October 28, 2026

About this episode

With the midterms less than a week away, the closing stretch of the campaign is full of bad omens for MAGA abroad and peak weirdness at home. In Serbia and Brazil, Trump allies suffered stinging and surprising defeats driven in part by energized voter turnout. An anti-corruption youth movement spearheaded the surge in Serbia, while Brazil saw a dramatic comeback for President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who defeated staunch Trump ally Flávio Bolsonaro.  “Both of the losing candidates, Bolsonaro in Brazil and Vučić in Serbia, wrapped themselves around Donald Trump,” co-host David Corn says on this episode of Stress Test. “So we see in Serbia and Hungary authoritarian figures who try to emulate and ride the Trump wave being tossed out of office. And in [South America], where we've seen a right-wing tide… they beat it back” in Brazil. There’s a growing sense that voters worldwide are fed up with government grift. As David puts it: “Corruption seems to be the point of the spear.” Meanwhile, the Israeli election—where the final results are still uncertain—also was something of a referendum on Trump, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attempting to retain power by promoting his clos