DMV Zone: November 05, 2026

2-895-3200, that's a hotline. Thank you for joining us on this. Almost Friday, it is Thursday. A lot to talk about as we transition into the newsroom. Of course, we continue to follow things that are happening across the country, waiting for those results out of Mississippi and Alaska. And here at home, politically divisive things, like we were talking about the National Guard, as a D.C. council member is looking to get those blue governors to step in to remove those National Guard troops. And then also... What's happening there with the secretary of defense. Okay, so we've got the latest from the Naresh Bhat trial as he takes the stand. The midterms, of course, the latest. And then our weather team, we'll check in with them. They released their 2027 weather outlook. I'm already getting ahead to the next year. Let's see what it says. Is it going to be cool? Is it going to be cold? Is it going to be colder? We'll find out from Kaylin coming up. It's 3 o'clock. You're in the zone. Welcome in here to the DMV Zone. I'm Marina Morocco. It is three o'clock. We got a lot to talk about off the top here. So let's get right to it. It's a busy day. And we talked about the National Guard presence in D.C. It is expanding with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordering more troops into the nation's capital. Now, that move comes as the Trump administration continues its military deployment in D.C., even as Democratic leaders, including. Brooke Pinto, for D.C. call for troops to be withdrawn. Pinto calling on five newly elected Democratic governors to pull their state's troops from the district once they take office next year. And that push coming amid growing criticism of the Trump administration's National Guard deployment and renewed debate over the military's role in local policing. We've got reporter for CityCast D.C., Emma Uber, joining us now with some of this reporting. Does it seem as though these governor-elects are agreeable to what Councilmember Pinto is asking of them? I'm not sure. We haven't heard yet. My team at CityCast has reached out to these governor-elects to ask them, you know, what they think about Councilmember Pinto's proposal. It sounds like she'll also be joined by our D.C. delegate-elect, Robert White, in making that ask. And so, you know, he'll be up close and personal on the Hill, maybe putting some pressure on those soon-to-be governors to withdraw their troops. Emma, as we talk about the National Guard troops, obviously, and what are the council members looking to ask of these blue governors, what do we know right now of what the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, is looking to do? Because it sounds as though from some of the reporting we're reading here that he is looking to increase that number. Right. The Pete Hegseth and Brooke Pinto are certainly on different pages. Now, Pete Hegseth, the memo reported on by Politico from Hegseth does not explicitly say that there are going to be more National Guard members, but it does give those National Guard members more tools, including boats. Humvees, more cars, and so it definitely seems like the Trump administration wants to ramp up the National Guard presence, even while D.C. council members are asking for some help from blue states to decrease the National Guard presence. Okay, so it doesn't seem as though, say, for example, red states would increase their number of troops on the ground in D.C. That's not what it sounds like this memo is asking for. I mean, we can't rule that out, but it does not seem like that's what this memo is asking for. This memo seems specifically about the vehicles, whether it's boats, Humvees, squad cars that National Guard members are going to have in D.C. What are the numbers right now? Because at the peak of the emergency last summer, the numbers on the ground, boots on the ground per se, right? There were about 6,000. Some of the latest numbers from the task force reporting about 3,000. So that's half of it. We did see an initial decrease in violent crime, and then now it seems as though the The numbers are a little bit more in flux and not so much representative of the increased presence. Right. So currently, or as of Election Day Tuesday, there were 3,097 National Guard troops in D.C. Now, the largest contingent of those troops are actually the D.C. National Guard. That's more than 700 of them. Georgia, one of the states that Brooke Pinto is asking to kind of reclaim their troops. Has 600, has 514 of those troops. That's a big number. These other states like Texas and Nevada have only one National Guard member in D.C., according to the Joint Task Force. So even if those governors say, you know what, come on back home, that's only one less troop in D.C. Right. The numbers aren't significant, if you will. You know, you talk to people in D.C. I'm sure you have as well. And while this is a politically divisive topic in some neighborhoods, it's not. They want the presence of added. Added whatever that looks like, whether it's military, whether it's D.C. police or just some sort of law enforcement presence to reduce the crime in their neighborhoods. How is that being handled at the local level? I mean, is there a thought that maybe they should increase some sort of patrols in places that are seeing the crime rise? I mean, a poll, I believe, by the Washington Post showed that overwhelmingly D.C. residents do not want the National Guard troops on their streets. However, we've heard from Mayor Elect Janice Lewis-George, the D.C. Police Union, the D.C. Council, that there is a concerted effort to deal with staffing issues among D.C. police so that there can be more of a local presence instead of a national presence in some of these neighborhoods. The thing about these National Guard troops, you know, they're there for presence and they can detain someone, but they actually don't have arrest authority in D.C. So I think a lot of local DC officials and DC. Even if they do want increased law enforcement presence, they would prefer that to be an MPD officer who, say, is deputized to actually make that arrest. Okay. We'll see what changes when these new governors do take office come next year. We appreciate the update. Thank you, Emma. And you can catch Emma's reporting there with CityCast DC. Meanwhile, major development in the murder trial of Naresh Bhatt, the man accused of killing his wife Mamta, taking the stand today in his own defense. But now claims his wife died by suicide and says that he panicked before. We're dismembering her body and disposing of her remains in dumpsters across northern Virginia. This is the moment that you're watching here. You're about to hear where Bhatt admits to dismembering her body. At some point, did you start to cut the body of Mamta Khalsa? Yes. And what do you remember about that? Just make a smaller size so that it fit on the can. You were trying to do what? Lower body apart. So lower her body apart? Yes. What do you mean by lower? Like separate the legs from the body. You heard there that admission by Naresh Bhatt. We've got Tisha Lewis joining us now. He's been covering this trial, and you can almost hear some gasps in the courtroom there when he made that admission this morning. Yeah, an astonishing admission, alarming bombshell testimony on the stand by Naresh Bhatt. That's the Manassas Park man accused of murdering and dismembering his wife. And now we know at least he's admitted on the stand today on day 17, week 5 of this trial that he did, in fact, according to his account, cut up. his wife's body. It's hard to even hear. We spoke with some of Mamta's friends. They assert that he's lying. We also spoke with a criminal defense attorney who is familiar with the legal teams that are involved in this case. And he said that this is an act of desperation. That is how he described it. Obviously, it'll be up to a 12-person jury to determine whether they believe this account or not. But again, Naresh Bhatt taking the stand, saying that he cut up his wife's body after he discovered her. In the couple's bedroom, claiming that she took her own life. And again, as you pointed out, he apparently panicked, cutting up her body and disposing it in these trash bins across northern Virginia. Quite the turn. Yeah. So there's three charges that Naresh's body is facing. One is that murder charge. The two other ones, he seems to have admitted on the stand for dismembering and defiling the body and disposing of that body. Where does that leave the case? Like, where are we heading towards here? Because he's alleging suicide. Clearly, the government has shown that there was blood in this house. They've put DNA experts to say this was Mamta's blood in the house. How do they distinguish now between the murder and the suicide? Because it becomes a he said, she said, but one person's dead. Pretty shocking that these circumstances and these details did not come out before right now, because we're talking about several different hearings, bond hearings and several different hearings leading up to this point almost two years ago that this all happened. And now we are hearing again this bombshell testimony. So you brought up a good point, Marina, about the different charges that are involved in this case. There's the murder trial and then obviously improper disposal of a body. These are all felonies, but obviously a first degree murder charge is quite different ...consequences compared to improperly disposing of a body. And if this 12-person jury buys Naresh Bhatt's account of what happened, and ultimately we're talking about the 12-person jury and I believe there's five alternates. Either way, if they are buying into this account of what Naresh Bhatt says happened, then we're looking at a very different... Potential sentence than obviously if he was found guilty of first degree murder in addition to the other charges. But I want to point out and we're going to have more of this coming up at four and five and six tonight. Mamta's friends pushing back, speaking out immediately, swift reaction from her supporters saying that Naresh Bhatt is lying. That's their words. They're saying that he's lying and we're going to have much more from them. And also a criminal defense attorney weighing in on this. This alarming account of what... It is certainly bombshell testimony. And, you know, what the defense tries to do is because the government, it's beyond a reasonable doubt, is the onus, right? That first-degree murder charge holding up between 20 to 40 years in prison, whereas the concealing a dead body and defiling a dead body, those are up to five years in prison for those other two charges. So a stark contrast. Right. You could potentially be found guilty on those two, face up to 10 years, versus... 40 plus 10. Anyways, I know that there's a lot to break down and we'll check in with those analysts. Tisha, thank you for the updates there as we await the latest from Prince William County and that courtroom where Naresh Bhatt continues to testify. Stay with us here on the DMV Zone. We'll take a quick break and we'll be right back. Major moves for the Sphere at National Harbor. The planning board unanimously approving the latest design as we get a better look at the inside of the entertainment venue. New rendering showing the inside of the planned 6,000-seat entertainment complex, a $1.4 billion project that would bring a Las Vegas-style immersive experience to Prince George's County. We've got a reporter for the Washington Business Journal, Anna Ziegler, with those details. And this pretty much looks like it's a shoo-in, like the county's going to go ahead and approve it. What's happening today? Yeah, today is a big day that's been on a lot of people's calendars for quite a while. The planning board did indeed approve the National Harbor Sphere. That is basically its go-ahead to be able to actually build on the site. There's been a lot of movement as well in terms of funding it, but this is the bread and butter. Here's the site plan. Here is exactly how we want the sphere to look like. They presented it, and the planning board unanimously approved it and was obviously very excited to see some updated renderings and just hear from the sphere. Is there anything new that we didn't really know or were expecting other than these new updated renderings? Yeah, the project has stayed remarkably consistent since we first reported on the first concept plan, which is a very preliminary plan back in July. So it's generally the same structure, the same layout of the site that everyone has seen where it's divided between two parcels and, you know, the actual sphere itself takes up, you know, the bulk of the area immediately north of MGM National Harbor. But really the most striking thing is these new visuals that came with the application package. Obviously, we haven't seen much from the inside of the sphere, so just seeing, as you can see on the screen, this exosphere that illuminates the outer display. Alongside the actual seating arrangement and how the screens will look on the inside was really fascinating to see. I think for a lot of people, especially taxpayers of Prince George's County, people who live in that Oxon Hill area nearby, there were questions, right, about traffic, obviously, the amount of people that are going to come into this area, the light pollution, as we see some of the pictures there, right, of where you can see the sphere on the other side of the treetops. Was any of that addressed? Yes, there was about an hour of public testimony period where folks from the sphere, folks on the planning board, and then individuals, whether they live in Oxon Hill or their surrounding area, were expressing some concerns and just kind of negotiating with one another about where folks could find the resources to understand a little bit more about. Whether it's the traffic patterns or the light pollution, light and noise and just hesitancy around how the project would fit into the character of, you know, Oxon Hill, which is, you know, not very similar to Las Vegas where the other sphere is that really dominated the public testimony period. But the sphere folks were very adamant that they had had a lot of public input during the application process and had had several community meetings and been able to integrate that feedback. Thank you for your feedback. Something new that I learned was that the... The light emitted from this particular sphere, the way the panels are designed, they won't be as bright as the one in Las Vegas. So that should hopefully give a little bit of peace of mind for folks who are concerned about, you know, glaring lights into their rooms every day. Definitely. I mean, look, if you ever go to and I'm sure you've been to many of them, just like municipal hearings, people will protest streetlights being too bright coming into their bedrooms. So I could certainly see how this would be an issue. Now, again, this was one big vote, but not the final one. And the final authorization for construction, when does that happen? That is unclear. It will be based on when the permit process happens. So this gives Sphere Entertainment permission to proceed and proceed with grading work, which it plans to do by the end of this year per, you know, everything that they've stated to the county council. And then Sphere will now have to. Pull permits and actually, you know, go through the process with the county to be able to put construction work down on the site and all of that. So things are moving fast and then they will also have to go through the same process for the parking garage that the county is contributing funding to that isn't involved in this application. Gotcha. I am curious because I know sometimes when you get, you know, the sphere talking, you've got the county, the residents, and sometimes people slip and say more than they want to. Have any names or acts has been dropped as like a potential of who's coming here. Did you hear any of that or like someone like and just an example that could give us an insight to what they're thinking or who they're thinking could really fill this 6,000 seat arena? Oh man, I wish I had the answer to that question. Yeah, I was talking to the county and been like, imagine, you know, X and we would have heard about, I don't know, Bruno Mars. I think people would have been like very excited to hear what the potential is. Hopefully, now that we are kind of winding down a little bit on the zoning process, we get some more kind of fun and exciting news than me sifting through zoning documents all the time. I'd love to report on Bruno Mars coming to the sphere or something. Definitely. I mean, truth be told, they're getting very close. 2027 is right around the corner, and they're looking for an early 2030. you know, opening. So three years will fly by, I'm sure. Hannah, thank you so much. We'll keep checking in with your reporting there with the Washington Business Journal. Moving on now is complaints over speeding and safety concerns involving e-bikes and e-motorcycles on the W&OD trail could soon lead to new restrictions. Arlington officials considering tougher rules to protect pedestrians and other trail users. Arlington Now reporter James Cullum with the update here. What's going on there, James? You know, I'm a cyclist myself, Marina, and all the time I'll be on the W&OD trail, and I ride a traditional bicycle, you know, I use my legs, and all the time. Cyclists fly by me and they're on e-bikes, they're on all sorts of devices. So on November 19th, the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority Board of Directors is going to consider regulations that would completely exclude electric motorcycle or electric dirt bikes. And it would also limit e-bikes on this 45-mile-long trail from Shirlington to Purcellville in Loudoun County. And also, all the time I'll talk to people who are like, Or like, you know, taking a break on these vehicles, you know, I'll talk to a guy, getting water or something, and he'll say, yeah, I commute on this thing, and I don't have to deal with street lights, I don't have to deal with speed limits, I can just get to work no problem on these trails. And so this proposal says that electric bike motors must have an input of no more. Then 750 watts and that they have to have pedals that allow for propulsion by drivers and that bikes that travel faster than 28 miles per hour unassisted would be prohibited. Thank you. So also, vehicles without pedals that aren't scooters or skateboards and vehicles with only one wheel would be prohibited from the trail. So that's really tough news for hoverboard and electric unicycle riders. Yeah, I mean, this has been a concern across the board. And you've seen places like Loudoun County update their guidance as well, because clearly issues are occurring and some of them are life-threatening injuries and some of them even worse. When could these changes happen? Well, now we just reported, now this is going to go up for a vote to the Nova Parks Board of Directors on November 19th. So if approved, breaking these regulations will result in a Class 4 misdemeanor and a ticket costing up to $250. The real question, Marina, is how are you going to police this? How are you going to police this area since Nova Parks is... ...jurisdictional organization spanning Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun County, the cities of Alexandria, Falls Church, and Fairfax, so... I guess if there is a law enforcement official that's hanging out by the trail and somebody zooms by and they can, you know, pull them over somehow, I think that's going to be difficult to enforce. Definitely. But if something happens and there at least will be some sort of repercussion, right, and maybe a deterrent there, we'll see how this all works out. James Cullum there with Arlington Now. We appreciate it. Thank you, James. Taking a quick break here on the DMV Zone. We'll be right back. A 24-year-old healthy woman died after running the New York City Marathon. Rachel Apa collapsed near the finish line on Sunday, just two miles short of that marathon, before being taken to the hospital where she later died. Her cause of death officially has not been confirmed. A condition that is potential, we just don't know. Today, Chief Medical Officer and HealthTrackRx, Dr. Steve Goldberg, is joining us here. And Dr. Goldberg, we talk about marathons and the overexertion of body, but to a healthy 24-year-old and athlete running, this has surprised a lot of people to hear this. It has. It is absolutely tragic. We also have a picture of her at mile 14. She was strong. She was smiling. She had a great pace. And then she sadly collapsed at about mile 24. The description in the news is about rhabdomyolysis. That's where the muscles get stressed, they can't function, and they leak. They leak out potassium, they leak out myoglobin. Those are things that can mess up the kidneys and mess up the heart and cause an abnormal heart rhythm. So that's the concern. That said, we have to wait till the medical examiner completes the review. Statistically, we think, having spoken with specialists, it's more likely to have been a cardiac triggered event rather than per se the muscle injury. In my experience, rhabdomyolysis is often more associated with an elderly person that falls and is on the floor overnight. Someone in a terrible car accident where they've rolled and they come in all black and blue or someone in a construction accident with a crush injury. So we'll just have to wait and see. Regardless, it's terribly tragic. So many people run marathons. It almost seems like to some degree running has become a fad, especially long distances, half marathons, marathons, 24 healthy. What's the message from doctors to people who? You know, maybe healthy, want to test their body, want to put themselves to do this. I mean, this is these things can be dangerous, too. Yeah. Prep, pace and hydrate. So it takes several months to really prepare to do something like that. Second, you want to make sure you're well hydrated, not just with water, with electrolytes. And then also be realistic about the goals you set for a particular race. Now, are they dangerous in your experience? Or is this just something that you need to make sure your body's prepped for? Your body, most people do really, really well and you can prep. That said, this sudden death event is one in 100,000 marathoners. So it's incredibly rare. How grueling is a marathon on a human body? I've not run them. You're a doctor. I'm sure you've heard about knees and just the heart. Everybody has some degree of mild inflammation in the muscles after running. But the key thing is prep, the key thing is your pace, and the key thing is to hydrate with other than just water. All right, well, Dr. Goldberg, we appreciate an incredibly sad story, but a good reminder to make sure that you're all fit before you take on such a big, big task. You bet. We appreciate it. Stay with us here. We'll be right back. A little break in this morning of our perfect weather. Showers earlier in the day, but how much more can we expect as we get you a live look outside and give you this shot over the Prince William Marina with a beautiful backdrop out there with those treetops. Our Caitlin Roth is checking in with us here. And okay, we saw a little rain. It seems very disruptive after the beautiful streak we've been on. We can tolerate very little at this point, Marina. Nothing but perfection. And so... Yes, we kind of woke up to some wet pavement. There were some showers overnight. We've mostly been dry since then, though, and more showers are likely tonight. I got to say, though, it's really going to favor areas along but truly east of 95. So if you are west of there, there's a good chance you don't see anything overnight into Friday. Live look at National Harbor at this hour. A lot of cloud cover because we had the earlier showers. And while we're trying to clear out a little bit, there's more showers just off to the west moving in. So very limited sunshine today, which, yes, is a break from the norm. Light drizzle and rain being reported at Reagan National. There's a few sprinkles out there, 69 degrees. And so that's why we're a little bit cooler right at the airport. Otherwise, most of us have bounced back up into the mid-70s at this hour, 75 in Frederick. 73 in Gaithersburg, 74 out at Dulles, and 72 in Leonardtown. Winds are out of the south, pushing in some milder air out ahead of our front. So here's satellite and radar. You see some very light stuff. That's that pocket of light rain that just crossed over Reagan National. You can see it kind of right there. And then we've got a few showers to the south. This is all really light stuff that could be passing within the next couple hours. We expect more organized rainfall overnight tonight with the passage of the actual cold front, which is still back across West Virginia and western Pennsylvania. So here's what it looks like on futurecast. Notice this evening. Very passing light stuff. Not a big deal. Most of us stay dry. By late tonight, we'll see that front approach. And as it does so, moisture will increase along it. And it does look like there will be a good band of some steady rain. But notice in this latest model run how far east that is. I mean, now it's taking all the rain east of D.C., meaning we wouldn't get anything but some. Hefty showers possible for the lower Delmarva and southern Maryland, and then eventually off to the beaches. Here we are midday on Friday. You've got rain along the beaches. You've got some lingering cloud cover here in D.C., but we would clear out in the afternoon, maybe a passing shower in the evening. That's the final push. That's the actual front. The front actually comes through tomorrow evening. From there, we'll dry out, clear out into a really nice but cooler weekend. So tomorrow, still some morning rain chance on our planner. I think, again, areas to the east are favored. But if we're lucky, because we need the rain, some beneficial showers push through. Limited clearing before that front finally moves by tomorrow night. The weekend is a drier and cooler pattern, but it's still really, really nice, kind of a perfect fall weekend. I mean, we're well into November now, so seasonal temperatures you would expect at some point. We'll get that on Saturday, 63, Sunday, 63. So, Commanders playing at home this Sunday, and it's not going to rain because I feel like they've kind of had some lousier weather. The past couple of home games, but this is ideal football weather with a kickoff temperature of 61, halftime 62, postgame 60 degrees, stays dry with a mix of clouds and sun. This is our first weekend fully in standard time. 5:01 is that sunset on November 7th. It doesn't take long, just a week later, before the sun starts setting before 5 p.m. So the 14th, 4:55, and then by the 21st, right before Thanksgiving, that sun's going down at 4:50. Looking ahead, a big warm-up for the western half of the country. That's later next week, which will push into more eastern zones. And so it's kind of a little tough to tell. Are we going to be seasonable? Are we going to be warm? Right now, it looks like we get a. A little warm to start next week, but then a return to some seasonable conditions for the second half of the week. Either way, after our shower chance tonight, we're right back in that dry pattern and we're going to ride it with some sunshine into the early part of next week. Marina? Yeah, we're going to be losing it that early. We at least need to be blessed with more sun because we have to maximize the short amount of time we have. Exactly. It is brutal. Thank you so much for the update. Thank you, Caitlin. Democrats flipping seats in places Republicans won just two years ago, including seats that have been leaned Republican for decades. Let's get to the Senate race out of Mississippi, where Democrat Scott Colum and Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith are in a neck-and-neck contest, with Colum holding a narrow lead. The Associated Press has not declared a winner, as election officials continue counting remaining ballots. Meanwhile, in Alaska, the Senate race there also too close to call, drawing national attention because two candidates on the ballot share the same name, Dan Sullivan, the incumbent there, Republican Senator Dan Sullivan, facing Democrat Mary Peltola, along with other candidates, including... Second, Dan Sullivan, the counting process could take some time due to Alaska's ranked choice voting system. managing editor at Sabato's Crystal Ball, Kyle Kondik here joining us. And Kyle, let's start with Alaska here first, because this one, neither of them have reached the 50 percent threshold, which automatically looks like ranked choice voting at this point, except we're about 75 percent of the vote totals in here. What do you make of what's going on in Alaska at this hour? My understanding is that the ballots that are remaining to be counting are probably disproportionately from Democratic-leaning areas. And so it's possible that Mary Peltola could maybe get over 50 percent without having to go to the rank-choice voting, you know, mechanism that they have out in Alaska. I'm going to ask... You know, but the count has to be completed. And then, obviously, if nobody gets to 50 percent, they will then go to the RCV. But based on my understanding of it, you would probably rather be Peltola. Okay, because that was a big situation, obviously, with Dan Sullivan, the incumbent, and then somebody else that was brought in. You know, you read the New York Times reporting here, and it almost seems like you could not write a fictional story out of this. What's the latest out of Alaska, out of its politics? This is a place that's leaned red, and yet here we see a huge shift with Peltola coming in. It is a Republican-leaning state, to be sure, and typically at the presidential level, although it's not quite as Republican-leaning as it used to be. It did vote for Donald Trump by 13 points in 2024, although those kinds of margins disappeared fast in places all over the country this year amidst this huge blue wave-style environment. Alaska, it looks like, is going to elect a Democratic governor. Alaska also has a state legislature in which, yes, there are more Republicans than Democrats, But Democrats and Republicans have basically Basically formed a governing coalition, and it kind of freeze out the more right-wing Republicans in recent years. So, again, a quirky state, a quirky election system, and another place where, you know, Democrats may be on track to add yet another senator to this incredible bounty that they've won here in 2026. And a place that is even more red would be Mississippi, and this would be almost historical, to say the least, to see the potential here for a Democratic senator where things stand right now. Also a tight race, it seems. This is though favorable to the Democrat as well, and provisional ballots coming into play at this hour. Yeah, this is going to sound, like, super obvious, but it does actually matter, is that, you know, if you have a, I think at last I looked, a column had, like, an 1,100-point vote lead or something like that. Maybe that's changed in the last hour or so. But, you know, if you've got an 1,100-vote lead with, you know, 20 percent reporting, I mean, who cares? You know, that's not that big of a deal. But if you've got an 1,100-vote lead when you're, you know, a couple days after the election, you're just talking about provisional ballots and maybe some scattered other ones. You know, that's a decent sized lead. I mean, it's tiny overall, But it's the sort of lead you might expect to, you know, you'd rather be in that position than being down 1,100 votes with these scattered votes remaining to be counted. So, again, my understanding is that the Democrats probably also have the inside track in Mississippi. As crazy as that sounds, it's one of the, you know, solidly Republican states. It has very racially polarized voting, generally speaking. You know, there's a significant black population there. It's Democratic. But there are more white residents there who are generally Republican. But again, we've seen Republicans just collapse both in terms of turnout and persuasion in this election. And it's led to some, frankly, pretty crazy results. And a Democrat winning a Senate seat in Mississippi would be kind of the craziest of them all. Yeah, and look, I think even though the president says it's not, well, he says he's not on the ballot, which is why these results, but it is a rebuke of the administration or else how else do you explain this? Well, look, and here's the thing is that, you know, Democrats had a good election in 2018, you know, Trump's first midterm. But, you know, Republicans held the Senate that year and Trump's approval rating, it wasn't good, but it wasn't horrible either. It was like his disapproval was about 10 points higher than his approval. It's like minus 10 net approval. Now his approval, it's like minus 20 or worse, and that's, I think, the biggest reason why you see places that Trump won by 10 or even 20 points competitive, because his approval rating is underwater in almost every part of the country. Yeah. What is to come now for the Democrats? You've got two years here, right? You've got a president who is a little bit flip-flopped and saying, I'm going to be Mr. Veto, and then he turns around and says, well, I'm going to work with the Democrats. They have two years now, right, starting in January when the new Congress is brought in. Can they accomplish anything? Can they so-called right the ship, if you will, for the taxpayers, for the electorate ahead of the 2028 and get some more gains before the next presidential election? It is hard to, you know, it's hard to really get your agenda passed if you don't have the presidency, because, of course, the president can veto things. You know, the filibuster is still in place in the Senate, the 60-vote threshold. Amazingly, you know, if the Democrats do, in fact, win Alaska and Mississippi, and again, those races are not called yet, but that would get them to 56 Senate seats, so they'd still be shy of a filibuster-proof majority, and you need two-thirds majorities to overcome presidential vetoes. The Democrats are going to have, you know, a much stronger hand to play in terms of negotiations on, you know, budgeting matters and those sorts of things. If there's a Supreme Court vacancy, I can't imagine this Democratic Senate would confirm a choice from from this president. You know, the other thing going on is that on one hand, you'd say generally historically. You know, midterm elections don't have to predict the next presidential election. You know, the Democrats got crushed in 94 and 2010. They came back and reelected their Democratic presidents in 1996 and 2012. So but that said, you know, if Donald Trump is he's going to remain president, if his approval rating is still in the 30s come November 2028, it's going to be hard for any Republican to overcome that. And that doesn't necessarily mean you're going to have, you know, two blue wave elections in a row. But the president needs to figure out ways to try to improve his standing, if not for himself, but for his party, although the president is not a particularly selfless person, I don't think. No, and you bring up party, right? And obviously MAGA is not a party, but it is a huge faction of the Republican Party. You've got people like Governor Ron DeSantis, who seems to be completely distancing himself from the movement, looking ahead at 2028. You've got J.D. Vance, who's kind of wading the waters, if you will. Marco Rubio, who we've not seen since the election. Is MAGA over? I mean, I think it's over in the sense of Donald Trump leading it, because, I mean, I guess he's probably still going to have some sway within the party. But, I mean, if you go into the 2028 presidential election with Trump in the 30s in approval and you're basically just trying to be a, you know, to parroting Trump on everything, I don't know how useful, how successful that's going to be. Maybe it would be in a primary. I don't know if it'd be successful in general election. Of course, the Democrats have to pick their own candidate, too. What if they pick a complete dud as their candidate? Yeah, I mean, anything can happen. If it's a relatively even fight between evenly matched Democratic and Republican presidential candidates in 2028, the sitting presidents on popularity might be the tiebreaker there. So it's just a problem for Republicans that the president's approval is so low. But some of the problems, like gas prices and other things, there's time for that to get better. Certainly not time for November 2026, but certainly for November 2028. It's Habito's crystal ball. We so appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you. Robert. Right. There is some encouraging news for the U.S. market. As the holiday season approaches, new data showing layoffs remain relatively low while companies are ramping up seasonal hiring. A new report from Challenger Gray and Christmas finding that employers announced nearly 445,000 seasonal job openings in October, the highest October total in more than a decade. I've got senior economist at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, Ryan Young, with more. This is good, right? Yeah, I'll take it. I think it's part of we had strong growth last quarter. Normal economic growth is about two, maybe 2.1 percent a year. Last quarter was 3.4 percent. And a lot of people are expecting strong spending going into the holiday season. So it makes sense that not only are companies hanging on to existing workers, they're also going to hire plenty of seasonal workers as well. There were many reasons, right, that drove the dissatisfaction of some of the voters to really turn this wave, if you will, blue. The economy always at the very top of that list when exit polls were coming in. Americans, however, continue to spend. How are those two things true? There's always a trade-off. When you spend more, you save less. So maybe not all of the holiday spending people are expecting is wise. Maybe people should set aside a little more for the kids' college fund or for retirement savings. But in the meantime, unemployment is 4.2%. Anything under 5% is good. So even if wages aren't quite keeping up with inflation, at least most people have a job and a paycheck. Seems like a lot of people are intent on spending that down. Yeah. Where do we go from here? The economy continues to be a huge point. You talk about these numbers. They are certainly reassuring. And yet inflation is something that continues to hover in that near 4 percent mark, which is not where we want to be. You've got the Fed looking to soon here potentially tick up the rates again. What does that look like for us, for the consumer, for the taxpayer? It's going to be a bit before consumer prices go down. The economy's doing okay. Growth is good. Unemployment's nice and low. Both of those are good. But like you said, inflation's still too high. We want 2% inflation. It's closer to 4%. And that's not going to change anytime soon. And next January, maybe Congress will find the courage to do something about tariffs. Gas prices aren't coming down anytime soon because that's going to take a durable and credible end to the Iran conflict. But maybe in the next few months, maybe some positive changes with consumer prices will happen if we do something about tariffs. Can the Congress do something that will then translate to our pockets? They can, but it will take some Republican help. The Democrats have a very large majority. We're still figuring out the size of it. But it's not going to be a veto-proof majority. And tariffs are President Trump's signature policy. He will veto any attempt by Congress to repeal the tariffs or repeal the president's tariff-making authority. So they'll need some Republicans to go along. But if they can find the courage, and voters are certainly encouraging them in this regard, they can do it. I think the American people would pretty much be forgiving of just about anything with the exception of putting food on the table for their families. Ryan, clearly something that we'll keep track of and we'll see. Any forecast that you're looking to make for 2027? Yeah, more of the same. The economy will plug along, but there's going to be a lot of volatility and nothing is for sure. Okay. Well, I think we can agree on that. We will see you in the next year and I'm sure before then as well. Thank you, Ryan. Thank you. We'll be right back. Okay, the Zoom room at 7.30. Would you like it or not, Producer Chris? That's right. And you know I always watch at 2 o'clock and I always have thoughts and opinions. Great. I am the owner of... One of those, I don't go by it, but Christopher can be turned into one of those illegal nicknames. Go ahead, share. Topher. I mean, you've heard of actor Topher Grace? I have a Topher friend. It's the back half of Christopher, in case you weren't aware. But my mom made very clear at a certain point in my life that absolutely not. So who gave you that? Was I, well, no, I mean, like. A friend of mine in college started calling me that and still will call me that to this day if I see her. But yeah, my mom, she called me that in front of my mom. I mean, it's funny. One of our delightful executive producers here, her name's Christy. I call her every single day, Christopher. Don't ask me why. I mean, there's a story behind it, but she's Christopher. She's Christopher. I dig it. I dig it. Don't call me. Yeah. Topher though. Yeah. It's never going to be my acting stage name or anything like that. See, she turns to Christopher. Do you turn to Uh, no, I probably would not here in this newsroom because no one has ever called me that. No. Jeffrey Gigax, who likes to call people by their full first names, used to call me Christopher, and he was the only person outside of my mom who does. Okay. So your dad calls you Chris? Yeah. Everybody but your mother. Well, he calls me basically the other one. The other one. Because I have two older brothers. I mean, he forgets who I am by that point. I know the answer to this question already before I even ask it, and it's all because of your Miami, the Miami in Marina. But do you dress for the weather or the season? The weather. The weather. Of course she dresses for the weather. So there's never a part of you where you're like, oh, I want to break out the fall boots, the big scar. That kills me when I see people in tweed and all kinds of, I'm like, it is 80 degrees outside. I know it's November and December, but that's ridiculous. One of my go-to bars, breweries recently, which as you know, is a, you know, just a child daycare hangout. And all of the adults were there. One guy was literally wearing like a long coat, like overcoat type of a thing. All the adults were there and they're like, you know, those quarter zips and the, you know, sleeveless and all of that, all that kind of stuff, the boots and all, and all, every kid was there running around in shorts and like tank tops. The weather! Yeah, the kids were dressed for their weather. The parents were dressed for the season. Seasonal dressing killed. We do not live in Paris where they are in crappy weather all year and they pretend. You know I'm no fan of sweating. I'm no fan of summer. But, like, eventually I just do want to wear. You're a fashionista. That's why you do it. I just want to wear the more fun clothes. Fall clothes are more fun. Sweater weather belongs when it's below 60 degrees. Sure, I guess. Not because, did you see what it was yesterday? It was like 75 degrees. I know, I literally left work. If you were wearing a turtleneck, you'd look like a fool. I left work and put the air conditioning on because just having the windows down on the drive home wasn't enough. Wasn't enough. wasn't enough To keep cool. We still got time? Yeah, we got 45 seconds. You got it? Yeah, sure. Apparently women want an offline man. If you're looking for a partner out there, what is it about a guy having a social media presence that's like... I wonder what it is. You guys don't really have a great track record, okay? That's what it is. Oh, so you're more worried about them liking the booty pictures and DMs. I mean, but that means they don't need it. Because if they did, then they'd be online. An offline man. Apparently the key to success. We'll see you in the Zoom room for all you online men at 7.30. That's right. Nothing wrong with it. I got options. I can pass that like Stockton. Just joshing. I'm spending this holiday locked in. My body got rid of them toxins. Sports in the top 10. I can put the ball in the end zone, put a bet. All right, guys. We're almost there. Yes. Marina, Marina. I wish I had a nickname for you. Miranji. I know. I don't need a nickname. You call me Angela. I do call you Angela. You're one of the few people. I can sometimes say Angela. It just, it hits better. I know. Or Ange. Reminds me of my mom. It is. You are like my mom. Angela Renee. All right, gotta go. The news at four starts right now. We'll be right back. Right now at four, lengthy testimony in a meeting over President Trump's plans to build an arch in D.C. The latest on the legal fight still playing out this evening. Could the blue wave from the midterm elections impact the national.