On Monday, Donald Trump whined about “fake polls” reflecting his unpopularity, and proclaimed that “fair polls” show that he has the “best numbers [he has] ever had.” Well, a day later, Americans flocked to the only polls that matter and delivered a message to the president: Not on our watch!

In races across the country, first and foremost in closely watched gubernatorial contests in Virginia and New Jersey, Democrats pummeled their Republican opponents.

In Virginia, Abigail Spanberger (D) crushed Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears (R) by 15 points, and, with four races still not called at midnight, her party edged toward a supermajority in the House of Delegates.

In New Jersey, Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D) thumped Jack Ciattarelli (R) by 13 points, and down-ballot Democrats picked up enough seats in the State Assembly to give themselves a supermajority there.

And Democrats didn’t just win in blue and swing states.

In Mississippi, for example, they flipped a couple of seats to break the GOP’s supermajority in the state legislature.

But this night wasn’t primarily about any particular winning or losing candidates. More than anything, it was a repudiation of Trump.

While the famously delusional president mused that his imaginary high poll numbers are the result of him having delivered “the greatest economy in US history” and keeping prices down, the reality looks starkly different.

The economy is in shambles, things are getting more expensive, Americans are pessimistic about the future, and they are (rightly) blaming the president and his policies for it all.

While the midterms are still a year away, and Republicans across the country are busy trying to give themselves an edge by any means necessary, Tuesday’s results show that Democratic voters are highly motivated and that they understand the seriousness of this moment… whether that is because they are worried about rising costs, the lawlessness of this administration, Trump’s authoritarian ambitions, or all of the above.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) summed it up.

“In my traveling across the country, I am hearing and have been seeing consistent things from everyday people,” she said. “And it is that they are terrified, they are frustrated, they are angry, and they are shocked by a president that thinks he has total impunity and is violating the values that we hold dear, our liberties and our freedoms.”

In California, voters approved a new congressional map that would counteract the mid-decade gerrymander in Texas that was supposed to deliver five extra seats in the House of Representatives for Trump.

Based on Tuesday’s results, however, Republicans may want to think twice about redrawing their maps. As things stand, even GOP lawmakers running in districts that Trump won by 10 points last year should be feeling a little anxious right now.

However, that does not mean that they will stop following the president blindly.

The GOP has completely hitched its wagon to Trump and is committed to riding that train… whether he drives it off a cliff or not.

As for the president himself, will Tuesday’s shellacking result in some introspection and a change in direction on the part of his administration?

Unlikely.

When it became clear that Republicans were getting walloped, he offered his own explanation for the stinging defeat.

“‘TRUMP WASN’T ON THE BALLOT, AND SHUTDOWN, WERE THE TWO REASONS THAT REPUBLICANS LOST ELECTIONS TONIGHT,’ according to Pollsters,” he wrote (but did not specify if those were the “fake” pollsters or the “good” ones that exist only in his head).

Of course, while his name didn’t appear on any of the ballots, Trump still overshadowed the entire election, and this is his loss more than that of any individual Republican candidate.

To add insult to injury, voters in New York City, the president’s long-time home base, ignored his threats and elected Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani as their next mayor.

His election will start a fascinating experiment.

Terrified by the prospect of Mamdani succeeding in having the rich pay more to make the city more affordable for everybody else, Republicans went all out to stop his election, with Trump and others even endorsing former Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

Now, the 34-year-old Mamdani, who came out of nowhere to win the Democratic primary earlier this year, will get an opportunity to put his ideas into practice, even though the president will likely use his powers to put up as many roadblocks as possible.

Should he succeed in spite of Republicans predicting the total collapse of New York City, it would take the sting out of GOP attacks on Democrats who want to take on the rich to benefit everybody else and might usher in a new kind of economic populism.

Of course, that is all a long way off.

For now, Tuesday was an important milestone in rejecting Trumpism and putting Republicans on notice that they are rubberstamping the president’s policies at the peril of losing their jobs.

However, this is no time for complacency as Trump’s march toward authoritarianism continues.

“[We] cannot underestimate the threat and the danger of this moment, but we cannot respond to that threat with cowardice. We cannot respond to that threat with complying in advance,” said Ocasio-Cortez. “We have to respond to that threat with a strong, organized, and cohesive effort to fight for working families, rule of law, and civil rights for every American across age, ethnicity, gender, and geography. And I believe we can do that.”

And that might be one of the most important takeaways for Democrats.

Spanberger in Virginia and Mamdani in New York City ran on very different platforms. One was right for a state that extends from deep-blue Washington, DC, into “the South,” and the other appealed to voters in America’s greatest city.

Democrats have to resist Republican attempts to lump them all together. Instead, they have to find messages that resonate with their voters, not necessarily all voters. And it will be crucial for them to communicate that distinction.

The Democratic tent is humungous compared to that of the GOP, and it is impossible for any candidate to make all of these voters happy at the same time in a way Trump could with his MAGA faithful, which is exactly why the right-wing propaganda machine tries to nationalize every race.

That didn’t work on Tuesday, which should give Democrats and all patriotic Americans who want to preserve their democracy a lot of hope.

“I’m not surprised [by the results],” said Ocasio-Corez, “but very encouraged by everyday people today.”