Shadowing Practice: 2026 Midterms, explained. - Learn English Speaking with Video
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You know what happens if you don't vote?
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You go to hell.
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You know that.
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A blue wave has hit America.
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Democrats took back control of Congress.
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And they didn't just win majority, they blew past it.
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First, the polls close.
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Then, the dominoes started falling.
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Just before 10 p .m.
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Eastern, the first networks projected
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Democrats would take the House.
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The Senate was called for Democrats at 11 .35 p .m.
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To put that in perspective, Republicans walked in holding 53
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Senate seats and 218 House seats.
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As of November 6, Democrats had a net gain of 30 seats in the House and a net 7 in the Senate.
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NBC projects Democrats will end up with around 255
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House seats, possibly their biggest majority in nearly 20 years.
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And it is only the fifth time since World War II that one party has flipped both chambers in a midterm.
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Now, Texas.
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Remember that statistical tie?
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James Tallarico beat Ken Paxton.
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Well, let me start off by congratulating James Tallarico.
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I will commit that I will be praying for him
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that he will do good for texas in this nation he's
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the first democrat to win any statewide race in texas since 1994 and the first sent to the senate since 1988.
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we just showed
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that a politics of division is no match for a politics
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of love tallarico is 37 a former middle school teacher four -term state lawmaker from austin
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he will be the youngest member of the Senate.
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And Texas was not done there.
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Gina Hinojosa unseated
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Governor Greg Abbott, the first
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Democrat to hold the office since Ann Richards in the early 90s.
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She becomes the state's first Latina governor.
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This is our Texas, this is our government, and this is our one fight.
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And tonight we won.
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Abbott had never lost a general election since his first race in 1996.
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The Senate map broke wide open.
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In Kansas, Methodist pastor Adam Hamilton became the first
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Democrat to win a Senate race there since 1932.
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In South Carolina, pediatrician Annie Andrews won in a state that had not sent a Democrat to the Senate since 1998.
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In Maine, Susan Collins, a senator for nearly three decades, lost to Democrat Troy Jackson.
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Josh Turek won Iowa.
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Roy Cooper flipped North Carolina.
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Sherrod Brown took back Ohio.
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And then there's
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Michigan, arguably the most watched
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Senate race in the country.
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Abdul Al -Sayed, a 42 -year -old epidemiologist, Rhodes Scholar, and former Detroit Health Commissioner, defeated
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Republican Mike Rogers.
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The race wasn't called until 1 .33 in the morning.
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He becomes the first ever
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Muslim elected to the U .S.
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Senate.
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You took a chance on the unlikeliest of candidates, So thank you.
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I cannot wait to serve you with the same big -heartedness,
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open -mindedness, grit, and earnestness that you've shown me." And he did it the hard way.
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It was the most expensive election in Michigan history, more than $243 million.
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And Rodgers and his allies outspent him roughly three to two.
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Abdul, well, he says football is racist, sexist, and dominated by toxic masculinity.
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So let's get this straight.
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Abdul thinks football is bad, but men playing women's sports is good.
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Trump campaigned for Rogers.
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Barack Obama campaigned for El -Sayed.
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Then two days before the vote, a twist.
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Hey, Michigan.
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As you may have seen, our Democratic nominee for U .S.
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Senate, Abdul, said that I was no longer welcome in his campaign.
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And that's why I am endorsing
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Mike Rogers for the United States Senate.
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Haley Stevens, the Democrat El -Sayed beat in the primary, endorsed his Republican opponent.
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Chuck Schumer called it a betrayal.
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Well, it didn't matter.
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Young voters carried him.
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About 69 % of voters under 30 backed El -Sayed.
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It was also a night of first.
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Keisha Lance Bottoms won Georgia, ending 250 years without a Black woman elected governor of any state.
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I have said over the past few days, if I were your woman, Well, now I am your woman.
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Deb Holland, a Laguna Pueblo citizen, became the first
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Native American woman elected governor in New Mexico.
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Wisconsin elected its first
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Black governor, David Crowley.
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Amy Acton became Ohio's first woman governor.
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And in New Hampshire, Chris Pappas became the first openly gay man elected to the Senate.
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In Minnesota, Peggy Flanagan beat Michelle Tafoida to become the first
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Native American woman ever elected to the Senate.
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Republicans made history, too.
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Byron Donalds became the first
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Black person ever elected statewide in Florida, and the first
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Black Republican elected governor in the country.
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After these results, the reactions came fast.
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On the phone with Fox News, President Trump congratulated Democrats.
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But he said he did not see the results as a judgment on him.
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He told CBS he looked forward to working with them, adding that otherwise he would simply veto everything.
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I feel certain that we'll get along as well as you can with the Democrats that came into office.
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Just in case they do send us things, we have a veto, you know, the president has a veto power.
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And Elon Musk posted on X that data senders in space were starting to look appealing.
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So this is the scoreboard.
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The bigger question is, how did this happen?
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Donald Trump is about to go!
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You're in no position to dictate what we're gonna feel.
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You are disgusting.
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Put yourself in shape.
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You look like hell.
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some of this is history since world war ii the president's
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party has lost an average of 26 house seats in midterms
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and going in trump was more than 20 points underwater the
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second worst approval heading into a midterm since 1946 behind only harry truman but this year one issue towered over the rest.
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The war.
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In the exit polls, 74 % of voters said the Iran war was a crucial or major factor in their vote.
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We went to war with Iran for like absolutely no reason.
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Just like we went to war with Iraq back in the day for no reason.
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We're just getting involved in like all these stupid wars
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and like spending all this money and stuff when we can be investing it here.
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After the results, J .D.
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Vance was quick to blame the Iran war for Republicans' midterm losses.
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The war hit people at the pump.
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87 % said they were concerned about gas prices.
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About 6 in 10 blamed the president's policies for higher prices.
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Even the president acknowledged it.
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He said voters likely weren't willing to accept paying more for gasoline in the short term.
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The war's other side was watching the midterms too.
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Iran's top negotiator posted on X that
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Americans had said no to war.
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But then there was also corruption.
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In the AP survey of about 80 ,000 voters, more people called government corruption crucial to their vote than said that about immigration,
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the war, or AI data centers.
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Campaigns aired more than 160 different ads mentioning Jeffrey Epstein, backed by over $35 million.
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Of all 535 members of Congress, who's taken the most money from associates of Jeffrey Epstein?
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Democrats outspent Republicans on those ads, roughly $53 million to $3 million.
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And candidates matter too.
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He may not dress right, he may not talk exactly perfectly, and he may not be the best -looking guy I've ever seen.
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In Texas, President Trump endorsed
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Ken Paxton over sitting
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Senator John Corrin in the primary.
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Paxton carried years of baggage, a federal corruption investigation that brought no charges, and an impeachment by his own party in the Texas House,
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followed by acquittal in the state Senate.
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He was also going through a divorce over alleged infidelity.
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Whether you like
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Ken or not, honestly, I mean, I understand some people are controversial, etc. I don't happen to be a controversial person.
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Some prominent Republicans crossed over to Tallarico.
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Cornyn was one of the first to celebrate Tallarico's win.
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Also, the money was staggering.
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Musk gave $158 million to the Senate Leadership Fund, which then gave that exact amount to the biggest outside group backing Paxton.
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And it wasn't enough.
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South Carolina had its own drama, Lindsey Graham died in July, and his sister Darlene was appointed to a seat.
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We're right here at the end, and I'm just going to keep going on the best I can.
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In the final stretch, the president attacked Andrews with an anti -trans slur, and former Republican Governor David Beasley publicly condemned it.
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Now, let's talk about who actually showed up.
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More than 51 million ballots were cast early, compared to under 46 million in 2022.
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Early voting in South Carolina alone was up 83 percent.
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And remember the map war, the gerrymandering.
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The seats that pushed
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Democrats past 218 was Texas's 35th district, which was redrawn in 2025 specifically to elect a Republican.
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Democrat Johnny Garcia won it.
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Now Republicans see things differently.
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Pretend that I'm on the ballot because we get a lot more votes.
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The president said voters simply did not like the candidates.
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Trump has also argued that he was not on the ballot and if he was he would have won by a landslide.
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Vice President Vance had also urged voters not to punish
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Republicans over the war alone.
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However, that warning wasn't enough.
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Now, what happens next?
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On January 3rd, the new
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Congress is sworn in.
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Hakeem Jeffries is in line to become
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Speaker of the House.
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They messed around, and now they're going to find out.
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Until then, the old
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Congress is still in charge, and Republicans are under pressure to pass a massive war funding bill before the new members arrive.
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Jeffries has promised to move fast.
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Within the first 100 hours, Democrats plan bills to restore
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Affordable Care Act subsidies, reverse nearly $1 trillion in Medicaid cuts,
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end the president's tariffs, and require him to end the Iran war or get Congress's approval.
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Now this is a lot to process, so you probably have a lot of questions.
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Let's answer them.
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All they do is they talk about impeaching everybody.
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I mean, honestly, if we wanted to play that game, we could play it just as well.
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Can Democrats impeach Trump?
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Yes, the House can impeach with a simple majority.
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Some Democrats want to, but the party is divided.
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But removing a president takes two -thirds of the Senate.
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That's 67 votes.
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Democrats would need more than a dozen
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Republicans to join them.
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Trump was impeached twice in his first term and acquitted both times.
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Can the new
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Congress end the war?
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Not right away.
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The War Powers Act appears to require
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Congress to approve prolonged military action, but the president has found ways around it.
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The real lever is money.
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Experts say cutting off war funding is the strongest way to push the administration to negotiate.
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And any bill still faces a presidential veto, which takes two -thirds of both chambers to override.
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Will anybody else get impeached?
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Probably Hegseth, the defense secretary.
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A resolution to impeach
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Pete Hegseth over military actions in Iran, Venezuela, Yemen, and elsewhere has already been filed by outgoing
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Republican Thomas Massey.
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A disgruntled, defeated congressman, along with all his Democrat allies, has also dropped sham articles of impeachment against yours truly.
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What kind of things will Congress investigate?
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A lot.
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The president's family business dealings, including crypto ventures that have earned him more than $1 billion, and the conduct of ICE and Homeland Security.
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Democrats have also promised probes into how the administration handled the Epstein files.
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Talking about Epstein today, Donald Trump signed that law to release all of those documents.
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He is the most transparent president in the nation's history.
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The Dow is over $50 ,000.
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I don't know why you're laughing.
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You're a great stock trader as I hear, Raskin.
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Can they pass whatever they want?
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No. Most legislation still needs 60 votes in the Senate.
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What a Democratic Senate can do is block the president's nominees, including judges who serve for life.
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Whatever side you are on, one thing about this election is hard to argue with.
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People showed up and they made their voices heard.
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Now comes the next chapter, governing a country that may still be divided politically, but still shares many of the same hopes for the future.
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Democrats hold Congress, Republicans hold the White House, and that means both parties will have to find common ground to move the country forward.
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And while divided government comes with challenges, it also creates opportunities for compromise, cooperation, and new ideas.
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The next two years could be a chance to turn political differences into meaningful progress.
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And we'll be here to cover every step of it.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This speaking lesson is built on the video “2026 Midterms, explained”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: democrat, senate, Republican, trump, elected. This video has 219 sentences and 2069 words to shadow. The speech runs for 13:21. The speaker talks at a natural 155 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. Only 81% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is demanding.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| elect verb | /ɪˈlɛkt/ | To choose or make a decision (to do something). |
| democrat noun | /ˈdɪməkɹæt/ | A supporter of democracy; an advocate of democratic politics (originally (historical) as opposed to the aristocrats in Revolutionary France). |
| voter noun | /ˈvoʊtɚ/ | Someone who votes or is entitled to vote. |
| veto noun | /ˈvi.toʊ/ | A political right to disapprove of (and thereby stop) the process of a decision, a law etc. |
| corruption noun | /kəˈɹʌpʃən/ | The act of corrupting or of impairing integrity, virtue, or moral principle; the state of being corrupted or debased; loss of purity or integrity. |
| divide verb | /dɪˈvaɪd/ | To split or separate (something) into two or more parts. |
| ballot noun | /ˈbælət/ | A small ball placed in a container to cast a vote; now, by extension, a piece of paper or card used for this purpose, or some other means used to signify a… |
| endorse verb | /ɪnˈdoɹs/ | To express support or approval, especially officially or publicly; to give an endorsement. |
| chamber noun | /ˈt͡ʃeɪ̯mbɚ/ | The private room of an individual, especially of someone wealthy or noble. |
| argue verb | /ˈɑɹ.ɡju/ | To show grounds for concluding (that); to indicate, imply. |
| roughly adverb | /ˈɹʌf.li/ | In a rough manner; without kindness, softness, or gentleness. |
| poll noun | /poʊl/ | A survey of people, usually statistically analyzed to gauge wider public opinion. |
| crucial adjective | /ˈkɹuː.ʃəl/ | Essential or decisive for determining the outcome or future of something; extremely important; vital. |
| controversial adjective | /ˌkɑn.tɹəˈvɝ.ʃəl/ | Arousing or likely to arouse controversy. |
| flip verb | /flɪp/ | To throw so as to turn over. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| show up verb | To appear, arrive, or attend, especially suddenly or erratically. | |
| take back verb | To retract or withdraw (an earlier statement). | |
| blow past verb | To easily overcome or go around a safeguard or limit. | |
| cut off verb | /ˌkʌt ˈɔf/ [ˌkɐɾ ˈɔf] | To remove by cutting. |
| find out verb | To discover, as by asking or investigating. | |
| get along verb | To interact or coexist well, without argument or trouble. | |
| go through verb | To travel from one end of something to the other. | |
| look forward to verb | To anticipate, expect, or wait for, especially with a feeling of approval or pleasure; to be excited or eager to. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- You know what happens if you don't vote?
- I don't happen to be a controversial person.
- I don't know why you're laughing.
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | has hit · has flipped · you've shown |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | was called · wasn't called · was appointed |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 23 contractions and reduced forms, such as don't, wasn't, we're. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: corruption /kəˈɹʌpʃən/, crucial /ˈkɹuː.ʃəl/, controversial /ˌkɑn.tɹəˈvɝ.ʃəl/, immigration /ˌɪmɪˈɡɹeɪʃən/, associate /əˈsoʊʃi.ət/
- Long words — get the stress right: controversial /ˌkɑn.tɹəˈvɝ.ʃəl/, congratulate /kənˈɡɹæd͡ʒ.ʊˌleɪt/, immigration /ˌɪmɪˈɡɹeɪʃən/, associate /əˈsoʊʃi.ət/, investigate /ɪnˈvɛs.tə.ɡeɪt/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like elect, democrat, voter.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.