The 2026 Election. 28th Edition. The Count (before the coup).

Counting Mayfield, Hill County Texas, ballots, 2/20/24.

November 3, 2026.  0000.

And so the fateful day has arrived.

Election Day, November 3, 2026.

And a fateful day it will be.  The election of 2026 is the most important election since that one held on November 3, 1860.  By the end of the day, if predictions hold, it will have taken a step back from fascism. The question will be how big of step back it will be, how much of a step in a new direction, and whether the step is so decisive that a major GOP/Fascist coup attempt can be averted.

I have my doubts.

What seems certain, if early predictions are correct, are that the Democrats, as disliked as they seem to be, will regain the House of Representatives.  Polling seems to suggest that there may be a "blue wave" that swamps the GOP in the House.  If that's correct, the House may have taken a major Democratic Party turn and a turn back towards real democracy.  It seems likely that the Senate may be taken by the Democrats, but it's not likely that it'll be a "wave".  But it's not impossible either.  It'll take both to really arrest a Trump coup attempt, and it will take both to really being to turn the arch of history back towards democracy.

Another question is to what degree Wyoming participates in this.  Wyoming is so ignored in the overall polls that, going into this day, we really don't know.

People who are of the betting persuasion would have placed their bets on Chuck Gray and Harriet Hageman right after the primary. But bets on Gray are much less certain now.  Gray is widely despised and rightly so.  The best thing that could happen to him, and for him, and for the state, would be to send him packing.  He needs to become a real boy and get a real job.  Lisa Kinney might be the person who symbolically does that for him, and to him, although if that's the case, she'll be a one term Congressman, elected solely to put an end in a carpetbagger's career, which would be a service to the state in and of itself.

A much better candidate, all the way around, is James Byrd.  Byrd's chances of defeating Harriet Hageman are not as good as Kinney's are of defeating Gray, but they are real.  

Otherwise, the big question is whether gadfly Rebecca Bextel of the "Constitution" Party, and Shawn Johnson of the Libertarian Party, draw enough votes to qualify both of those parties as "major" parties.

Bextel, who is engaged in a hopelessly naive campaign against Eric Barlow for the Governor's seat, comes across as a potty mouth, ignorant, Southerner, but there are right now enough potty mouth, ignorant carpetbaggers to perhaps give her 10% of the vote.  It's ironic in that the Constitution Party candidate for the House isn't a Southerner or ignorant, but the Constitution Party is smart enough to mount up a Southern Mule when they see one, if it profits them. Their beliefs are genuinely wacky, and Bextel pegs out on the wacky meter, and the Wyoming Freedom Caucus is the Woodstock of wacky, so she is likely to draw at least 10%.

My guess is that Shawn Johnson will as well.  Wyoming Libertarians aren't real Libertarians, so some disaffected Republicans can in fact feel comfortable voting for them.  Some Anybody But Chuck Republicans' who can't stomach voting for a Democrat will vote for Johnson instead.

Overall, if this election broke the back of the two party system, which is unlikely, in Wyoming, it would be a good thing. The batshit crazy wing of the GOP should be in the Constitution Party.  The flirting with anarchy wing of the GOP should be Libertarians.  Would that we had an American Solidarity Party that was viable here.  The Two Party System is moronic.

And, due to its failure, we have Donald Trump as President.

The next two years will not be easy. The best thing that could happen for the republic today is that there was such a blue wave that Trump could, and would, be impeached.  That would allow the GOP to save itself, as spineless bastards like John Barrasso realized that they had to save themselves, his primary instinct, and moved towards the middle.  Other GOP figures held captive by cowardice would as well. That would leave National Conservative chameleon J. D. Vance as President.  Vance is actually conservative, extremely so, but with some sort of a philosophy.  Trump is just about Trump.  Vance also has a survivors instinct.

But will that sort of majority happen by the end of the day?  Probably not.  

Recovery takes years for many things.  We are likely to start on that path today.  A lot of us won't be around anymore by the time we probably get there.  But a lot of us probably will.

04:10

The Tribune reports that 5,000 people have voted early in Natrona County.  Only 1,500 did in the last election.

Absentee ballots with a postmark no later than 7:00 p.m. today will be counted.  If races are close, this may make a difference.

04:37

The United States Supreme Court rejected a request to review a coup attempt on California's mail in ballots.  The coup working through the U.S. Attorney's office sought to require verification of citizenship for 20,000 California mail in ballots.

07:00

The polls in Wyoming are now open.

07:32

Wyoming Public Radio reports that absentee ballots must be received by 7:00 p.m., contrary to the item noted above.  I think this is correct.

14:19

Guam's non voting U.S. House delegate seat flipped from the GOP to the Democratic Party with Democrat Alicia Anne Garrido Limtiaco defeating incumbent James Moylan.  It appears the election for Governor flipped from Democratic to Republican, with the Republican Ada-Calvo team winning the race over the Democrat Terlaje-Perez team, although it's quite close and that result is uncertain.

While I hate to say it, neither result really matters much as Guam has no vote in Congress.  

15:01

Apparently Guam's representative can introduce bills, vote in committees, and offer amendments.

17:44

The inside news must be really bad for Republicans.  Trump is having a meltdown:

Trump cannot handle being blamed for failure, and yet he knows this is a referendum on him.  At the Oval Office he's clearly being told that this is going badly.

He's also unstable and has his hands on the nuclear trigger.  We're entering a very dangerous period.

18:00

First called race of the night, incumbent Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff retains his seat as senior Senator from Georgia.

I don't know if that's a surprise, or not, it's just the first to be called.

18:08

Incumbent Democrat Kathy Castor of Florida won the Florida 14th district which had been gerrymandered to favor Republicans.

If this trend holds, it's going to be an extremely bad night for Republicans.

November 4, 2026

Donald Trump leading the GOP into the 2026 midterms.

It was an outright slaughter of Republicans across the nation yesterday.

Donald Trump asked the nation to pretend he was on the ballot. They did. 

They completely rejected him, his cabinet, his family, his policies, and the Republican Party.

The slaughter was so vast it appears that even Trump won't attempt to challenge them.  He probably is aware doing so will result in his impeachment.

The Democrats flipped Senate seats in Maine, Iowa, Kansas, Ohio, North Carolina, South Carolina, Alaska, and even Texas,  Susan Collins 30 year career in the Senate was put to an end.   Dr. Annie Andrews prevailed over the poorly chosen Senator Darline Graham, the sister of the late Senator Lindsey Graham.  Dr. Abdul El-Sayed won in Michigan.

Mississippi may be added to the toll, where as of this morning, only 50 votes separated what had been a safe Republican state.

 

In terms of Governor's races, which had been trending GOP for years, Democrats also reversed the tide. Keisha Lance Bottoms became the first black woman to be elected governor in U.S. history, taking Georgia. Gina Hinojosa ousted three term Trump lackey Gov. Greg Abbott.  Dr. Amy Acton became the first woman elected governor of Ohio.  The Democrats retook Nevada.

Locally, results were as predicted, but disappointing.

Harriet Hageman is now the incoming U.S. Senator.  Given Wyoming's history, she'll be able to retain the seat a decade after she's dead, as Wyoming reelects incumbents no matter how bad they are. So we replaced one bad Senator with an even worse one, based on her history as a Congressman.

Her challenger, Byrd, took about 35% of the vote, which was underperforming in my view.

Chuck Gray, who is widely despised, took the House, but in a closer race.  He still drew 55% of the vote, which is amazing.  Lisay Kinney underperformed at 34%.  Libertarian Johnson got the balance, 7.5%, vastly underperforming.  

All this shows how Republican Wyoming remains.  Wyomingites will blindly vote for the GOP candidate because he or she is the GOP candidate.

In terms of underperforming, Republican candidate Eric Barlow blew the doors off of carpetbagger Rebecca Bextel. Bextel did so badly that even the hopeless Democratic candidate took about the same number of votes that she did.

She should take that as a message.

Her Make Alabama Great again campaign did draw 17% o of the vote, to Casner's 15%.  Barlow took 69%.

This means the Constitution Party will qualify as a Major Party in the 2028 election.

Proposition 1 failed, a major victory for common sense and an additional rebuke to the Wyoming Freedom Caucus.

Democrats did pick up a State House seat in Laramie County.

In Natrona County people voted, apparently, for familiar names, even reelecting a 1,000 year old county commissioner and returning a 2,000 year old candidate to the Casper city council.

Turning back to the national results, Trump had the unmitigated gall to congratulate the Democrats and assumes they'll work with him. They ought to impeach him.

05:28

In really tight races, it looks like Cindy Holscher will become the Democratic Governor of Kansas and that Lauren Boebert has lost her seat in Congress.

06:31

Democrats took ever single statewide office in Georgia.

Every, single one.

To add to it, the winners were black Democrats.  This hasn't happened ever.

A political party that is morally and intellectually bankrupt deserves the rebuke of the American people.  

It is now time to make America good again.  

Republican Mayor Holt of Oklahoma City. 

Emergency Triad: MAGA Drowns Under a Blue Wave

Pop the champagne. Preserve the documents.

09:56

Mike Johnson, the worst Speaker of the House of all time, has indicated that he will not seek to be House Minority Leader in the 120th Congress.

Frankly I doubt anyone wants him as House Minority Leader. At this point, he should resign as Speaker.

10:46

Vance starts to break away.

Vance was always against Trump's war, but he needed Trump.  Now he doesn't.  He's trying to position himself for 2028.

Last edition:

The 2026 Election. 27th Edition. The Impending Clerico-Fascist Coup.

Labels: 2020s, 2026, 2026 Election, Abraham Lincoln, Donald Trump, Eric Barlow, Harriet Hageman, Jeff Haggit, Kenneth Casner, Lisa Kinney, Mark Gordon, Politics, Rebecca Bextel, Republican Party, Shaun Johnson, Taxes;2026 Proposition 1, Baby Boom Generation, Bill Allemand, Casper College, Demographic Organizations, Demographics, Education, Joe Porambo, Keenan Morgan, Libertarian, Old Age, University of Wyoming, Wyoming Freedom Caucus  2026 Election, Ascendant Ignorance in the Age of Donald Trump, Bryan Miller, Elon Musk, Ignorance, Immigration, Melania Trump, Rebecca Bextel, Stupidity, Taxes, The Law of Unintended Consequences, You heard it here first 1990s, 2026 Election, Aaron Flint, Alaska, Brent Bien, Donald Trump, Great Wyoming Democratic Exodus, Illinois, Lisa Murkowski, Megan Degenfelder, Montana, Pope Leo XIV, Sam Forstag, Wyoming, Wyoming Freedom Caucus 2020s, 2026, 2026 Election, 2026 Proposition 1, 2026 Trump Coup, Alaska, Christian Nationalism, Chuck Gray, Clerico-fascism, Eric Barlow, Evangelical, Mary Peltola, Republican Party, Rod Miller, The Second Trump Administration

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The 2026 Election. 28th Edition. The Count (before the coup). More Labels.

The 2026 Election. 28th Edition. The Count (before the coup). More Labels.

 

Men removing ballot boxes from the William S. Vare - William B. Wilson Pennsylvania senate election from truck at the Capitol, Washington, D.C.

25th Amendment Watch, 29th Edition. The Dangerous Days. Reading the Nibelungenlied to Salazar.

António de Oliveira Salazar and the Goebbels family (latter By Bundesarchiv, Bild 146-1978-086-03 / CC-BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0 de, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5419081)

You heard it here first.

Trump says this so often that I think he believes it, which causes me to suspect that the Salazar Effect is in operation.  I suspect that they're telling Trump we own Greenland that that Denmark gave it to us, as its too dangerous for him to know the truth.  If that's the case, and it's just a guess, we're witnessing the White House slowly become a memory care unit of sorts.

That would also explain the constant cognitive tests. They're monitoring his mental status for when he's too far gone to even keep the charade up.

Except this is worse than I feared.

Trump Rages as Leaks Reveal How Aides Soothe Him with Midterm Hopium

As readers here know, I had long felt that Trump would get an 18 month run and then be deposed via the 25th Amendment, placing J.D. Vance at the helm and positioning him for a Presidential run in 2028.  My prediction proved to be wrong, although I still feel it likely that the 25th will be applied post election at some point.

What I didn't take into account was the complete dependency of some in the cabinet on Trump, such as the NatCons and Evangelical Right, and the dog like loyalty that some of his inner circle have.  Loyalty which is beyond normal loyalty, and in which in some cases crosses over into weird.

And hence we get, as this article, quoting from the New York Times, relates:

Numerous administration insiders confide that he’s raging at naysayers and negative press. They’re also leaking that he’s “increasingly cloistered with a small group of acolytes” like Natalie Harp, as the Times puts it. The result:

As the elections approach, Mr. Trump is feasting on a media diet of fawning press coverage, disparaging clips about his perceived enemies, and helpings of flattering photos and “A.I. slop,” as one official put it.

Just as his supporters, with the cooperation of his enemies, caused, or allowed for, Portuguese dictator António de Oliveira Salazar to be fed encouraging news about how well everything was going, after he had in fact been deposed, Trump's narrow circle is doing the same.  The Salazar Effect is in full force.¹ . This explains how he cites the stupidest material as fact. That's what his acolytes are telling him.  He really believes the polls are good, and that everyone loves him.  The big difference is that Salazar had already been deposed.². 

Trump remains in power.

And hence this is incredibly dangerous.  Salazar for all of his many failings, did love Portugal and he was a man of actual faith.  Trump appears to only love Trump and is and was a dedicated sexual libertine.  Salazar, who was not a populist, did have an actual political philosophy.  Trump doesn't.

Which takes us to Joseph and Magda Goebbels.

Herr and Frau Goebbels famously went to death in the bunker with Adolf Hitler, and in the same way, suicide.  Worse yet, they murdered all of their children who were in the bunker with them.  The Goebbels adults couldn't imagine a Germany without Adolf Hitler and stayed with him in the end, taking the same trip out of life that he did³ 

Trump appears to not only be subject to the Salazar Effect, but the Goebbels effect as well.  That is, his loyal circle is willing to go down in the bunker with him, fighting to the point of hopelessness, and believing that some miracle will deliver them from their fate.

In May 1945, of course, two major elements of the Red Army were contesting to be the ones to put an end to Hitler, and in the west German armies were racing to surrender to the British, Canadians and Americans (less so to the French, whom they rightly feared would be less forgiving).  There was no saving the Third Reich and lots of Germans were mostly interested in saving themselves.  Even in the east, where the Wehrmacht still fought hard up until the last few days, that was mostly to attempt to allow people to get out of the way of the Red Army.  We're seeing that now with some Republicans, who are distancing themselves from Trump.⁵   Even Chuck Gray wants to talk about the economy, which the Republicans ruined, rather than how he was endorsed by Der Fibber.  J.D. Vance has been sent afield on a comedy tour, but seems to have little enthusiasm, or talent, for it.⁶  Rubio, for his part, seems to be trying to go into hiding.

And so we are now in a really dangerous phase.  The best evidence is that Trump is raging at events, just as Hitler did.  He's collapsing into his safe secure bunker.  At recent campaign events he hasn't been that welcome.  The crowds are small, and they've started to heckle him.  Some candidates don't want him showing up at all.  He cancelled events this week, most likely as he couldn't endure it anymore.  In the bunker his aids tell him what he wants to hear.

On November 3 he won't be hearing what he wants to hear.

How will he react then?⁷

Footnotes:

1.  We've used the term before, but we have not defined it. The Salazar Effect is the telling to a demented person lies about how well things are going, in order to keep that person calm and satiated.

2. The Trump's have a family history of this.  This is exactly what was done with Fred Trump when he became demented with Alzheimer's.

3.  While its almost impolitic to note it, at least in West Germany most Germans adapted to life without the Nazis very quickly, and had even started to prior to the German surrender.  Only about 10% of the German population actually became Nazi Party members and the most the Nazis ever secured in a national election was 38% of the vote.  The great mass crime of the Germans, therefore, was in putting up with and accommodating themselves to the Nazis even when the horrors of Nazi rule were evident and even as it lead Germany into destruction.

It's interesting to note in context that about 30% of the American population registers as Republican.  Trump secured about 49% of the popular vote in 2024.  Support for Trump is at a record low.  The great mass crime of the Republicans, anyhow, is quite similar to that of the Germans in Nazi Germany.  However, that also suggest that they'll get over Donald Trump very quickly.

5.  In keeping with the theme, we'll start calling this the Speer Effect, after Albert Speer.  We're going to start seeing GOP Republicans who claimed they were never with Trump all along.  This also brings up the Michael Jackson Effect.  As soon as its safe to do so, we're going to see a lot of MAGA's whip around on the other MAGAs.

6.  One thing I didn't account for in my 18 month prediction is that one of the cabinet members, Marco Rubio, would have no interest at all in seeing Vance become President.  The only reason that Rubio is in the cabinet at all is that he thought that would propel him to the White House in 2028.  He doesn't want Vance, probably, to be running for reelection in 2028 and he sure doesn't want his political career to end as being Vance's Vice President.

7.  I've used the analogy of the Battle of Berlin here a lot.  To carry through with that, however, November 3 is just the equivalent of the Red Army reaching the suburbs of Berlin.  It's not winning the whole battle, but it makes it obvious who will win.  The problem is whether or not rational heads will prevail at that point and Donald Trump either ushered out or fully put in his room with his jammies on and the tele turned to News Max, or whether his inner circle tries to defend to the last man and use ever means possible to steal the election.

I'm guessing it'll be the latter.

November 2, 2026.

Donald Trump, who did not serve in the military and who was not conscripted due to shin splints, claimed this past week he could have won the Vietnam War in a week by targeting Ho Chi Minh City, which is Saigon.

Trump also claimed a Dallas paster stated "He is the strongest leader, and he will take us as Christians to the promised land" to which Trump replied; "And I've done that. I've done that."

November 3, 2026, Election Day

We're giving serious thought to changing the name to the Trump Reflecting Pool

Donald Trump on the reflecting pool, which he still insists was vandalized.

cont:

And now the real rage begins:

We are about to see a major meltdown.

A major meltdown by a man with his finger on the nuclear trigger.

Last edition:

25th Amendment Watch, 28th Edition. CliffsNotes of the Zeitgeist 162nd Edition. "The Case Against Donald Trump Emerging in the Epstein Files and DOJ's Desperate Efforts to Cover It Up"

Labels: 120th Congress, 2026 Election, 25th Amendment Watch List, Conspiracy Theories, Crime, Donald Trump, Ephebophilia, Epstein Scandal, Hebephilia, Hugh Hefner, Pedophilia, Playboy, Predictions, Sex, Zeitgeist

25th Amendment Watch, 27th Edition. The Disinhibition as evidence of Dementia edition.

Labels: 25th Amendment Watch List, António de Oliveira Salazar, Donald Trump, Hugh Hefner, Mental Health, Salazar Effect, Sex, The Madness of King Donald

More labels:

25th Amendment Watch, 29th Edition. The Dangerous Days. Reading the Nibelungenlied to Salazar. More labels.

Labels: 2028 Election, 25th Amendment Watch List, Battle of Berlin, J. D. Vance, Marco Rubio, Mental Health, Politics, Predictions, Yeoman's Thirty-first law of behavior

King Donald's War, Part 14. The Houthi Edition.

 

Emblem of Yemen.

September 20, 2026

The Houthis hit the Saudi capital of Riyadh with drones.

September 25, 2026

The Senate voted against a resolution demanding an end to the war or Congressional authorization 50 to 49.  Four Republicans — Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Rand Paul of Kentucky, Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska — voted in favor.  Spinless wimp John Barrasso of course voted against.

October 5, 2026

The US withdrew its strategic bombers from the United Kingdom in reaction to some sort of attempted attack on a US installation.

Frankly, at this point, it's impossible to know what's a legitimate US. action vs. Trump drama.

October 10, 2026

The Houthis hit the airport at Riyadh again.

King Donald has declared there will be no strikes on Iran until after the election.

October 15, 2026

A container ship with 2,500 containers hit a mine and sank in the Strait of Hormuz.

King Donald stated yesterday that the war will end as soon as he wants it too, which he said will be soon.

November 3, 2026.  U.S. Election Day

The US carried out strikes on Qeshm Island, citing them as defensive in nature and designed to protect US assets in the region.

There are pretty consistent rumors that the war will ramp up again after today.

Last edition:

King Donald's War, Part 13. A Second Rate Military lead by a Third Rate Clown College with a Secretary of War who should be impeached.

Labels: 1940, 1940s, 1941, 1948, 2020s, 2026, Curragh Mutiny, Israel, John Barrasso, King Donald's War, Mike Johnson, Military, Pete Hegseth, Thomas Massie, U.S. Navy, United States and Israel v. Iran, War, Women, Zeitgeist

The 2026 Election. 27th Edition. The Impending Clerico-Fascist Coup.

Flag of the Belgian clericofascist Rexist Party of the 1930s and 1940s.

October 23, 2026

I keep thinking to myself that I'll be glad when the election is over.  The 2024 election was bad, but this one seems even worse, at least locally.  Seems like not a day goes by when I don't have to read something about Alabama Becky Bextel saying something outrageous or some disgruntled Wyoming Freedom Caucusers saying that they're the only real Republicans, and for that matter, the only real Americans.

Worst of all, not a day goes by that Donald Trump doesn't act crazier than the day before.

So, in the back of my mind, I keep thinking that the election will put an end to the Republican Party's control of Congress, if not an outright end to the GOP itself, and things will start getting back to sane, if not normal.

But Trump won't let that happen.  

The General Election is on November 3. The Evangelical Far Right Mago Clerico-Fascist Coup will start on November 4.*

There's no doubt about it.

Only if the Democratic victory in November is so overwhelming that it can't be sanely denied, and Republicans in Congress need to get moderate to save their remaining seats, will this be capable of being avoided.  Trump will attempt it anyhow.

And here it starts:

And the start of the attempted 2026 Coup commences:

Trump administration sues to block Senate race certification in Alaska if Republican loses

As this is the first part of what will be a desperate effort of the Trump administration to cling to power, we'll start a new edition.

Lawsuits, voter intimidation, the whole smash.  The Trump MAGA extremist, and the National Conservatives, who is all he has left, are not going to go into the political night without attempting to seize power.  Trump is all they have to try to make their dreams of a Clerico-fascist state (and their dreams on the nature of that state do not align) become a reality.

cont:

Guest Column: Proposition 1 — An Historically Huge Mistake

Rod Miller: Why Hasn't Bryan Miller And The Wyoming GOP Endorsed Eric Barlow?

October 24, 2026

October 25, 2026

There's definitely angst in the Chuc Gray camp.  I saw one of the campaign television ads he's running that Miller had mentioned, and it was remarkable. All about inflation etc., and how he can be counted on to back Wyomingites.

Give us a break.  

Gray's entire campaign today has been based on being a complete Trump toady.   The fact that Trump's economic policies, including his tariffs and illegal war on Iran has boosted inflation can't be ignored.  

But Gray's attempting to ignore it.

That must be making inroads into his support, if he has any support.  He's deeply disliked in general and barely won the primary.  His campaign is trying to shift late in the day into an area which, frankly, he has no traction.

October 26, 2026

Mary Peltola was injured in a car accident over the weekend 

Chuck Gray made another appearance at a University of Wyoming football game this week, and promptly posted photographs of himself, which means somebody (I suspect I know who) goes to all of these game to photograph him in "candid" shots.

One thing that this is causing is for people to ask why Chuck is always alone.

Chuck is in trouble, and knows it.  He's never been popular with Wyomingites in general, and people don't regard him as somebody you'd expect to see at anything.  He revised to debate Kinney and Johnson, and now it looks as if Kinney might pull off an upset.  He's trying to appear as a real buy now, which is a bit too late.  His only really campaign points have been that he loves Trump.  Trump love is wearing off.

Trump love is wearing off in Iowa big time.  

Iowa candidate Ashley Hinson is in the same boat and was on This Week practically declaring herself to be an opponent of Trump's.

October 27, 2026

A person has to be dumb, or wilfully ignorant, to believe the US didn't go to the moon.

Bextel Appears On Tucker Carlson To Tout Campaign, Says We Didn't Go To The Moon

To vote for such a person is inexcusable.

Bryan Miller tries to thread two needles and avoid threading them at the same time.

Wyoming GOP Chair Says Party Won't Endorse Barlow Or Bextel For Governor

Miller is another of these characters that spent a life time government service sucking on the government tit only to come home, or maybe just come to Wyoming (I don't know where he's from) and hate mommy.  He is an Air Force Academy graduate that retired from the USAF as a Colonel.

Bextel took a shot, probably accidental, at Miller on the Tucker Carlson show.  First of all, why anyone is taking the gadfly journalist seriously is beyond me, and the state of his show might be demonstrated that Bextel washed up on shore there, but she claimed the Wyoming, and national, GOP has no leadership.

The fact is, it does. It's lead by Dixiecrats, here and there, and people don't like them.

Bextel, for her part, is getting a lot more attention than she merits, mostly because of the nature of the Internet.  The like minded ignorant gather to her in small numbers attracted to the stank, and the press finds her fascinating due to her ignorance.  And she's also well funded on a personal level.

Rep. Randy Fine (R-Fla.) called for the citizenship status of every American who has been naturalized since 1990 to be reevaluated.

Melania Trump was naturalized in 1990.

Elon Musk was naturalized in 2002.

Well let's at least investigate the naturalization status of those two.

On other matters, at this point, diehard Trump fans, and hence MAGA accoylites, have to discuss and explain this:

25th Amendment Watch, 27th Edition. CliffsNotes of the Zeitgeist 162nd Edition. "The Case Against Donald Trump Emerging in the Epstein Files and DOJ's Desperate Efforts to Cover It Up"

October 28, 2026

Yup, and you heard it here first.

Economists Say State Income Tax On The Table If Proposition 1 Passes

It will happen, and what a battle it'll be.

Wyoming AG: State Law Bars DOJ Election Monitors From Polling Places

The opinion can be found here:  AG Opinion.

It won't matter.  The local U.S. Attorney will proudly declare Meine Ehre heißt Treue and march in anyway.  Indeed, they've already declared they will, but will honor the AG's opinion by honoring the 100 yard restriction, which will allow them to better sing the Horst-Wessel-Lied anyhow.

Alaska's Senator Lisa Murkowski endorsed the Democratic candidate for Governor in that state.  Just earlier this week King Donald stated she was the worst Republican Senator in the Senate, which coming from the worst President in U.S. history is quite the compliment.

The MAGAs are already seeding doubt in the local election.

Fred Harrison: Wyoming Elections — When Certification Does Not Match The Record

They've just been unable to accept that the WFC is hated, and I mean hated.  The power pouting is at the absurd level.

October 29, 2026

Feds Tap Former Chuck Gray Deputy To Run DOJ Election Monitoring

Well that figures.

The Peltola campaign is coming under a lot of fire due to a New York Times report that some of its members actively recruited the second Sullivan for the race, a charge the campaign denies.

October 30, 2026

Election complaints allege donors to Bextel, Bien and Degenfelder exceeded campaign finance limits

Changing views:

Trump and Freedom Caucus approval, election confidence: Three takeaways from a Wyoming survey ahead of the general election

Proposition 1 will test Wyoming’s tax relief appetite. Here’s what you need to know.

National Education Association Pours $1.8 Million Into Beating Prop. 1

Reports reveal that Pope Leo XIV has requested an Illinois mail in ballot.

October 31, 2026

Today, of course, is the last Saturday before the election.

November 1, 2026

And it's the start of the last week of the election.

It looks like there's a real chance that the Democrats may flip a Republican seat in Montana.  This is getting a little press attention.  I frankl think that they might flip Wyoming.

Yesterday, October 31, 2026, was "Reformation Day", that day which some people celebrate as its the day that Martin Luther supposedly nailed his thesis on a cathedral day.  As I'm less than impressed with Martin Luther, which is probably obvious, I can't say that the day is one that I think deserves much positive attention, but I note it as Lutheran minister Jonathan Lange posted one of his occasionally far right wing political post in the Cowboy State Daily, this one supporting Proposition 1.

Anyone who looks at it can tell that Prop 1 is going to hurt Wyoming municipalities.  I have a little bit of a hard time not wondering if the Pastor should be commenting on it.

It's not that I'm of the view that religious figures should abstain from political topics.  I don't hold that view at all.  But because of their position, when they do so publicly, there's always the suggestion that they're making the statement based on moral grounds.  Privately, that's not the case.  

Lange does opine on some things that are of a moral nature.  But more often than not his columns in the CSD are just right wing politics.  That bothers me.  Perhaps it shouldn't.

Today, and tomorrow, will be wild, campaign wise, I suspect.

Speaker of the Trump Mike Johnson is amongst those who continually claim that the polls are wrong and the GOP is going to do well Tuesday.  People who live in reality keep more or less laughing at hits suggestion, and those like it.

They shouldn't be.

It's not that the polls are in fact wrong. That's unlikely.   It's that this is laying the groundwork, I suspect, for the coup we're going to see launched on 11/3 and 11/4.  People need to be aware of that and start preparing right now.

On 11/3 we're going to see efforts to disrupt the polls.  On 11/4 we're going to see all sorts of claims that there were "election irregularities".  The GOP will attempt to refuse to certify winning Democrats and will go right to court to gum things up.  This is going to be extremely widespread.  It will happen, and indeed it's already happening.  Mike Johnson's statements are, in my view, laying the groundwork for this.

I wouldn't be surprised if we see some of this in Wyoming.  If Gray loses, and he might, I suspect he'll go right to the courts.  He nearly has to, as if he loses on Tuesday, he's out of a job at the end of December and out of a hoped for career.  Rebecca Bextel has shown herself to be a gadfly and her supporters are goofy enough to believe that she won when she won't.  She'd have to do surprisingly well for somebody to try to sponsor a coup for her, however. This is not the case with Gray.

November 2, 2026

A Texas Young Republican leader revolted against Ken Paxton and authored an article in The Atlantic saying the GOP "needed a slap in the face".

The Sheriff's race in Albany County continues to draw reporting:

Albany County sheriff questions his GOP challenger’s presence at meeting with FBI Director Kash Patel

No debate, but they showed up at the same venue:

US House Rivals Chuck Gray And Lisa Kinney Film Each Other As They Argue At Forum

Footnotes:

*  I started this thread a couple of days prior to the first post.  I hadn't anticipated the coup attempt starting before the ballots were counted, but it has.

Last edition:

The 2026 Election, 26th Edition. The hoping to avoid sitting on blisters edition.

Labels: 2020s, 2026, 2026 Election, Abraham Lincoln, Donald Trump, Eric Barlow, Harriet Hageman, Jeff Haggit, Kenneth Casner, Lisa Kinney, Mark Gordon, Politics, Rebecca Bextel, Republican Party, Shaun Johnson, Taxes;2026 Proposition 1, Baby Boom Generation, Bill Allemand, Casper College, Demographic Organizations, Demographics, Education, Joe Porambo, Keenan Morgan, Libertarian, Old Age, University of Wyoming, Wyoming Freedom Caucus 

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