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Tuesday, November 4, 2025

Election Day 2025: Will New York City Press Ahead With Mamdani?

Numerous groups and individuals have been raising their voices with last-minute warnings on the socialist-communist nominee for mayor. The Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy (ISGAP) issued a report highlighting the antisemitic impacts we should expect: “He has repeatedly declined to condemn the slogan ‘globalize the intifada,’ ignoring the fact that the word ‘intifada’ is synonymous with terror attacks, suicide bombings, and incitement to kill Jews,” the report states. Mamdani has refused to explicitly condemn the phrase, instead simply saying he would “discourage” others from using it. The report states that Mamdani “downplayed” the Oct. 7 massacre carried out by Hamas while characterizing Israel’s response as “genocide,” and hits him for introducing a bill to “punish New York charities that support Israel.” Mamdani sparked a political firestorm last month, drawing outrage from the law enforcement community, after posting a smiling photo with Imam Siraj Wahhaj, a Brooklyn cleric who served as a character witness for the mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and has been a longtime defender of convicted terrorists, raising funds for their legal defenses (Fox News). Elon Musk: Bear in mind that a vote for Curtis is really a vote for Mumdumi or whatever his name is. VOTE CUOMO! (Musk).

Election Day 2025: New Jersey Gubernatorial Race Tightens

New Jersey Globe: A second poll today — this time from Suffolk University — shows the race for Governor of New Jersey is too close to call, with Democrat Mikie Sherrill leading Republican Jack Ciattarelli from within the margin of error, 46%-42%. Among independents – in New Jersey, they’re mostly unaffiliated voters – Ciattarelli leads 42%-39%. Ciattarelli is getting 97% of Republicans, and Sherrill receives 85% of Democrats (Globe). Ciattarelli got some encouraging support: During a campaign event at Murph’s Tavern in Totowa, New Jersey, on Monday, Passaic County Republican Chairman Peter Murphy surprised the Republican candidate by introducing Ciattarelli’s son — who has been stationed in Kuwait — at the event. Ciattarelli and his son were seen hugging in videos shared on social media. “You don’t know what I’m going to say right now. But, your biggest supporter that serves this country just came over overnight to serve you,” Murphy said, as he introduced Jake. “Jake, your father, your son.” As Jake walked over and embraced his father the crowd in the tavern erupted into a round of applause. “The surprise of a lifetime!” Ciattarelli wrote in a post on X, in which he shared the video of the special moment. “Army Captain son Jake came home from eight months overseas to join us as we bring it home this Election Day” (Breitbart).

Election Day 2025: Jason Miyares and Jay Jones in Toss-Up Race for Attorney General in Virginia

Jay Jones—readers should remember—is the nominee who wished death on his political opponent and his children in an earlier chapter in his political career. Amy Curtis at Townhall: Miyares focused heavily on Jones’ violent rhetoric and threats towards Republicans and law enforcement. At the beginning of October, texts from Jones were released showing the Democrat not only referred to the young children of Virginia Republican Todd Gilbert as “little fascists,” but that Jones wished those boys would die in their mother’s arms because he said, “Only when people feel pain personally do they move on policy.” Jones also allegedly said he wished police officers would die in the line of duty, telling a Republican colleague, “Well, maybe if a few of them died, that they would move on, not shooting people, not killing people.” “There’s never been any attorney general anywhere in the country that we have found that has ever run for office that has said he wanted to see cops die and children die in their mothers’ arms,” Miyares said. “It’s simply unconscionable. I think that’s where we are” (Townhall). Insider Advantage has Jones up by two points (Insider). Quantus has a tie race (RCP).

Election Day 2025: Californians to Decide on Prop 50

And whether to give Newsom a chance to Gerrymander the Golden State. ABC News reports: A new poll shows that likely California voters favor Proposition 50, a ballot measure that puts forth a redrawn congressional map that could net Democrats five House seats. According to a Public Institute of California (PPIC) poll published Wednesday, 56% of likely California voters say they will vote for Prop. 50 in the special election next week, and 43% are against it. There are significant partisan differences in the numbers, with 84% of Democrats in support of the ballot measure, while 89% of Republicans say they will not vote for it. Independent voters appear to be leaning toward the left, with 55% responding affirmatively to the proposition, PPIC found (ABC News).

Election Day 2025: Trump Makes His Case for Republican Candidates

In the colorful but clear language the country has grown to expect from Trump: Why would anyone vote for New Jersey and Virginia Gubernatorial Candidates, Mikie Sherrill and Abigail Spanberger, when they want transgender for everybody, men playing in women’s sports, High Crime, and the most expensive Energy prices almost anywhere in the World? VOTE REPUBLICAN for massive Energy Cost reductions, large scale Tax Cuts, and basic Common Sense! Under President Trump, ME, Gasoline will come down to approximately $2 a Gallon, very soon! With the Democrats, you’ll be paying $4, $5, and $6 a Gallon, and your Electric and other Energy costs will, likewise, SOAR. VOTE REPUBLICAN FOR A GREAT AND VERY AFFORDABLE LIFE. All you’ll get from voting Democrat is unrelentingly High Crime, Energy prices through the roof, men playing in women’s sports, and HEARTACHE! (Truth). More: Virginia and New Jersey, VOTE REPUBLICAN IF YOU WANT MASSIVE ENERGY COST AND CRIME REDUCTIONS. The Democrats will double and even triple your Energy Costs, and CRIME will be rampant. A vote for the Democrats is a DEATH WISH! VOTE REPUBLICAN!!! (Truth).

Schumer and Democrats on Track for Ignoble Record: The Longest Government Shutdown in American History

Politico: Congress is on track this week to break an unflattering record: presiding over the longest government shutdown in U.S. history. The ongoing funding lapse will hit the 35-day mark Tuesday night, eclipsing the partial shutdown that ended in early 2019 and also occurred under President Donald Trump. [Speaker of the House Mike Johnson]: “Shameful, utterly shameful, that the Democrats are making history in this way,” Johnson said in an interview Friday. “I honestly did not believe they would have the audacity to inflict this much pain on the people and show no regard for it whatsoever” (Politico).

Voters Are Seeing Through the Schumer Shutdown

Pollster Frank Luntz delivers the painful news on CNN: “… the numbers that have fallen the worst, to my surprise, are the Democrats.” Luntz doubled down: “It is hurting the Republicans, but it seems to be hurting the Democrats even MORE. Within seconds, CNN’s Boris Sanchez jumped in to soften the blow and quickly change the subject.(X). Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich: Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer has a real problem. People are realizing that the extended government shutdown is his own deliberate, cynical strategy. The Democrats and the propaganda media desperately want Americans to blame President Donald Trump and Congressional Republicans for the shutdown. But the facts are simply in their way. The House Republicans did their job on Sept. 19… Schumer’s position is so amoral, cynical, and cruel, even the Washington Post editorialized, “The Democrats are playing a dangerous game.”… Schumer and the Democrats are the only thing standing between federal workers and their paychecks – and the American people and their government. Congress and the President could open the government today. The Democrats should end their cynical scheme and get back to work (Gingrich).

After Trump’s Trip to China, the Message to Xi: “Not Quite Yet, China”

Victor Davis Hanson looks at how Trump changed the script and—on fentanyl alone—is saving American lives. VDH: For nearly half a century, over the Reagan, Bush I, Clinton, Bush II, Obama, Trump’s first, and Biden administrations, Americans more or less came to accept that more Americans would die from fentanyl than were lost in all foreign wars in U.S. history. If China really does comply with its agreement, and the cartels cannot find alternate sources of raw product, then Trump might become the greatest savior of American lives in U.S. history…. In summary, during the Biden administration, China had expected to see 70,000 Americans die annually without facing consequences…. Conservative movements and governments are rebounding in Europe. So for Chinese strongman Xi Jinping, it was time to cut a deal, to pause, to regroup, and to hope that in three, seven, or eleven years, another Obama- or Biden-naif would return. And then it might finish its now half-century-long effort to relegate a calcifying U.S. to the 1950s version of the British Empire. Or so China assumed. But then America said, “Not yet, not quite yet…” (American Greatness).

Tomorrow: Supreme Court to Hear Case on Trump’s Tariffs

It would be important under any set of circumstances, but it’s particularly important now that we see the degree to which the tariffs are one of the president’s primary foreign policy tools—and not simply a tool for revenue. Dimitri Bolt at Townhall: [Trump] described the case as “one of the most important decisions in the history of our country,” as the outcome of the case will determine whether any U.S. President can wield tariffs as a tool for economic leverage and national security. “Other countries use tariffs against us, and we weren’t able to openly and freely use tariffs against them,” Trump said. “I’ll give you an example – China. That was going to be a disaster for the world, and I was able to settle it very quickly, very easily because I was able to use tariffs. It’s total national security, and economic health is also part of national security, by the way.” The president said he will not attend the oral arguments, opting instead to deliver a speech in Miami. He told reporters he didn’t want to draw attention to himself, saying, “It’s not about me. It’s about our country” (Townhall). What is at the center of the dispute here? Amy Howe at SCOTUS Blog: Article I of the Constitution gives Congress the power to “lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises,” and it requires that “Bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives.” In issuing the executive orders that imposed the tariffs, Trump relied primarily on a 1977 law, the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. Section 1701 of IEEPA provides that the president can use the law “to deal with any unusual and extraordinary threat, which has its source in whole or substantial part outside the United States, to the national security, foreign policy, or economy of the United States,” if he declares a national emergency “with respect to such threat” (SCOTUS Blog).

10.

What Is Conservatism Conserving?

The surprising traction that we’ve seen from a number of ideological vagrants who have garnered something of a following on the right has pushed leaders to answer: What is it that conservatism wants to conserve? Catholic public intellectual Robert George has a great starter: 1. The ur-principle of all sound morality, that of the profound, inherent, and equal dignity of each and every member of the human family. 2. Flourishing institutions of civil society, beginning with the marriage-based family. 3. The rule of law and limited, accountable, constitutional republican government. 4. Basic civil rights and liberties: freedoms of religion, speech, and assembly; due process and the equal protection of the laws. 5. Genuinely truth-seeking institutions of education at every level. 6. A prosperity-generating market-based economy that sustains and elevates living standards for everyone while operating within the bounds and subject to the requirements of the common good. 7. Public safety ensured by uncorrupted, efficient, and effective police, prosecutorial, and judicial authorities operating within rules fashioned to preserve and protect basic civil rights and liberties. 8. A physical environment supportive of human life and health and a moral ecology suitable for the rearing of children. 9. A strong military capable of defending the nation and its vital interests while remaining aloof from politics and respecting the principle of civilian authority (George).

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