Democrats can exhale and DeSantis can exult

This is Bloomberg Opinion Today, a purple wave of Bloomberg Opinion’s opinions. Sign up here. No red wave, but Dems the breaks. For China, r [Bloomberg]( Follow Us [Get the newsletter]( This is Bloomberg Opinion Today, a purple wave of Bloomberg Opinion’s opinions. [Sign up here](. Today’s Agenda - [No red wave](, but Dems the breaks. - For China, reopening may[ no longer be a policy choice, but a must](. - The clash of crypto titans [left all digital coins jangling](. A Glass Half Full For the D’s, Half Empty for the R’s Plenty of people — pollsters and pundits alike — predicted a “red wave” in the midterm elections and concomitant humiliation for President Joe Biden’s party. But the Democrats seem to have come through the midterms with some cause for relief, if not revelry. When counting is completed, they will have lost the House but may yet keep the Senate. They seem likely to avoid the blowout that is usually the lot of the sitting president’s party in America’s midterms. The Republicans will fall short of their own overheated expectations, and Sarah Green Carmichael points to [one important reason: abortion rights](. It turns out that reproductive freedom is as much a core issue for voters as inflation. Still, the GOP had plenty of big wins — and none bigger than Ron DeSantis’s landslide victory in Florida. Ramesh Ponnuru says the governor-reelect has demonstrated that he will be a [formidable challenger to Donald Trump in the 2024]( presidential election. (This hasn’t escaped Trump, who is already aiming rhetorical fire at DeSantis.) Jonathan Bernstein agrees that Florida must now be regarded as a red state. Among [his other key takeaways](: the Republican folly of putting up bad candidates, such as Don Bolduc in New Hampshire and Pennsylvania gubernatorial contender Doug Mastriano. On the whole, the midterms were not the triumph Trump had hoped for: Several of the candidates he endorsed were rejected by voters. But Tim O’Brien warns that [Trumpism doesn’t need Trump to survive](. Francis Wilkinson agrees, adding that the [GOP is still singing from Trump’s songbook](. The outcome of the midterms may ultimately depend on the reaction of the losers. Andreas Kluth argues that, to [avoid the fate of Weimar Germany](, American democracy needs losing candidates to behave like Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro. Stephen L. Carter agrees: [more concession speeches and fewer recounts](, please. China Can’t Have Its Covid Shutdown and Keep Its Fiscal Discipline, Too Unconfirmed social media posts that Beijing is considering an exit from its stringent Covid Zero policy have set investors scrambling to buy up the yuan and Chinese stocks. Is this wise? As Shuli Ren notes, the only significant evidence of preparations for a reopening is a recent uptick in vaccinations. For its part, the National Health Commission maintains that it will “unswervingly” adhere to the virus controls. But the costs of maintaining the shutdown are growing, and they will soon reach a point where Beijing will have to raise the debt ceiling and ruin the relatively clean balance sheet it has worked so hard to maintain. Already in the third quarter, the government debt-to-GDP ratio has [risen to 49.4%](, an almost 5 percentage point increase from two years ago. More debt is the last thing China needs: With corporate borrowings alone at 160% of GDP, it is already one of the world’s most indebted nations. But if Beijing wants [to keep its fiscal discipline, it will need to take risks with Chinese lives](. Chart of the Day High drama is back in the crypto market. As John Authers points out, Binance’s move to take over FTX.com ([which it has now reversed]() ended months of [quiet trading](. Practically every digital coin took a hit, including Bitcoin. Further Crypto Reading: The collapse of FTX may [give decentralized finance a boost](. — Andy Mukherjee Further Reading Green investors and businesses [need better data to speed the transition to clean energy](. — Michael R. Bloomberg Brexitism may end up [reshaping Britain more dramatically]( than Trumpism does America. —  Adrian Wooldridge Oil-consuming nations should [form an anti-OPEC+]( to encourage renewables. — Carl Pope Spending $2 on a lottery ticket [isn’t necessarily a waste of money](. — Teresa Ghilarducci There [aren’t enough ships to move Russian oil]( to Asia. — Julian Lee Russia’s opposition has [failed to offer a credible alternative to Vladimir Putin](. — Leonid Bershidsky [Israeli annexation of the West Bank]( may now be inevitable. — Hussein Ibish Rishi Sunak needs to raise new taxes. But [where will he administer the pain](? — Therese Raphael Global slowdown? [Singapore feels like it’s on another planet.]( — Daniel Moss Big Pharma says it can treat obesity with a weekly injection. But [insurers aren’t yet on board](. — Lisa Jarvis ICYMI Vladimir Putin is [skipping the G20 summit]( in Bali … … and his forces are [skipping town in Kherson](. “I’m sorry,” Mark Zuckerberg says as [Meta announces it will cut 11,000 jobs](. Experts are skeptical about US climate envoy [John Kerry’s new carbon-offsets plan](. US mortgage rates have risen to 7.14%, [close to a two-decade high](. [Tesla stock has lost $600 billion]( — half its value — in the past year … … and Elon [Musk just sold another $3.95 billion worth]( of his holdings. [TikTok has slashed its ad sales target]( by $2 billion after tech downturn. Kickers They may be forever, but [diamonds won’t save you from extradition](. What do you do with [a $4 billion rocket in a hurricane](? Oh, look: another [tech billionaire with a dystopian idea](. Get a kick out of this: a [“fusion of soccer, pingpong and tennis.”]( Notes:  Please send your flips and holds to Bobby Ghosh at aghosh73@bloomberg.net. [Sign up here]( and follow us on [Instagram](, [TikTok](, [Twitter]( and [Facebook](. Like getting this newsletter? [Subscribe to Bloomberg.com]( for unlimited access to trusted, data-driven journalism and subscriber-only insights. Before it’s here, it’s on the Bloomberg Terminal. Find out more about how the Terminal delivers information and analysis that financial professionals can’t find anywhere else. [Learn more](. You received this message because you are subscribed to Bloomberg's Opinion Today newsletter. [Unsubscribe]( | [Bloomberg.com]( | [Contact Us]( [Ads Powered By Liveintent]( | [Ad Choices]( Bloomberg L.P. 731 Lexington, New York, NY, 10022