GOP fractures over Hegseth, Iran after Democrats flip Congress in midterm surge

We want to talk about the midterm elections because there's still a lot of reaction, a lot of. Pushback, fallout, a lot of finger pointing, all of that. Robert Moses, Captain America here in our newsroom is here. Thank you for being with us. Bring us up to speed because the Republicans are doing a lot of talking right now. They are and trying to figure out what what went wrong on Tuesday. A lot clearly did. Let's let's catch up to speed on some some key races. I want to start locally, if you don't mind, in the 17th district. So this is this is. Covering most of the lower Hudson Valley. Now, the race was between Democrat Kate Conley and Congressman Mike Lawler. Mike Lawler. Lawler already conceded on Tuesday night, but that checkmark next to Conley's name is interesting because that means that the Associated Press called this race last night. So it is now officially in. The Democratic column. So this is one of more than 40 House seats that Democrats flipped on Tuesday. Just an amazing number and counting because we still have some races that have yet to be called. If we want to pivot now to the to the Senate, a couple races that are still left in Mississippi, which is which is a deep. Red state. I mean, the fact that this is even in play is remarkable. Scott Colome, the Democrat, has widened his lead just a bit. That's around 1,800 or so votes over the Republican incumbent, Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith. So that is still in play, that this could be another Democratic flip if it goes Colome's way, though it's still very close. And then if we can go to Alaska, this is another race that has been much scrutinized. The Democrat Mary Peltola still has a narrow lead over Dan S. Sullivan. We mentioned the middle initial. I have to mention the middle. This is a race that featured two Dan Sullivans. That was why it was so controversial and why we're still talking about it today. But this, again, this could be another. Democratic flip if this race goes the way of the Democrats. So all of this is to say. The Tuesday was a really, really good night for Democrats and a really bad night for Republicans. And one of the culprits that some Republicans are pointing to, or many Republicans are pointing to, is the war in Iran. And the man who's been executing that war is the Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. And he posted yesterday a fairly remarkable video on the official Defense Department X account. Defending himself and defending himself against what could be an impeachment vote next week in the House that Congressman Thomas Massie from Kentucky is promising to introduce. Massie, as I said, a Republican congressman. He lost his primary in May, so he's leaving. The House, but he's been a frequent critic of Hegseth, and so he says that he will introduce this impeachment resolution next week. The only way he won't, he says, is if Hegseth resigns, and at this point, there's no indication that Hegseth will bow to that pressure, but if we, I don't know, Tyler, if we can maybe play that. Play part of the video that Hegseth recorded. This is, again, five and a half minutes or so. This is around a 30-second clip of Hegseth defending himself against this upcoming Thomas Massie impeachment resolution. A disgruntled, defeated congressman, along with all his Democrat allies, has also dropped sham articles of impeachment against yours truly. Just like they tried against President Trump twice. It's all about the politics of personal destruction. Didn't work against President Trump, and it won't work with me. You can rest assured of that. So the next question is, what will what will President Trump do earlier this week? He says that he has no plans to to replace Pete Hegseth. But, you know, we'll. Will the pressure grow so much that he has to or that his hand is forced? We'll have to see. And then, of course, there's the interplay. In the next Congress, whenever the new Congress convenes in January, you're going to have two New Yorkers very likely as power brokers there. Chuck Schumer in the Senate is in position to perhaps become majority leader. And then in the House, Hakeem Jeffries. Could become the first black house speaker. So There's even talk about that because things I was reading yesterday was suggesting that there's a feel that you know What we've kind of mean in the Congress has said, you know, what been there done that with the both of them, you know Well, I do think there there will be some kind of Kind of... members of the Democratic Socialists and and others kind of on the left who I will not want either of them. But there's an interesting piece today that I was reading that suggested that a lot of the winners in these Democratic races were kind of centrist. So they may be more open to, say, a Jeffries speakership or a Schumer majority leadership role. So stay tuned. I think one thing that... That I think sort of powered the Democrats to, to victories is it, it, it's not going to be retribution. You know, the American people want, uh, you know, more affordable gas, more affordable groceries. And so it's not, the Democrats are going to be faced with not just defining themselves as opposed to president Trump, but, but what will they actually do? You know, once, once they take power in Congress and can they work? With with President Trump, will he work with them? Well, basically, two years will basically be a lame duck, more or less. That is what it is. But what is he saying? Because right after the elections on Tuesday, Wednesday, some were saying that he was distancing himself and all the finger pointing, the immediate reaction, if you will, the the hangover reaction, I think, is what the AP or someone who had called it. You know, so is he saying war in Iran? Is he saying that? They just weren't strong enough candidates. Well, see all of the above. He's saying that the war is partially to blame. He said that, hey, I wasn't on the ballot and we weren't able to transfer, you know, in his words, we weren't able to transfer the love to the candidates who were. on the ballot. I think there were clearly some weak Republican candidates. One that jumps to mind is Attorney General Ken Paxton in Texas. Whom he endorsed. Yes, he endorsed, you know, over John Cornyn. And Paxton, by all accounts, was a sort of scandal-plagued candidate. He was a One, pretty emphatically there in Texas. So I think this was a case of not only the war in Iran, you know, bringing prices up. Thank you. The president had campaigned on a promise of no new wars. Well, this was a new war. So you couple that with some pretty weak Republican candidates. Thank you. Centrist Democrats who stepped in and, you know, a lot of a lot of red areas. Thank you. Turn blue and look at what we're talking about, how Mississippi is in play. It's really wild. One of the things that the AP also talked about was just the fact that a number of Americans are saying, you know what, let's get past this week, you know, and now let's just get to business, whatever that looks like. If everybody is really, meaning both parties, are truly about the constituents, truly about the you and the me's, you know, and then put your money where your mouth is, do your jobs, you know, whatever those are, and take care of the country. Because people cannot afford groceries. There are people in their 50s that are considering roommates because the rents are so high. Yeah, I think people are sick of the sniping. They're sick of seeing all those ads. And now it's like, okay, what are you going to do for me? How are you going to make life more affordable? How are you going to make life better? Improve access to health care. Bring down the cost of groceries. Bring down the cost of gas. Um, you know, and, and, and people are going to feel that, especially, you know, as we head in toward the holidays and people are trying to, trying to travel, whether they're driving, whether they're flying, the cost of everything is up, you know, plane tickets are up because fuel prices are up. So I, I really think that, that now that Democrats have this, have this power in Congress. What what will they do with that? And it's important for their chances of taking back the White House in 2028, I think, not just defining themselves as opposed to President Trump, but defining themselves as a as a as the party that will champion affordability for the American people.