Good Day, this is the Commonwealth Report.
News for the public, not the powerful.
Did 54 Million Early Voters Just Put Republicans on Notice?
Today is Election Day, and the numbers before a single polling place opened are stunning. About 54 million Americans voted early, roughly eight million more than in 2022. In the 27 states that report party registration, Democrats cast 43% of those ballots, Republicans 32, independents 25. Georgia’s early vote is up 13%. Michigan’s is up 26. North Carolina’s is up 31. South Carolina’s is up a staggering 75%. Black voters are turning out in bigger shares across the South, and Hispanic turnout in Texas has passed 2024 presidential levels. Ted Cruz is warning of a Republican “bloodbath.” The University of Florida’s Michael McDonald calls it the most diverse midterm electorate in American history. Early votes don’t tell us who wins. They tell us who showed up. And when working people show up, the powerful get nervous.
Will Trump Nuke Iran After the Polls Close?
That’s no longer a crazy question. Tucker Carlson posted Sunday night that Benjamin Netanyahu is pushing Trump to drop a nuclear weapon on Pickaxe Mountain, a site buried under 300 feet of granite in central Iran, and that Trump could decide by November 7. The National Iranian American Council is demanding Trump publicly rule out any nuclear strike. More than 200 civil society groups have begged Congress to step in. Senator Chris Murphy walked out of a closed briefing last week and said “their plan is insane.” NIAC’s Ryan Costello warns fallout could drift hundreds of miles into Isfahan province, home to five million people. Trump promised October 15 he wouldn’t go nuclear. He’s reversed himself before. Only Congress can declare war, and Congress has been asleep for eight months. Today you get to pick a new one.
Trump Declares Victory, Then Bombs Iran the Same Night
Yesterday afternoon Trump told reporters, “We had a war with Iran. We won.” He said he wasn’t planning any strikes after the midterms. Hours later the Wall Street Journal reported American forces hit Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz, targeting radar and missile launchers. Officials called it defensive. The Journal revealed this was the latest in a string of strikes the administration has carried out in secret for weeks while Trump talked up a peace deal. Iran’s Revolutionary Guard says it shot down two American drones. Then Trump told Hannity he could take out Pickaxe Mountain inside an hour. So we’re at war, we won, there’s no fighting, and we’re still bombing. All at once. A government that hides its wars from voters on election eve doesn’t trust voters.
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Why Does Half the Military Want to Walk Away?
A new survey from the veterans group Common Defense, reported by Military.com, finds 53% of active duty service members want to get out sooner because the military is being politicized. 45% say they’re thinking about quitting specifically because of policy chaos under Trump. Two thirds believe decisions about their lives are made for political gain, not readiness. Pete Hegseth’s approval sits at 45%, with half disapproving. The generals and admirals he keeps firing? They poll at 56%. The New York Times reports Hegseth has pushed out more than 80 flag officers one in ten. Common Defense’s Jose Vasquez calls it a readiness crisis. When the people who volunteer to defend this country say they can’t trust the people running it, that’s not a morale problem. That’s a warning.
Swamp Alert. Did Trump Just Concede the Election?
On the eve of the midterms, with the country watching, Trump stood in front of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool and talked about pipes. For over 20 minutes he held up printouts of joints and liners, repeated the debunked claim that protesters vandalized the pool, and floated renaming it the Trump Reflecting Pool. Then came the tell. “For some reason, the sitting president doesn’t win the midterms, but we gave this a very strong shot.” Past tense. Norm Eisen noted Trump’s own Justice Department admitted the install was botched, and a 20 year park volunteer got hit with a bogus felony charge over it. A president who can’t defend his record on prices, healthcare, or war ends up defending a swimming pool. Voters notice.
New York Buries a Child as Measles Comes Roaring Back
New York’s Department of Health announced Monday that a child in Lewis County died in connection with the state’s measles outbreak. It’s the first measles death in New York in more than 30 years. Every Lewis County case has been in an unvaccinated person. Governor Hochul declared a State Disaster Emergency last month as cases topped 100, the most since 2019, nearly all in rural counties where vaccination rates have slipped. Pennsylvania’s outbreak has passed 1,000 cases and five deaths. Reuters asked Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Health and Human Services Department for comment. No response. This is a disease we beat. We declared it eliminated in this country in 2000. Now children are dying of it again while the man running federal health policy keeps undermining vaccines. That’s not an accident. That’s a choice.
And that’s the way it is, Today Tuesday, November 3, 2026. I’m Thom Hartmann
