Voters were unambiguous on Tuesday: Don't B.S. us. Don't say you'll lower prices and end wars and corruption, then do the opposite. It's really that simple, Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen write in a "Behind the Curtain" column.

• This isn't so different from when Americans told Democrats not to B.S. them about Joe Biden's health, the words they should use, or the social behaviors they should adopt.

Why it matters: Most Americans agree broadly on most things, most of the time. They want competent politicians to focus on issues that meaningfully impact their lives.

• Like clockwork, every two years, Americans feel the party in power fails to deliver this — so they punish the incumbents at the polls.

🏛️ Politicians and some journalists tend to treat the American people as dopes and dupes who don't get what's happening in front of their faces.

• Tuesday's midterms, which will live in history as a Watergate-level reset for democracy, show that voters were paying attention and hit a boiling point. They didn't hide it. Polls consistently showed that all they really care about is rising inflation, job insecurity, ending the war, and stopping the rampant corruption.
• This was a repudiation of overreach, incompetence and corruption. People will tolerate it in small doses, but eventually reject it.

In an age when people trust institutions less all the time, our institutions held. Courts restrained executive-branch excess. The press kept doing its job. Voters did theirs.

• But for all the hand-wringing that America is crumbling, that democracy is fading, or elections are eroding, the system worked. Remember: most Americans are normal and resilient.
• We should celebrate that. Despite it all, America works.

💪 For years, we've been reminding you about the power of Normal America: The vast majority of people — including our siblings, who are scattered from Oshkosh to Oregon — don't marinate in cable news, obsess about X or wake up thinking about Washington.

• They volunteer, they give to good causes, they'll help you in a pinch.
• They're good, they're fair ... and they're smart.

🍻 Between the lines: That's Normal America. Sometimes when we're making a tough call about journalism or business, we ask ourselves: "What would the person at the bar think?" It's a useful, clarifying proxy for: What would seem on the level through the lens of common sense and plain fairness?

• The person at the bar, and the voter in the booth, didn't want their soccer coach deported, didn't want their business to crumble because of a war of choice that's dragging on and on, didn't want the president's family and friends to enrich themselves while Normal America was wheezing.

What we're watching: Democrats will be tempted and pressured to overreach. If they over-interpret their mandate the way Republicans did, they'll be punished, like clockwork.

👢 Here's what Republicans and Democrats will do if they're smart: Watch Texas. A seemingly impenetrable red state turned all blue, from the U.S. Senate to the governor's office to the state legislature. If Democrats can keep Texas, Republicans have no path to the presidency.

• Look at what happened in those southern border counties in Texas. These were the people who demanded tighter borders and punished Democrats when they wouldn't listen. But they're the same people who are saying stop with the thuggery and targeting of nonviolent people. Republicans were obliterated in those areas for not listening.
• Then look to the Texas suburbs, where you have many more traditional Republicans and moderate Democrats. They looked at Ken Paxton and said he's simply not on the level, even if they might agree with him on a lot of ideas. Corruption is never a good look. Enabling it and elevating it is even worse.

The bottom line: This remains a 50-50 nation — a simple fact that every party and power instantly, constantly ignores. Once again, Normal Americans spoke: Ignore or B.S. them at your peril.

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President Trump has told advisers that he plans to keep raising money for his political operation — a move aimed at salvaging his clout after the GOP's midterm debacle, Axios' Alex Isenstadt reports.

• Why it matters: Maintaining a political organization — either his existing MAGA Inc. super PAC or one to be created — would give Trump a vehicle to try to influence elections in 2028 and beyond.

🥊 It also would give Trump a way to pressure GOP lawmakers who consider breaking with him as the unpopular president enters his lame-duck era and Democrats prepare congressional investigations into his administration.

• Trump's MAGA Inc. enforced party discipline during the 2026 primary campaigns when it helped defeat Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie (R), an outspoken Trump critic.

Zoom in: MAGA Inc. has been the centerpiece of Trump's political operation during his second term, raising nearly $450 million since the beginning of 2025. The group received massive checks from cryptocurrency and AI industry donors, along with Republican megadonors such as Elon Musk and Miriam Adelson.

• MAGA Inc. spent more than $400 million on the midterms, making it one of the election's biggest spending forces, according to a source familiar with the totals.

👀 Reality check: Republicans say Trump's diminished political clout will make it harder to attract the enormous checks that have flowed into MAGA Inc.

• The prospect of congressional investigations involving donors to Trump's political operation could further discourage contributions.

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Religious "nones" outnumbered white evangelicals by 10 points in Tuesday's electorate, up from just one point in 2024.

• Why it matters: This widening gap could reshape faith's role in American politics.

White evangelical Christians accounted for 17% of voters Tuesday, down from 23% in 2024, Axios' Russell Contreras reports from a preliminary Fox News Voter Poll.

• Their Republican loyalty barely budged: 82% backed GOP House candidates, compared with 84% in 2024.

Religiously unaffiliated voters, known as "nones," accounted for 27% of the electorate Tuesday, compared with 24% in 2024.

• Their support for Democrats climbed from 70% to 78%.

Explore the data ... Keep reading.

Americans may have voted in the midterms to tap the AI brakes, but deflating the bubble is a tricky business — as yesterday's market rout showed.

• The big picture: The historical record shows that once major investment booms are in motion, it can be difficult to temper them without sparking a stampede of investors out of assets. That's why market collapses have featured prominently in past investment booms like those in canals, railroads and the internet, Axios markets correspondent Matt Phillips writes.

🚫 Zoom in: The broad rejection of AI in this week's elections — from wins for AI-cautious Democrats to overwhelming support for ballot measures restricting data center construction — has pushed investors to re-evaluate their previous bets on companies profiting from the data center boom.

• Over 50% of the planned data center capacity is in just three states — Ohio, Georgia and Texas. All are places where Democrats flipped governorships.

State of play: The tech-heavy Nasdaq fell 5.5% — its worst daily showing since the quasi-panic of President Trump's "liberation day" tariffs in April 2025 — and is down roughly 10% from the high it hit a month ago.

• The Nasdaq 100, a measure of the largest tech stocks, is now down roughly 14% since its Oct. 7 peak. Its 6.4% drop yesterday was its steepest since the March 2020 pandemic panic.

Read on.

Three of America's most powerful cities — Los Angeles, D.C. and New York — will soon have democratic socialist mayors after Nithya Raman toppled embattled L.A. Mayor Karen Bass in a stunning upset, Axios' Russell Contreras writes.

• Why it matters: Raman's victory, along with Zohran Mamdani's leadership in New York and Janeese Lewis George's win in D.C., will test whether democratic socialist promises on affordable housing and better government can survive the pressures of governing.

The intrigue: Raman's win also marks a historic shift in urban American politics as voters embrace a new generation of immigrant leaders challenging the Democratic establishment.

• Raman, 45, emigrated from India as a child. Mamdani, New York's mayor, also has South Asian roots and immigrated to the U.S.

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Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has been asked by three House Republican committee chairs to brief Congress behind closed doors about his reported ties to Alice Huang, a businesswoman accused of spying for China, Axios' Donica Phifer writes.

• Why it matters: The request escalates the scrutiny of one of the world's most powerful CEOs.

⚡ Catch up quick: The Wall Street Journal reported that officials in at least three countries had concerns that Alice Huang was passing information to the Chinese government, potentially including sensitive details on Nvidia chips.

• Jensen Huang and Alice Huang had a "close" relationship, The New York Times reported last week. The Times said President Trump was briefed by intelligence officials about their relationship and the allegations that Alice Huang was a spy, but chose not to act.

Nvidia said in a statement: "Meetings with customers are part of a CEO's job; Jensen talks with thousands of customer executives every year."

• "Our regional cloud customers receive ordinary business information — not sensitive NVIDIA trade secrets — and zero information relevant to national security."

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More than 31 million people watched midterm coverage in primetime across 13 live television news networks Tuesday, surpassing 2022 viewership by 23% — though down 14% from 2018, Axios' Sara Fischer reports from Nielsen data.

• The historic night for Democrats drew a slightly younger audience. Around 9% of viewers were age 18-34, up from 7% in 2022.

NBC News drew the highest number of total viewers in primetime Tuesday with 6.7 million, followed by ABC (5.2 million), Fox News (4.3 million), CNN (4.1 million), MS NOW (3.7 million) and CBS (2.8 million).

• Keep reading.

This year's Rockefeller Center Christmas tree was cut down yesterday in West Edmeston, N.Y., and is on its way to Midtown Manhattan.

• The 76-foot Norway spruce is approximately 75 years old and measures 50 feet in diameter, AP reports.

The tree will be wrapped with more than 50,000 multicolored LED lights and crowned with a 900-pound Swarovski star.

• It'll be lit Dec. 2.

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