Sunday, November 8, 2026 · Evening Edition

Today

By StaffNews Desk

Good morning. Democrats are set to take control of both the House and Senate after sweeping midterm victories, and have begun laying out their agenda for the lame-duck period and the rest of Trump's term. Even Republican Larry Hogan called the result a complete and total rebuke of Trump. The recriminations on the right are already open: several Senate Republicans are pushing to delay next week's leadership elections, a move that may open the door to a challenge against John Thune. The administration's answer to defeat is retaliation: Trump ordered the DOJ to probe alleged Democratic threats against Republicans, singling out Slotkin.

The machinery of deportation ground on regardless. Carel Aaron Van Der Merwe, a Wisconsin state patrol trooper who came to the US at 14 and has waited seven years for his asylum case to be heard, was detained by ICE at an airport on Thursday and has now been released from custody.

Inside a White House in open transition, Trump used social media to offer the press secretary job to UFC chief Dana White, telling him to bring fighters along as aides and calling him a "violent Fighter and Warrior". The post landed amid the party's deep midterm losses; the podium has sat largely vacant since Karoline Leavitt stepped aside in August.

The priorities remain telling. The administration is handing $1 million to a group studying crime against white South Africans, having cut human rights funding to nations in crisis. Abroad, the US disabled another ship breaching its Iran blockade. And Susie Wiles faces accusations of harassing former HHS adviser Calley Means after his Joe Rogan sit-down.