That's with

39:56Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang. Okay, we've been talking about QB Mail for a minute now, Bow, and wow, the feedback we're getting. I mean, so many of y'all love this stuff. You're stopping us in the street going, I love Kewpie. And if you're thinking, wait, what is Kewpie? Do you not have the internet? It's the OG Japanese mayonnaise. The one with the red cap and the little baby on the bottle. Once you know it, you start seeing it everywhere. People ask what makes it different from basic mayo. Well, the answer, egg yolks. Kewpie is made with egg yolks only, giving it this incredibly rich umami flavor that elevates everything. Burgers, fries, sandwiches, chicken, noodles. Chefs use it. Restaurants use

40:38it. People who really love food and flavor use it. Whatever you're eating, Kewpie it. So if you haven't tried Kewpie yet, find the bottle with the red cap and see what everyone's talking about. You'll understand. Kewpie, the original Japanese mayonnaise. This has been a Global Production. Whether you're building a roster or a business, great talent can come from anywhere. Pebble helps companies hire and support employees across 185 plus countries. Pebble believes companies hire and support employees across 185-plus countries. Pebble believes you don't build a winning team by limiting where you look for talent. That belief is at the heart of their new partnership with Bay FC and the way Pebble helps companies build their own teams every day.

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