MICHAEL LAWLER CONTRIBUTES TO FLIPPING THE HOUSE, KNOCKS OUT DCCC CHAIR SEAN PATRICK MALONEY IN NY-17: “Also, the defining moment was when Maloney lectured his constituents to stock up on Chef Boyardee in order to deal with soaring inflation. ‘Well, I grew up in a family where if the gas price went up, the food price went down, so by this time of the week we’d be eating Chef Boyardee if that budget wasn’t gonna change. So, that’s what families have to do.’ God don’t like ugly, and voters despise arrogance. I suspect this was the kill shot that finished off Maloney’s congressional career. At least this time around. Feckless Democrats, like dead voters, seem to keep coming back to life at the worst possible time. The Lawler campaign was smart to pounce on this, and it paid off. He has now contributed to moving the House closer to the majority column.”

LIFE IN THE 21ST CENTURY: Many nervous patients show up for dental appointments while high.

JOSH BLACKMAN: One Year Later: The sky did not fall after the Supreme Court exited the abortion debate.

ROGER KIMBALL: How did I get the midterms so wrong?

About as wrong as I was about the character of the midterm elections. I thought there would be a red wave, fueled in part by high-octane orange fuel. Clearly I was wrong.

It is no consolation to know that I was hardly alone in my assumptions. Nor is it much consolation to hear from Donald Trump that it was a “GREAT EVENING” because there were “174 wins and nine losses.”

I didn’t check his math, but even if accurate it is obvious that there was no red wave. Several of his high-profile candidates lost, most conspicuously Mehmet Oz in Pennsylvania. The fact that he lost to a man who is ostentatiously a mental incompetent added insult to injury. The most that John Fetterman will be able to do is show up to the Senate in his hoodie and vote “yea” or “nay” on the orders of his handlers.

A friend suggests that perhaps the Democratic strategy is to let Fetterman assume office and then have him resign, leaving Josh Shapiro, who won the gubernatorial race handily against Trump-endorsed Doug Mastriano, appoint a mentally competent successor. Rumors suggest that Scranton mayor Paige Cognetti is the likely replacement. That scenario appeals to the Machiavellian in me, but who knows if it is in the offing.

Power Line’s Scott Johnson has a mea culpa as well: After Last Night: “I expected the worst and hoped for the best, but I had no ken that the elections could have played out as poorly for Republicans as they have.”

A FRIEND WRITES, INVOKING MY 2018 DESCRIPTION OF THE MIDTERM RESULTS AS A “PURPLE PUDDLE.” Yep. No red wave, just as the blue wave of 2018 failed to materialize.

WHY IS HIGHER EDUCATION SUCH A CESSPIT OF HATE: Law Student Claims Professor Named HIV-Positive Character On Exam After Her Because She’s Conservative. To be fair, Freya is such a common name. . . .

“I’M SICK OF LOSING, I HOPE YOU ARE TOO.” We’re going to see a lot of this in the coming days, along with “how could the polls be so wrong?” But the GOP and conservatives should stop beating themselves up about “losing the election” and start beating themselves up about the fact they have done virtually nothing to ensure the election is legitimate and the votes are real. Meanwhile the Feds have been “fortifying” the crap out of them and refusing to give any details about it (which is totally what you would do if you were on the up-and-up). Consider this: after 2 solid years of nonstop “January 6! Death of democracy! Election denier!” propaganda and censorship, CNN’s exit poll finds that only 63% of voters thought 2020 was a legitimate election:

People know the system is total baloney. Yet the GOP does little or nothing to fix it, even to help itself! At some point, we have to assume this level of loserdom is deliberate.

WHAT’S SO GREAT ABOUT DIVERSITY ANYWAY? We have to acccept it for real if this country can be made to work. Same with free speech. The overclass is fooling itself by thinking that they can hold a country as diverse as this one together while also telling anyone with slightly different views that they have to shut up or face the consequences.

DIVERSITY PROBLEM: Over 99 percent of University of Wisconsin system professors’ political donations benefit Democrats.

Plus: 96 percent of Ohio professor donations go to Democrats.

We need a higher education sector that looks like America.

CHANGE: Students come out against cancel culture: statues edition.

IRA STOLL ON THE MIDTERMS.

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: We’re Done – American Voters Are Idiots. “I worked on my first political campaign 38 years ago and I’ve never seen anything as baffling as what I witnessed last night. Do I think we’ve got fraud problems? Yes, especially here in Arizona. What’s worse, however, is this: half of the country is brain-dead.”

THE MARGIN OF CHEATING: ‘Illegal Electioneering’ for John Fetterman, Josh Shapiro Caught on Video.

YEAH, FORGOTTEN, THAT’S THE TICKET. Obama must’ve forgotten when Black Panthers intimidated voters and blocked poll watchers in Philly.

SPENCER BROWN: Republican Voters Deserve Answers and Accountability.

So where will the real answers come from, and who will face accountability? Trump is clearly not going to acknowledge any issues that may have arisen from his picks or take any blame for the outcome. Will the RNC produce a post-mortem report like it did post-2012 that pointed to areas the party felt it missed the mark? Will Tom Emmer explain what happened and why he didn’t deliver a strong GOP majority in a cycle that should have been for Republican seat-flipping, like taking candy from a baby? Will Rick Scott explain why the Senate map did not go the way polls were showing in the final weeks? Why didn’t Republican candidates meet the 52-seat majority he’d predicted a week before Election Day? Will Kevin McCarthy explain why his Gingrich-esque “Commitment to America” didn’t win over voters as he claimed it would? Why his work as House GOP Leader and as a campaigner didn’t set his party up to win a significant majority? His no-show status for hours at his election night party suggests he’s not ready to answer for what happened.

These are all questions Republican voters are owed following Tuesday’s deeply disappointing outcomes. No one believed that “Democracy is on the ballot” was a winning argument made by President Biden and Democrats — and yet that argument seemingly won out over what Republicans were pitching as their final argument. “Democracy” wasn’t even in the top issues listed by voters, who exit polls in key states showed are deeply dissatisfied with Biden’s policies. Yet the economic, national security, and law and order pitches made by Republicans didn’t lead to wins.

Read the whole thing.

EVERYTHING IS GOING SWIMMINGLY: Northeast Faces Winter Energy Crisis as Biden Promises ‘No More Drilling.’

MICHAEL GOODWIN: Ron DeSantis shows he’s future of the GOP.

NAILBITER: Arizona Leaning Blue, But Game Day Vote Drops Indicate Looming Red Upset.

TYPICAL: “Gun violence” activist shot by Baltimore police after allegedly attacking woman with knife.

GOOD: Iowa Voters Add Right to Keep and Bear Arms to Iowa Constitution.

HMM: The civil war inside the government over… UFOs?

DEAL OF THE DAY: VICTORIATOURIST Camouflage Travel Laptop Backpack. #CommissionEarned

WEIRDLY, UNIVERSITIES SEEM TO RESERVE COLLECTIVE PUNISHMENT FOR FRATERNITIES AND MALE SPORTS TEAMS: “Cornell University announced the temporary suspension of all fraternity parties and social events in a statement on Monday.”

UH OH: Demand Falling For Treasury Bills.

Quick, provoke a crash so there will be a “flight to safety.”

YEP: “We need to reevaluate if we can’t overwhelmingly defeat a barely functioning deadbeat in PA and a slumlord in GA. Take tomorrow off, then we need to get back to it. Organize, organize, organize. At the precinct level up.”