What's the story of this midterm cycle going to be after the last vote is counted on Tuesday night, or in California's case, Thursday morning?

Oh, man.

I mean, I think when people ask for my general predictions, I always give them the unsatisfying answer that I refuse to give them predictions.

But broad strokes, I think the Senate is going to be much closer than people think.

I think Republicans will perform stronger than people are expecting.

The House, I've spent less time on, but it is looking like that's trending blue.

Look, I think like... broad trends to keep an eye on, incumbency, which incumbents are able, there's a huge frustration with incumbents, with establishments.

Is this a situation where Democrats are going to come in and basically the leadership that is going to get keyed up is going to completely lose control of what's going on?

What, what struck you about the agreement that was, that was new, um, hopeful, and also what, what worries you about the agreement?

Yeah.

So I mean, the, the new ...

One of the most extraordinary parts of it is that the Israelis and the Lebanese were even sitting down together and taking [chuckles] pictures together.

Uh, so just on ...

I, I, that should, that shouldn't be the case, but over decades, this, again, we haven't seen them directly communicate in this way very much.

So that's already in and of itself a victory.

Is that, again, is that a, is that a dream? Will we see that in our generation? Or do you think that the Trump administration is really giving it away through this MOU and through an attempt and agreement with, with the same regime in Iran?

What do you make of Graham Platner?

Yeah, I've been following Graham Platner basically since he announced last year.

And look, I think on the surface, like let's put the controversies and the policies aside.

He looks the part.

He sounds the part.

He's angry in a state that has a lot to be angry about high energy prices.

And then also some of the stuff that the rest of the country is upset about higher cost of living.

So it feels as if Tallarico maybe has a little more momentum behind him than would normally be the case.

Karine, have we lost?

I think it's too soon to say we've lost.

What I, uh, I would have preferred that the president went about this differently, and I think Demir makes strong points about the shifting goalposts.

When you come out in January and you say you're gonna help protesters that are streaming out into the streets of Tehran, help doesn't, help doesn't arrive, uh, and then later you're sort of strongly insinuating that, uh, regime change could happen, uh, that just killing some of the top leaders in Iran is regime change.

Well, the- these are confusing signals that the president is sending 'cause now he wants to make a deal with the very regime he said has been decapitated.

That being said, it just depends on how you're looking at this conflict.

If you look at this conflict as ...

And this is why, again, this war was a, was a mistake to begin with, because the path to success, unless you tar- targeted it very narrowly and said, "We're just gonna mow the lawn on the nuclear question," and then negotiate and negotiate it again, as soon as, a- as it was this is a regime that's been tormenting us for 47 years and that is intolerable, guess what? You're gonna tolerate it for a while longer 'cause we don't have a path to get rid of these people.

... to weave.

Yes.

Yeah, and, and, you know, sometimes we have to think about what's a winning message and what's not a winning message.

Uh, I think at one of the president's recent stops, he was saying a couple of days ago that maybe you only needed a couple pencils instead of more than that for Christmas, or you have to cut down on your Christmas gifts.

And that's a tough message to sell to the American consumer, uh, especially when your vice president is at the same time promising that we're on the front end of an economic boom.

So, you know, uh, there, there seems to be a lack of coordination there, uh, and then also a lack of coordination with broader policy.

Like, we were told that tariffs...

He scared down America.

But also, the dawn of what lies ahead as President Trump attends this meeting in Egypt in trying to chart the future, which is likely going to have a paradigm shift that we haven't seen in more than, uh, uh, half a century in the Middle East.

Yes.

Th- uh, there's tremendous opportunity right now, and the president really deserves serious praise for getting this, this agreement going.

Uh, um, it, it's a huge day, an emotional day, um, and my heart goes out to the families of the hostages that have been waiting so long for this day.

Uh, and for the Middle East more broadly, you're right, this is a new page.

And the agreement was the first big step, but now I think is, the harder, the harder work is ahead of us.

Um, the, the president has really, uh, I mean, the first step was to get the hostages home and get, and get the war winding down.

But that was the follow-up from my colleague Peter Doocy that asked about the, the moment in the speech where, where President Trump had said that he literally was offering the "hand of friendship and cooperation is open." And that was Peter Doocy asking about that moment, and n- that, that, that, uh, Q&A right there really explains, tells you where President Trump believes we are.