Sunday, November 1, 2026

Doom Report (Week 93: Last Stop Before the Midterms)


Last week, I shared an inspirational speech from Barack Obama.  Apparently, all the Republicans got out of that was that he was insulting the Cheesecake Factory.  Insert facepalm emoji here.

Good coverage on the faux outrage from Jimmy Kimmel in Monday’s monologue (including Trump’s comments on Nicki Minaj’s “beautiful ass”), from Adam Kinzinger on Monday’s “Kinzinger Report” (including a few other stories), from the Even More News crew on their Tuesday episode (including information on the ways the Trump regime is already starting to meddle in the elections), and most of all from Seth Meyers, who covered the initial response on Monday’s “A Closer Look”, the escalation on Wednesday’s “A Closer Look”, and Obama’s firing back on Thursday’s “A Closer Look”.

Obama’s reaction was, indeed, the best part of the story.  To quote his full remarks:

But that was the interesting thing about how the administration responded to the speech I gave the other day.  They did not dispute what I said about them being directly responsible for rising prices.  They did not argue with that.  They did not deny tariffs were contributing to higher costs for families.  They didn’t say anything about that.  I accused this administration based on the facts that they were engaging in unprecedented levels of corruption.  They didn’t say anything about that.  The president wasn’t even mad about the Saddam Hussein comparison.  That part didn’t bother him.  But he was very upset about the Cheesecake Factory comments.

Of the faux outrage, he said this:

That’s the game they’ve been playing for the last two years: just keep throwing distractions out there—attacks, fabrications, phony outrage—and hope that you won’t notice that your bills are higher and your life is tougher.

And ain’t that the truth.

Other things you need to know this week:

In just a few days, you will—hopefully!—be voting.  I won’t tell you to vote for Democrats, because Democrats suck.  But you may wish to consider voting against the Republicans.  If you need a reminder of why, I invite you to consult my colleague John Oliver on last Sunday’s Last Week Tonight, where he discusses how the rightwing nutjobs have parasitized the Republican party.  But I suspect you don’t really need that.

If you happen to live in California, I’ll direct you to my colleague Adam Conover’s discussion of our prospective wealth tax.  He explains how it will work, and how you need to vote to make sure it passes.  No point in explaining why you want the billionaires to actually start paying their fair share: I think we can take that as a given.

But, no matter where you live, the most important thing is that you should vote.  My colleague Adam Kinzinger has some rousing words about how your vote is more powerful than you think.  At under six minutes, it’s short and sweet, and rather inspirational.  After pointing out that our founding fathers didn’t always get along—and that, in point of fact, a couple of them even shot each other—he goes on to say:

Now, I want to talk to some of you directly.  So, if you voted for Donald Trump, I’m not here to yell at you.  You looked at the country, you didn’t like what you saw, and you did something about it.  You voted.  Good.  It’s exactly what you’re supposed to do, by the way.  That’s the system working.  But here’s what the founders also understood.  A vote is not a lifetime contract.  It’s a job offer, and you actually get to review the performance.  So look around with your eyes open and ask yourself: did you get what you were promised?  Are the people that you sent there, are they working for you or are they working for him?  If the answer is no, you don’t owe anybody your loyalty.  Not a party; not a person.  Changing your vote is not betrayal.  It’s not admitting you were stupid.  It’s the most American thing you can do.  It’s the boss saying, “I gave you a shot and you blew it”—and you’re actually not going to be alone.  When people move together and they move together in big numbers, they don’t just send a message, they change who’s in the room.

So, here’s what I want you to do.  Don’t treat voting like a chore.  Treat it like what it is: it’s a celebration.  Take your kids.  Take your neighbor.  Wear the sticker.  Post the picture.  Vote early if your state lets you.  Make a plan if it doesn’t.  Because, somewhere, 250 years ago, a bunch of men who couldn’t stand each other agreed on one thing: that you, not them, would get the final word.  They trusted you with it.  Now, let’s prove them right.  Election day is Tuesday, November 3rd.  You’re the boss.

Looking forward to the results.









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