The trouble with two party systems is that the two parties necessarily contain the extreme fringes. The question is then how much influence the extremists habe within the larger party.
America divesting from Europe on defense is not something Trump is causing, and while I'm sure there will be token changes, fundamentally things will stay the same. Even if a democrat president was elected that would still be true.
Europe's energy conundrum is caused by Germany (Gerhard Schroder to be exact, ex-leader of SPD in case you're wondering, currently paid very well by Putin's Gazprom and special guest at Putin's 74th birthday party earlier this year, and continued by Angela Merkel, who was also invited but at least had the good sense not to attend) essentially forcing Europe to switch to Russian natural gas. Now the gas distribution networks, are being dismantled at a cost of about some 400 euros per European. The increase in energy prices is costing at least 3000 per year per European, and while the Iran was is 25% responsible for that, Russia is 75% responsible.
Europe's economy was betting on China as an export market and inflation-stopper. That was another choice essentially forced on Europe by Germany, and another bafflingly stupid choice. THAT choice by Germany (again under Angela Merkel), not AI, not the Iran war, not even Russia-Ukraine is the big reason jobs are disappearing in the EU.
And Europe's defense was betting on US ... despite US objecting to that since at least 2006 (Bush Jr was president at the time). Now Europe is refusing to pay for it's defense (Europe's "help" to Ukraine is really overwhelmingly loans, not actual help). Europe is also spending 900 billion dollars per year until at least 2030 on things that are intended to not help anyone and destroy economy and lives. And in case you think "refusing to spend" doesn't make sense, that's because it's all Europe lending from international markets at huge interest rates, guaranteeing that all Europeans pay MORE for this in the future. In case you're wondering 900 billion divided by 500 million EU citizens is another 2000 per year in extra taxes that's coming. But no worries: you're not being taxed extra for it yet, only the interest on it.
EU's current difficulties are all self-inflicted choices from 10 years ago. A democrat congress will do less than nothing to change this.
Most likely the deficit, war, and grift nonsense will continue and an two years the GOP will blame the dem congress. The waters will be muddy enough people will be able to believe whatever they want to believe.
That's a very good question. I wish them the best of luck, but "we're not Trump" isn't exactly a complete political program. Also, they risk reversing the few things that Trump did right, mainly convincing Europe to get their (our?) shit together.
After claiming fraudulent elections every time his whole politically career, this last election was a historic blowout and he admits it was fair. I hope it's a wet blanket on all the election conspiracies of recent years--see, it is possible for Republicans to lose after all, who knew?
As a typical HN libertarian, these results are confusing. Was there something about Republican policy that the voter base disagreed with? My neighbors in southern states say that Trump is doing wonders for the economy, that gas and grocery prices have never been lower.
Every political ideology can be twisted to carry water for authoritarianism, unfortunately.
I consider myself a libertarian, in that I consider individual liberty to be the chief metric on which our social systems should be judged.
But yes, I agree purported libertarians should have been speaking out against the fascists the loudest, but yet most were doing the exact opposite. All too many were happy being (not so) crypto-fascists, where the lofty ideals of individual freedom were merely trotted out as unobtainable goals to be denied when some ridiculous logical precondition could not be met. Temporarily embarrassed millionaires applied to fundamental human rights.
This did untold damage to the cause of individual liberty. "Free speech absolutist" is now nothing more than the butt of a joke, rather than a guiding principle of the Internet revolution.
Don't get me wrong here - last night was heartening. Voters soundly rejected fascism, in the only way available in our two party system. I was right there along with you!
I just hope to hell democratic leadership can do something. Grump (or hopefully Vance) is going to be vetoing any positive action, and the public will eventually tire of two years of investigations and grandstanding. And the last thing we need is sandbagged legislation that has been neutered to be palatable to corpo sponsors.
We've got a wave of governors, momentum, and a mandate. Perhaps let's try for some Constitutional amendments. Right of Recall (for all three branches), Ranked Pairs voting, Enshrining independent agencies in law (with their heads elected like the President is), a repudiation of Citizens United.
The obvious day-to-day is opposing the Grump regime, stopping the hemorrhaging of our institutions, repairing our relationships with our allies, and so on. But those amendments are what I see as the type of fundamental meta reforms we should all be able to agree upon, to address the deep-set issues that have caused so many of our fellow citizens to be lured by the siren song of spiteful hate in the first place. What do you think, friend?
Libertarianism is a synthetic political ideology created to lower the taxes of, reduce regulations for, and increase profits of billionaires at the expense of the climate and ordinary people's lives.
Yeah I hate when that yucky political stuff gets in the way.
Anyway, back to work on my systems that spy on people to extract more ad revenue, and autonomous killbots. The tech for those is so _cool_, lots of fun challenges :)
If more engineering/medical/science are involved in politics means more public infrastructure aside from data centers I can live with that, if it means more clear thinking, more practical thinking, more can do and less lawyering why not, after all, the lawyers and the business/finance people can’t say they haven’t had their opportunities over the years.
Wondering what they are doing in 2 years if Democrats will win back Presidency - do the same people who kissed Republican asses then also donate xxx millions? :-D
And what will they answer then if asked about their prior/past donations to Trump? :-D
AI policies for each party drastically differ. And considering the US is the epicenter of AI right now, the midterm results are more relevant than ever for HN.
Saying you want politics off the site is in and of itself, a political opinion.
Sure if you just read headlines, but if you read what has happened so far you would see where it is on topic. Texas flipping not just a senate seat but the governor office as well in a state that Musk has spent millions trying to prevent the flip. It affects some of the bigger topics on this site. SpaceX, Tesla, and data centers (which the texas flip just caused AI stocks to fall) https://www.cnbc.com/2026/11/04/ai-stocks-texas-governor-dat...
> unless they're evidence of some interesting new phenomenon
A year ago GOP was projected to keep the senate by a safe margin, and here they are losing seats by a wide margin. Even if you're not into the politics of it, the analysis of the electoral data itself would count as "anything that gratifies one's intellectual curiosity." Which counties flipped? Why? By how many? Were there flaws in polling data? Is there a statistical trend?
I don’t think it can be off topic. The bubble is going to burst and it’s not going to be pretty and there will be a need for some type of political/financial analysis of all of these data centers being built across the country particularly from a infrastructure standpoint.
It's not left vs. right, it's up vs. down. Always has been, and always will be. The L vs. R thing is another wedge issue/fault line to keep people divided-and-conquered.
Greetings from Europe: This gives hope. Now don't screw it up, you are not done yet!
Indeed, fix the bugs in your implementation of democracy - patch the loopholes. A single administrator shouldn't have so much power.
Unfortunately parts of Democratic party are of the "russia did nothing wrong and is just fighting global imperialism" kind
Who? I wasn't aware of any and a quick search didn't come up with anything.
The trouble with two party systems is that the two parties necessarily contain the extreme fringes. The question is then how much influence the extremists habe within the larger party.
I'll take that over "Putin is a humanitarian" and we should make deals with him
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America divesting from Europe on defense is not something Trump is causing, and while I'm sure there will be token changes, fundamentally things will stay the same. Even if a democrat president was elected that would still be true.
Europe's energy conundrum is caused by Germany (Gerhard Schroder to be exact, ex-leader of SPD in case you're wondering, currently paid very well by Putin's Gazprom and special guest at Putin's 74th birthday party earlier this year, and continued by Angela Merkel, who was also invited but at least had the good sense not to attend) essentially forcing Europe to switch to Russian natural gas. Now the gas distribution networks, are being dismantled at a cost of about some 400 euros per European. The increase in energy prices is costing at least 3000 per year per European, and while the Iran was is 25% responsible for that, Russia is 75% responsible.
Europe's economy was betting on China as an export market and inflation-stopper. That was another choice essentially forced on Europe by Germany, and another bafflingly stupid choice. THAT choice by Germany (again under Angela Merkel), not AI, not the Iran war, not even Russia-Ukraine is the big reason jobs are disappearing in the EU.
And Europe's defense was betting on US ... despite US objecting to that since at least 2006 (Bush Jr was president at the time). Now Europe is refusing to pay for it's defense (Europe's "help" to Ukraine is really overwhelmingly loans, not actual help). Europe is also spending 900 billion dollars per year until at least 2030 on things that are intended to not help anyone and destroy economy and lives. And in case you think "refusing to spend" doesn't make sense, that's because it's all Europe lending from international markets at huge interest rates, guaranteeing that all Europeans pay MORE for this in the future. In case you're wondering 900 billion divided by 500 million EU citizens is another 2000 per year in extra taxes that's coming. But no worries: you're not being taxed extra for it yet, only the interest on it.
EU's current difficulties are all self-inflicted choices from 10 years ago. A democrat congress will do less than nothing to change this.
Partly true but only partly. I think a democrat congress will help make things more sane.
Hopefully the electorate has patience and continues this turnout in 2028 and beyond. It's time to start flipping tables.
Most likely the deficit, war, and grift nonsense will continue and an two years the GOP will blame the dem congress. The waters will be muddy enough people will be able to believe whatever they want to believe.
Man I guess a part of them is still alive, so to speak.
Let's see if the leaderless Democrats can actually affect some change.
That's a very good question. I wish them the best of luck, but "we're not Trump" isn't exactly a complete political program. Also, they risk reversing the few things that Trump did right, mainly convincing Europe to get their (our?) shit together.
> Trump says he will accept results in a dire night for Republicans
Sad that this line has become necessary.
After claiming fraudulent elections every time his whole politically career, this last election was a historic blowout and he admits it was fair. I hope it's a wet blanket on all the election conspiracies of recent years--see, it is possible for Republicans to lose after all, who knew?
Bolsonaro said the same thing before running away then claiming victory. The statement is worth nothing.
It's not. Even if it's only motivated by a desire not to be impeached again, it's better than the alternative.
LOL at this being flagged ...
I love the taste of bitter tears in the morning ... they taste like ... VICTORY.
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[dead]
As a typical HN libertarian, these results are confusing. Was there something about Republican policy that the voter base disagreed with? My neighbors in southern states say that Trump is doing wonders for the economy, that gas and grocery prices have never been lower.
Man please add /s to your posts so you don't get strangled by mistake.
It's not even good satire.
lolbertarians are truly the dumbest people in this country lmao
I think you missed the memo where libertarianism revealed it self as a cover-op for fascism. (You are sarcastic?)
Every political ideology can be twisted to carry water for authoritarianism, unfortunately.
I consider myself a libertarian, in that I consider individual liberty to be the chief metric on which our social systems should be judged.
But yes, I agree purported libertarians should have been speaking out against the fascists the loudest, but yet most were doing the exact opposite. All too many were happy being (not so) crypto-fascists, where the lofty ideals of individual freedom were merely trotted out as unobtainable goals to be denied when some ridiculous logical precondition could not be met. Temporarily embarrassed millionaires applied to fundamental human rights.
This did untold damage to the cause of individual liberty. "Free speech absolutist" is now nothing more than the butt of a joke, rather than a guiding principle of the Internet revolution.
Don't get me wrong here - last night was heartening. Voters soundly rejected fascism, in the only way available in our two party system. I was right there along with you!
I just hope to hell democratic leadership can do something. Grump (or hopefully Vance) is going to be vetoing any positive action, and the public will eventually tire of two years of investigations and grandstanding. And the last thing we need is sandbagged legislation that has been neutered to be palatable to corpo sponsors.
We've got a wave of governors, momentum, and a mandate. Perhaps let's try for some Constitutional amendments. Right of Recall (for all three branches), Ranked Pairs voting, Enshrining independent agencies in law (with their heads elected like the President is), a repudiation of Citizens United.
The obvious day-to-day is opposing the Grump regime, stopping the hemorrhaging of our institutions, repairing our relationships with our allies, and so on. But those amendments are what I see as the type of fundamental meta reforms we should all be able to agree upon, to address the deep-set issues that have caused so many of our fellow citizens to be lured by the siren song of spiteful hate in the first place. What do you think, friend?
Libertarianism is a synthetic political ideology created to lower the taxes of, reduce regulations for, and increase profits of billionaires at the expense of the climate and ordinary people's lives.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Objectivism_and_libertarianism
https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/cato-institute/#hi...
LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL thanks
bro straight up living under a rock
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Yeah I hate when that yucky political stuff gets in the way.
Anyway, back to work on my systems that spy on people to extract more ad revenue, and autonomous killbots. The tech for those is so _cool_, lots of fun challenges :)
Nailed it ...
If more engineering/medical/science are involved in politics means more public infrastructure aside from data centers I can live with that, if it means more clear thinking, more practical thinking, more can do and less lawyering why not, after all, the lawyers and the business/finance people can’t say they haven’t had their opportunities over the years.
You'd rather read another postgres hacks article written by Claude than discuss the midterms, the second largest political event in the United States?
The Silicon Valley IT people have been bankrolling Trump... One of them spend 400 million, alone.
This is the same subject now.
Wondering what they are doing in 2 years if Democrats will win back Presidency - do the same people who kissed Republican asses then also donate xxx millions? :-D
And what will they answer then if asked about their prior/past donations to Trump? :-D
Tend to agree. Seems off topic for HN.
Politics have always been a part of HN, if it was slightly historical, which it is in this case. Just search for "Trump" on this page.
AI policies for each party drastically differ. And considering the US is the epicenter of AI right now, the midterm results are more relevant than ever for HN.
Saying you want politics off the site is in and of itself, a political opinion.
There’s nothing about AI policies in headline/article. It’s off topic.
“ Off-Topic: Most stories about politics” https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
> It’s off topic.
Sure if you just read headlines, but if you read what has happened so far you would see where it is on topic. Texas flipping not just a senate seat but the governor office as well in a state that Musk has spent millions trying to prevent the flip. It affects some of the bigger topics on this site. SpaceX, Tesla, and data centers (which the texas flip just caused AI stocks to fall) https://www.cnbc.com/2026/11/04/ai-stocks-texas-governor-dat...
> unless they're evidence of some interesting new phenomenon
A year ago GOP was projected to keep the senate by a safe margin, and here they are losing seats by a wide margin. Even if you're not into the politics of it, the analysis of the electoral data itself would count as "anything that gratifies one's intellectual curiosity." Which counties flipped? Why? By how many? Were there flaws in polling data? Is there a statistical trend?
Also this isn't an article, it's a live feed.
I don’t think it can be off topic. The bubble is going to burst and it’s not going to be pretty and there will be a need for some type of political/financial analysis of all of these data centers being built across the country particularly from a infrastructure standpoint.
It's not left vs. right, it's up vs. down. Always has been, and always will be. The L vs. R thing is another wedge issue/fault line to keep people divided-and-conquered.
> The bubble is going to burst and it’s not going to be pretty
Taking out a rotten tooth is never pretty but it needs to be done.