Oncast News · Morning Briefing

Post-election moods shake the economy

· Fact-checked before it aired. Unconfirmed claims from this segment are not shown.

Democrat Scott Colom won a U.S. Senate seat in Mississippi, becoming the first Black senator from Mississippi in 150 years. His victory was part of a national Democratic midterm wave in which Democrats seized both chambers of Congress, were on course to gain as many as 40 House seats and at least seven Senate seats, and won in deep-red territory including Texas, Georgia and the Carolinas.

The 2026 midterms were widely framed as a backlash to President Trump's second term. Axios reported that voters delivered a devastating verdict on his presidency, with the wave reaching some of the deepest-red parts of America. Colom's win in Mississippi, a state Trump carried by 22 points, showed how deep that backlash ran. Pre-election polling also showed broad economic discontent, with roughly 65% disapproving of Trump's handling of the economy.

Morning Consult data shared with Axios found Democratic consumer sentiment rose 6.5 points in the five days after the midterms, while Republican sentiment fell 6.4 points; overall sentiment barely moved because the partisan shifts canceled out.

Marine Maj. Christopher Warnagiris was arrested in May 2021 and charged in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot; he was an active-duty Marine stationed at Quantico and was the first known active-duty service member charged. He was accused of forcibly entering the Capitol through a police line at the East Rotunda doors.

Officials said a three-storey building collapsed in Brooklyn on Wednesday afternoon, killing at least two people, with a search for survivors continuing.

A 72-year-old British woman was reported missing from a Tui cruise ship in the Atlantic; she was last seen Monday as the ship headed toward the Caribbean.

US envoys arrived in Moscow for Ukraine talks with Vladimir Putin; later Thursday, Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff were due to travel to Dublin to meet Volodymyr Zelensky.

Democrat Scott Colom won Mississippi's U.S. Senate race, making him the first Black senator from the state in 150

Fact-check

VERIFIED TRUE

Marine Maj. Christopher Warnagiris was arrested in May 2021 and charged in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot; he was an active-duty Marine stationed at Quantico and was the first known active-duty service member charged. He was accused of forcibly entering the Capitol through a police line at the East Rotunda doors.

Meet MAGAt and J6 insurrectionist Christopher Warnagiris, a former active-duty U.S. Marine Corps major and field artillery officer stationed at Marine Corps Base Quantico who became the first active-duty service member charged in the Capitol attack. On January 6, 2021, he pushed

Original post · @MAGAts_Exposed

[washingtonpost.com](https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2021/05/13/marine-corps-officer-capitol/?outputType=amp), [axios.com](https://www.axios.co

VERIFIED TRUE

Officials said a three-storey building collapsed in Brooklyn on Wednesday afternoon, killing at least two people, with a search for survivors continuing.

New York building collapse kills at least two, officials say - A dangerous search for survivors continues after a three-storey building collapsed in Brooklyn on Wednesday afternoon.

Original post · the BBC

[bbc.co.uk](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c8zx964glvwxo?atmedium=RSS&atcampaign=rss)

VERIFIED TRUE

US envoys arrived in Moscow for Ukraine talks with Vladimir Putin; later Thursday, Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff were due to travel to Dublin to meet Volodymyr Zelensky.

US envoys arrive in Moscow for Ukraine talks with Vladimir Putin - Later on Thursday, Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff will travel to Dublin to meet Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky.

Original post · the BBC

[bbc.co.uk](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cwrkgmymk55zo?atmedium=RSS&atcampaign=rss) NAMES: Jared Kushner = former Trump White House adviser; Steve Witkof

VERIFIED TRUE

Democrat Scott Colom won Mississippi's U.S. Senate race, making him the first Black senator from the state in 150 years; the win came amid a Democratic midterm wave that flipped the Senate.

Democrat Scott Colom makes history as Mississippi elects first black senator in 150 years - In a state Trump won two years ago by 22 points, Colom's victory extends a string of Democratic wins in the Senate.

Original post · the BBC

[bbc.co.uk](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cw7vppyr80eeo?atmedium=RSS&atcampaign=rss)

Sources

What the hosts said

BThe midterms didn't just flip the Senate—they flipped how Democrats and Republicans feel about the economy, almost overnight.
BBoth directions?
BAxios posted on X the Morning Consult data. Democratic consumer sentiment jumped six and a half points in the five days after the election.
BAnd Republican sentiment fell six-point-four. Overall it barely moved.
BRight. The entire economy is now a mood ring.
BNo, that's real. Half the country just changed their view of the next four years.
BBut that's the problem—it's not about actual jobs or prices. It's pure partisanship.
BIt's always partisanship. That doesn't make it meaningless.
BIf sentiment drives spending, half the country may pull back while the other half splurges. That's a mess for any business planning.
BYou're overcomplicating it. People feel better or worse about the future based on who won. That's human.
BNo, no—Bella, wait. That's exactly my point. The economy isn't a football game. It should be about paychecks, prices, interest rates.
BBut policy expectations are economic. Tax plans, tariffs, regulation—people are updating their outlook.
BOh, come on. Neither party changed any actual policy in five days.
BExpectations move before policy. Markets do that every day.
BFine, I'll grant you that. But six and a half points is not a recovery—it's a sugar rush.
BA sugar rush that could still change how people spend this month.
BSo we're stuck with an economy that runs on feelings?
BAlways has. The Fed calls it confidence.
BConfidence is one thing. This is more like a post-election adrenaline spike.
BWhich is why the next inflation report matters more than this one.
BMaybe. But if Democrats are suddenly optimistic, they'll spend more, and if Republicans are gloomy, they'll pull back. Uneven demand is a real problem.
BThat's a problem for retailers, not the Fed.
BIt's a problem for the whole economy, Bella. You can't run a country on two different realities.
BWe literally just did for the last four years.
BFine. I'll give you the last line. But I don't like it.
BHere's something from the darker end of X. An account called MAGAts Exposed is recirculating the name Christopher Warnagiris. He was the first active-duty Marine charged in the January sixth attack.
BRight. Former major, stationed at Quantico. Accused of pushing through a police line at the East Rotunda doors.
BThe account's post is not breaking news—he was arrested back in May twenty twenty-one.
BSo why is it trending now, four years later?
BBecause people forget there were active-duty officers there. It wasn't just civilians who believed the election was stolen.
BBut calling him an insurrectionist—charged, not convicted. That word does a lot of work.
BHe is accused of forcibly entering the Capitol through a police line. That's not a parking ticket.
BI'm not defending him. I'm saying the post reads like a conviction in the headline.
BFair. But the underlying fact is true, and the account name is an insult that doesn't change the fact.
BIt is. First active-duty Marine charged in that mess. That should have been a bigger deal at the time.
BIt was. We just moved on fast.
BWe always do.
BWhat bothers me is the active-duty part. He was a Marine major, not a retiree, not a civilian playing dress-up.
BThat's the detail people forget. He was still on active duty at Quantico.
BExactly. That's why the charge landed harder.
BDifferent story from the rumor mill—an account on X called One AM Dread says a former OpenAI engineer pleaded not guilty today in San Francisco over an alleged recording device in the company's boardroom.
BNot guilty? I can't find any official court confirmation yet.
BThe account says one count of intercepting oral communications, indicted October twenty-seventh, held without bail, back for court November seventeenth.
BIf true, that's a serious escalation—a listening device in the boardroom of an AI company.
BOr a very weird corporate espionage movie.
BWe'll see. No official word yet, so treat it as a claim.
BRight. We'll keep an eye on that one.

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