New Leadership

“The bird is freed”, Elon Musk tweeted at the end of October. Tesla and SpaceX’s CEO (as well as the world’s richest man), Elon Musk has the world in turmoil after his latest stunt. After months of negotiations and legal battles, Musk’s $44 billion takeover of Twitter became official on October 27, taking the company private. Now, multiple waves of layoffs are causing outrage among Twitter’s employees, with more than half of the 7500-person workforce already laid off by Musk. But more widespread concerns have risen about the future of Twitter and its policies on free speech after Musk said he wants to reverse bans on specific users.

The numbers are (mostly) in: there are 50 Democratic lawmakers in the Senate; meaning that Kamala Harris will once again cast the deciding vote for the next 2 years. However, the story is different in the House with projected final results of 222 Republican to 213 Democratic Representatives. Simply put, the Biden legislative agenda is dead without control of both houses, but the results of the election bucked historical precedent for the President’s party, upended the expectations of Republican strategists, and bolstered Biden’s standing within the Democratic Party.

On November 3rd of 2021, I had the chance to meet the former (and incoming) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin ("Bibi") Netanyahu at the Knesset, at quite an unpleasant moment for him. The Naftali Bennet and Yair Lapid governing coalition were in the midst of achieving a major victory, narrowly passing the budget in the Knesset (60 in favor-59 against) for the first time in 3 years. I waited outside his office to meet him because I guessed he would be returning there soon, to get back to work. After all, Netanyahu has been the longest serving Prime Minister in Israel's history, an achievement that would not be possible if he did not have resilience and determination. Sure enough, 20 minutes later, Bibi was heading towards his office, flanked by an entourage of bodyguards. We had a brief conversation and upon parting, I told him "I'm looking forward to seeing you as prime minister again".

There's an old and common saying, "pride goes before a fall", which is an apt description for the failure of the Republican party to anticipate the mood of the electorate in the 2022 midterm elections earlier this month. Republicans expected they would unleash a "red wave" in the midterms that would take back control of the house and senate. After all, Republicans had good reasons to feel optimistic: firstly, midterms are typically harmful for the incumbent President's party. The sitting President's party has lost seats in the House of Representatives 17 times and lost seats in the Senate 13 times, in the 19 midterm elections that have taken place after World War II. Additionally, President Biden's approval ratings were setting benchmarks for mediocrity. Unfortunately for the GOP, the anticipated "red wave" never materialized, as Republicans only managed to gain a slim majority in the House of Representatives, while Democrats managed to gain control of the Senate (including 3 independents that are closely aligned with the DNC). While progressive leaders felt vindicated by the results of the midterm elections, Republican leaders have engaged in soul searching, bemoaning their inability to take advantage of President Biden’s abysmal approval ratings and the historical trend for midterm elections. Republicans still managed to win 222 of the 435 races for the House of Representatives and 20 of the 35 Senate races, as well as 18 gubernatorial races, winning half of the 36 races for Governor. The results have been considered, almost indisputably, as a disaster for Republican hopes heading into election day and Republicans will have to re-configure their strategy as both parties prepare for the Presidential elections in 2024.