On today's podcast:

(1) Democrats won control of both chambers of the US Congress in a midterm election landslide that amounted to a rejection of President Donald Trump following widespread voter discontent with the economy and the war in Iran.

(2) President Donald Trump congratulated Democrats for doing “a good job” after the party inflicted devastating defeats on his Republican allies, winning back both houses of Congress and picking up several governors’ mansions. But the president, in an interview with Fox News early Wednesday morning, didn’t take responsibility for a long night of GOP defeats, including many in what had been considered reliably conservatives states.

(3) Some of the night’s most stunning GOP losses were notched by candidates Trump had personally anointed. In the Texas Senate race, Democrat James Talarico beat Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton to score the party’s first statewide win in more than 30 years. And in South Carolina, Senator Darline Graham, who was appointed to a US Senate seat after her brother Lindsey Graham’s death, came up short in her quest for a full six-year term against Democrat Annie Andrews.

(4) In Michigan, Democrat Abdul El-Sayed became the first Muslim elected to the US Senate in the face of repeated attacks from Trump, who labeled him a “jihadist.” Even Republican Senator Susan Collins in Maine, who’d previously held her seat in a blue state, was unable to hang on and conceded to Democrat Troy Jackson.

(5) A Democratic sweep of both houses of Congress rippled across global markets, sending stocks and the dollar lower while boosting Treasuries on speculation that the result will put the brakes on President Donald Trump’s agenda.