CLOSING ARGUMENTS: It’s election day and 57.5 million people have already voted.

 President Trump delivered his closing message yesterday in a campaign of fear and self-aggrandizement to forestall a Democratic takeover of both the House and Senate. But he spent much of the time talking about his Washington improvement projects, the reflecting pool, his arch of triumph, algae, and grass. “We have a lot of great things planned for Washington, and I could get into the nation, but for that, you don’t have enough time,” he said.

  Democrats stand a good chance of winning both the House and Senate.

  Standing before the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool that was the object of bungled refurbishing, Trump charged that, “The Democrat party has nominated the most extreme and dangerous slate of candidates in American history … we have to keep our Congress strong, free, a little bit of apple pie, we’re not looking to have a jihadist in our Senate, as an example. I’ve actually kept much more promises than I’ve made.” 

  House Speaker Mike Johnson echoed the fear. “Common sense versus crazy is what’s going on,” Johnson said yesterday to about 100 people gathered in a suburban Richmond diner. “The barbarians are inside the gates.” Meaning Democrats.

  Before speaking about the election Trump had spent about 20 minutes talking about projects and his repairs to the reflecting pool and how the original work had been ruined by vandals rather than construction mistakes as the company admitted.

  Fighting up to the last minute to block voting elections, the Trump administration appealed yesterday to the Supreme Court to order California to segregate 20,000 ballots they claim were sent to non-citizen voters. Before the day was over, the court rejected the appeal.

VETO THE VOTE: Trump and the Republicans today might be hit by a blue wave, and not from the reflecting pool.

  Henry Olsen writes for The Washington Poist that: “I foresee a terrible night for the GOP, with losses in the House of 20 seats and a Democratic takeover of the Senate. Team Red will also lose many governorships and state legislative chambers as the public expresses, up and down the ballot, its significant dismay at the course of Trump’s presidency.”

  Taking control would empower Democrats to open inquiries and investigations, block legislation, and restrict spending. Trump, however, would maintain executive authority over trade, foreign policy, and the federal bureaucracy. 

  And then there’s the power of veto, rejecting anything the Democrats pass. “I guess I’ll become Mr. Veto. I’m not going to let them through,” Trump said on the  podcast “Pod Force One.” 

  “They’ll be sending stuff up. You veto it, and eventually, after a month or two of getting all vetoed,” the president continued. “Take them over and you make a deal. I think that probably would happen, but hopefully we don’t have to worry about them.”

THE WAR ROOM: Hanging over the midterm elections is the possibility that Trump might resume bombing Iran immediately afterwards in a plan that Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy says he has seen and describes as “insane.”

  So what would be insane? Bombing? Ground invasion? Right wing opinionator Tucker Carlson theorizes on Twitter/X that,  “Under pressure from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Trump administration may be within days of launching a nuclear strike on Iran.” Carlson says, “The target would be Pickax Mountain in central Iran, where Israeli intelligence claims the Iranian government has restarted its nuclear enrichment program.”

  Carlson goes on about nuclear pollution of the Persian Gulf, and worse. He says, “After the first nuclear strike, World War Three is inevitable.” Carlson trades in exaggeration and hyperbole, but remember who has the nuclear codes.

FINAL FLIGHT: The Learjet that punched in near a Florida trailer park Sunday dropped five miles in about one minute as the pilots reported icing and loss of lift. The jet produced a fireball as it hit the ground at the speed of sound and made a crater.

  The last moments were caught in a stunning video. Investigators say the plane was travelling so fast it may have begun to break up before it hit. 

  Killed were Adam Robinson, 44, a Texas technology executive, his wife and two children ages 4 and 2 on their way to a family vacation in the Bahamas. Two women friends also were on board along with the family nanny, bringing the death toll to 9 including the pilot and co-pilot.

THE OBIT PAGE: William Nordhaus, a Yale University economist and Nobel laureate who calculated the economic damage of carbon emissions and influenced climate policy across several presidential administrations, died at his home in New Haven. He was 85.

  Nordhaus was recognized by the Nobel committee for developing a method to balance the long-term damage of climate change with the cost of containing it. His work was used in the development of regulations around the world that limit fossil fuels. He was a groundbreaker  in the  field of research that connects economics and earth science.

THE SPIN RACK: A child died of measles in far upstate New York northeast of Syracuse, presenting the first measles death in the state in 30 years. New York is having a significant measles outbreak with 178 cases this year. — Rachel Spa, a 24-year-old former Division I field hockey player at Bucknell University collapsed and died two miles from the finish while running her first marathon in New York. He family says her death was caused by rhabdomyolysis, a rare muscle condition brought on by exertion in which the muscles break down and poison the body.  

BELOW THE FOLD: The University of San Francisco decided to ditch its mascot “Don Fernando” because the stylized Spanish nobleman wearing a mask and cape symbolizes the “history of colonization on the indigenous Ohlone land occupied by the university.”

  The university is adopting a wolf as a mascot, at least until wolves complain that their heritage is being appropriated.

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