 Well, Republicans are in complete disarray today because they lost the special election in New York's third congressional district, which as you all know, was the seat that belonged to George Santos. So Democrat Tom Swazi won 53.9% to Republican Mazi Pilip, who got 46.1%. Now Swazi was originally the person who represented that district, but he gave up that seat in 2021 to run for governor failed, and then that's what paved the way for George Santos. So this is a victory for Democrats in terms of numbers, but ultimately I think that Republicans are probably going to benefit from his win in the long run, and I'll tell you what I mean by that in a moment, but just in terms of Democrats' likelihood of taking back the House in November, this is a good sign in that regard. But what's funny is the reaction following this election because Republicans are now, I guess, kind of starting to regret expelling George Santos, and George Santos is taunting them in an admittedly hilarious way. So on Twitter he tweeted out minus one, and he added, Hey Americans, please thank these two gems for losing a seat in the House today. Now here's the best part. So Semaphore obtained this text that he sent to a group of Republicans, which reads, I hope you guys are happy with this dismal performance and the $10 million your feudal bullshit cost the party. I look very much forward to seeing most of you lose due to your absolute hate-filled campaign to remove me from Congress arbitrarily. Oh, come on, man. Now go tell the Republican base what you fucking idiots did, and good luck raising money next quarter. Now, as you can see, the only reply came from Andrew Garbarino, who wrote, Sorry New Phone Who It Is. Now you've got to admit that is objectively hilarious. And we all know that George Santos is a petty person, and he wanted this to happen. And I say this because he wasn't even supporting the Republican nominee. He's a Republican, but he wouldn't support the nominee. Now here's why he claims he wouldn't support her. Right now, in my view and in the view of many conservatives, real conservatives here in the district is, there's two Democrats on the ballot. And the option is, do we get a Democrat or a Democrat Republican light version of a Democrat? That's very concerning, because the reality is, if she wins, you add a Democrat seat to Congress that's going to caucus with Republicans, which is very concerning. And of course, referring to the fact that she's still a registered Democrat, I asked her about that. She said the Democratic Party has left her. So are you going to support her? She's still the Republican candidate. Are you going to support her in this race? So I've made it very clear I'm not voting in the race for the simple fact that I will not bring myself to vote for a registered Democrat period. Not in this time and in the time that we're living in. It's just against what I believe in stars politics. Interesting. Now I understand why he's claiming that she is a Democrat light. And it's because she's literally a registered Democrat. So it makes sense in that regard. But when it comes to policy, I mean, it's not like she isn't extreme enough for the GOP. But I think that the dynamic in this race was interesting because the Democrat was more of a Republican light. So if you had your reservations about Mazi because she was still a registered Democrat, well you also have another option in the Democrat who's pretty right wing. In fact, arguably Republican when it comes to policy. So it's, to me, I feel like it comes down to pettiness, right? Like he just doesn't want to support her because if she won, she would be his replacement and it would be a dub for Republicans and kind of validate their decision to expel him. But that didn't happen and he didn't want it to happen because now he gets to kind of go on a victory lap and taunt his former GOP colleagues. Now in the aftermath of this loss for Republicans, Jake Sherman of Punchbowl News reports a healthy round of finger pointing this morning among Republicans here on Capitol Hill this morning about NY3. So far I've heard people say the Nassau County GOP machine is useless after supporting Pilip and Santos. People blame the leadership. People blame Pilip herself for hiding out and not raising enough cash. And he adds, oh, and many say that the House Republican shouldn't have expelled Santos. And some Republicans are now publicly expressing regret about the party's decision to ultimately vote to expel him. For example, Republican Mike Collins tweeted, so who still thinks Republican helping Democrats kick out Santos was a good idea? Also, Matt Gaetz took a shot at any Republican who voted to expel Santos for blowing up the GOP majority. And furthermore, LGBTQNation reports also this morning House Republican Whip Steve Scalise reminded everyone on Fox News that he did not support expelling Santos from Congress last year. It was a tough loss last night, he said. Marjorie Green chimed in, quote, whatever you want to say about George Santos, I don't think he should have been expelled. And he was a great Republican vote, said Representative Marjorie Taylor Green. Green also said that Pilip was a horrible candidate and accused her of hating Donald Trump. So lots of cupping and seething. And you love to see it because whenever fascists take L's and cry about it, I think that's a victory for America. But when it comes to this strategy of her kind of straddling the fence and running away from Trump, maybe that did contribute to her loss. Maybe the GOP base was disillusioned. I don't think that it's an absurd argument to make considering the fact that the GOP's base is basically Pro-Maga. They are far-right fascists. And if you run away from him, you're basically running away from the ethos of the GOP party at this point in time, right? But having said that, though, I find it very, I don't know what the right word is because unprincipled doesn't do it justice because that would suggest that Republicans are principled in the first place. But for the Republicans to say, well, we should have kept him despite his criminality because he was another vote, it just kind of shows that they don't care about anything but politics. But for those who forgot, these are just some of the things that George Santos did. 23 charges in total. Embezzlement, wire fraud, money laundering, campaign finance violations. The list goes on. Yet Santos survived not one, but two attempts to expel him, with many members waiting for the House Ethics Committee before taking action. But when the Ethics report was released, it was explosive. There were hotels and taxi bills from Las Vegas charged to his campaign makeup at Sephora, Botox even. Only fans charged to the campaign, too. Only fans is a subscription-based Risqué website, a website that Santos swore he had never heard of in March, four months after his purchases. I just discovered what only fans was about three weeks ago. The damning report turned the tide against Santos in the House. This is bullying. And when it led to another expulsion vote, it was a landslide. Santos seemed relieved to reach an end of his saga in Congress. Tell me what this year has been like for you. Hell, hell, hell. In the most profound way. You did that to yourself, buddy. Nobody forced you to lie about literally every single aspect of your life and to commit crimes and to misuse your campaign funds. You did that. Take responsibility. But he's not going to. But I mean, these crimes, these alleged crimes are very, very serious. Not as serious as Trump's crimes, of course, but nonetheless, still serious. Now, for Republicans to vote on principle to expel him, I think that that's a good thing. The Republicans who did that for once deserve credit for being principled. But now they're thinking, oh, this kind of blew up in our face because we have one last vote. Maybe it was bad. They have no core beliefs. They don't care about the rule of law or the Constitution or the fact that he lied to his constituents. It's all just about political victories for them. And I understand it like, you know, you're you're a party, so winning is going to be your number one goal, right? But the whole point of politics, the reason why one in theory gets involved in politics in the first place is to try to improve people's lives. But this is just a game of numbers to them. This is just about making sure that Team Red is in power. And that's it. And I find that so embarrassing, right? Now, I do want to get to Trump's response because he is, he's blaming her refusal to kind of embrace him. He tweeted on Truth Social, Republicans just don't learn. But maybe she was still a Democrat. I have an almost 99% endorsement success rate in primaries and a very good number in the general elections as well. But just watch this very foolish woman, Mazie Melissa Pilip, running in a race where she didn't endorse me and tried to straddle the fence when she would have easily won if she understood anything about modern day politics in America. MAGA, which is most of the Republican Party, stayed home. And it always will unless it is treated with the respect that it deserves. I stayed out of the race. I want to be loved. Give us a real candidate in the district for November. Swazi, I know him well, can be easily beaten. Now, of course, Trump is going to say that because it's an incredibly self-serving argument to say, hey, if you don't embrace me, you're gonna lose. Hey, here's proof of that. So I mean, it makes sense that he would say that. Having said that though, I don't necessarily think that he's wrong because the modern day Republican Party is effectively a cult. So if you refuse to embrace the cult leader, the cult members aren't going to be there to support you. Having said that though, it's not just her refusal to embrace Trump that led to her demise. Republicans did other things to shoot themselves in the foot and they're slowly but surely starting to realize that. And here's them grappling with the reality of their decisions in some interviews that Manu Raju did. If he was found guilty, then yeah, he should remove himself from Congress. And if he wouldn't remove himself, then the chamber would have a responsibility to do that. But to preempt that, to score political points was stupid. A lot of Republicans here are already blaming you guys for pushing out George Santos. What do you say to them? There are a lot of decisions that have occurred these last a couple of months that have shrunk the majority. Perhaps George Santos being honest would have kept one more seat here in Congress. Republicans have got to take advantage of early voting. We can't start so far behind. Trump is the one who has criticized early voting. I mean, are you guys still feeling the ramifications of all that? Well, I think the president understands what we're saying. There's a difference between mail ballots and in-person. And these are certainly conversations we'll have with the president. And that last comment coming from the House GOP's campaign chairman, Richard Hudson, who is part of that effort to try to get the Republican Mazi pill up across the finish line, indicating they're very concerned about the early voting, the lack of early voting among Republican voters costing them the election. Of course, that is a debate over campaign tactics that they may have to have with their party's potential and likely nominee Donald Trump, who has thrown cold water, of course, on mail-in voting, early voting and sorts. But that is one big reason why Republicans are concerned about their prospects in the future. So many issues here, John, about exactly what they need to do differently, but a lot of Republicans agree something needs to change ahead of November. So maybe we expelled Santos too soon. Maybe we shouldn't have told our base that mail-in voting is bad because it's not and it makes it exponentially more convenient for them. So maybe they would likely show up for us if they had other options. There's a lot going on here, right? But I think that's part of it. Another issue is abortion. It's just been a loser for the GOP. And Democrats, for the most part, have been overperforming the polls. So I think that it's a good sign for Biden. And maybe this kind of demonstrates that even if he's behind a little bit, you can expect him to do better in certain states. We'll have to wait and see. I don't wanna draw too many conclusions from this because it's just one district. But when you look at all of these victories that Democrats have been racking up, it does say that they've been overperforming. And I think that that has a lot to do with abortion and the GOP's refusal to embrace early voting and other methods of voting for their own base. Now I do wanna get to the candidates themselves because the dynamics of this race are incredibly bizarre. So first, let's start with Masi Pillop. This is a former paratrooper for the IDF per the Washington Post, quote, Pillop 44 is a mother of seven children who was born in Ethiopia, immigrated to Israel and served in the Israel Defense Forces before relocating to the United States. She has made supporting Israel an opposing illegal immigration key features of her campaign. Yeah, I find this mentality to be incredibly selfish and gross. She is an immigrant running on the demonization of other immigrants. Now sure, she specifically says that she's against illegal immigration, which indicates that she's probably for legal immigration, which she would assume because she's an immigrant herself. The problem though is that the reason why we have so many illegal immigrants in the first place is because our immigration system is broken. But as an immigrant, she's saying, you know what? I don't care, I don't wanna fix it. I just wanna be more mean to immigrants and perpetuity and hope that they don't come. I wanna close the door behind me and say, fuck all those other people. I got mine, they can stay out. I find that so gross, but here we are. Now also, she is a former IDF soldier, which means you're probably not gonna find someone more raw, raw genocide than that, right? Maybe with the exception of John Fetterman. But she's very, very pro-Israel. Now, you might be relieved after hearing this about her to know that she lost until you learn about the Democrat who might actually literally be worse on all of these issues. The New York Times reports, Swazi's strategy went something like this, challenge Republicans on issues that they usually monopolize, like crime, taxes, and above all, immigration, flash an independent streak and fire up the Democratic base with the tax. In this case, nearly $10 million in ads on the abortion issue and former President Donald J. Trump, the likely Republican nominee for the White House. On Wednesday, even House Speaker Mike Johnson acknowledged that Mr. Swazi's approach had broken through, though he downplayed the significance of the result. Quote, he sounded like a Republican talking about the border and immigration, Mr. Johnson told reporters in the Capitol, because everybody knows that's the top issue. So let's just pause right there. You have Mike Johnson, the Christian nationalist speaker of the House saying this Democrat sounds like a Republican. And Democrats are like, we'll go with that guy. But guess what, it gets even worse because as the Intercept reports, Swazi is backed by the Democratic majority for Israel and is to the right of Joe Biden on the issue. They go on to explain, Swazi bucked President Joe Biden and the Democratic Party leaders when he announced his support for a White House Republican bill that would give additional assistance to Israel. Swazi's conservative backers argued that he has the best shot at winning back the district in helping Democrats regain seats they lost unexpectedly in 2022. Other Democrats, however, are worried that Swazi would vote with Republicans anyway. He has supported positions opposing abortion rights and flirted with conservative positions on issues like criminal justice reform, LGBTQ plus issues and immigration. Swazi's campaign declined support from the left-leaning Working Families Party and sent out mailers picturing him with former New York Republican Representative Peter King. That's a losing strategy for Democrats in the long-term, Bailey said. With the platform Swazi is running on, the Republicans will win even if they lose. So this is not a win for Democrats in actuality. It's a win on paper, but in actuality when it comes to policies which matters the most, this is a victory for Republicans. Now sure, right now, since it's a campaign, he's saying that he supports abortion, but his history is a little bit damning, right? The fact that he's aligned with Republicans not just on economic issues, but social issues should scare Democrats and this should scare everyone who is a left-leaning and even a liberal voter because think about how quickly the Democratic Party is shifting to the right on so many issues. Immigration, Israel. I mean, thankfully, there are people now pushing back, but we have a president in Biden who is to the right of Ronald Reagan when it comes to his position on Israel and sending them weapons. So this is horrifying. And the message that Democrats are going to get from this is we win when we run to the right, when we out-Republican the Republican, which is worrying to me. But to give you a little bit of hope, Swazi got the genocide supporter treatment. So at his victory speech, he was literally protested by ceasefire protesters. You love to see it. That is the treatment that every single supporter of genocide should be given so long as they're in a position of power to do something and don't. But at the end of the day, I mean, I guess you can shock this up to a win for Democrats at least on paper, right? The blue team has another number, which in theory is good for them retaking the House. But long-term, this is more of a victory for Republicans, even if nobody's really acknowledging that now or saying that right now, because he's gonna side with Republicans on a lot of policies, if not most policies. This is another Henry Cuellar, so don't get too excited if you're a progressive, right? But with that being said, I'm still happy that we got this outcome specifically because of how funny it's turning out to be. The fact that it caused so much infighting and disarray within the GOP makes this very, very funny. So I mean, I feel like, you know, even if Mazi Pilip would have won policy-wise, I mean, they're both kind of just gonna be a vote for the GOP, so it doesn't necessarily matter that much. So the fact that we got an outcome that led to so much infighting within the GOP, I guess makes this worthwhile and I guess it's cause for celebration. But at the end of the day, you know, this is not really a win for anyone in particular, except for like just aesthetically speaking, Democrats got another seat. Great, that's a good indication that maybe Biden isn't as bad as the poll say he's doing still. I mean, nobody should be celebrating this because Swazi is not a good guy.