Mathias Ssemanda

Diplomacy and International Relations. International Development and Public Policy. USA-China-Africa relations. @Makerere and @Penn_State.

[Mathias Ssemanda @MathiasSsemanda]

🤣🤣🤣

[VoteHub @VoteHub]

Mississippi U.S. Senate: 1 new vote from Tishomingo County

🔴 Hyde-Smith: +1 (100%)
🔵 Colom: +0 (0%)

Colom's statewide lead narrows to 2,535 votes.

[Barnabas Nawangwe @ProfNawangwe]

We were honoured to welcome Hon. General Katumba Wamala, who was at Makerere University to launch the book authored by Mr. Mohsin Hassan, son of Uganda’s first CID Officer, Mohammed Hassan. Mohammed Hassan was assassinated during the Idi Amin regime. The book titled BLOODSHED FOR POWER: THE ASSASSINATION OF UGANDA reminds us of the violence that characterised Uganda in the 60s and 70s. Makerere University is honoured that the author chose to launch this important book at our library.

[Mathias Ssemanda @MathiasSsemanda]

@KwagalaKassanda @paulwebs1 @BwoweIvan @882SanyuFM @CharkBenson @MakGuild In guild leaderships there used to be sharp differences between the guild speaker and the guild president and they made serving quite hard. However, our guild leadership had both President @BwoweIvan and Speaker @CharkBenson agree on some of the contentious issues.

[Mathias Ssemanda @MathiasSsemanda]

@realjohnivan 🤣

[Mathias Ssemanda @MathiasSsemanda]

Amidst the midterm election hysteria in St. Louis city, we managed to get some beautiful family photos for the season 🍂 🎃

[Mathias Ssemanda @MathiasSsemanda]

@mukasambogo 🤣🤣those were good times man. Leading Makerereans is never a simple task. I remember Afande Sam Omala (RIP) calling my dad amidst that chaos.. that we were stoning Police.

[Mathias Ssemanda @MathiasSsemanda]

@TonyNatif It has been at 96 reporting forever…😬

[Mathias Ssemanda @MathiasSsemanda]

Originally aired November, 9 1995. Barack Obama hosted on Chicago Public Radio to talk about his newly published book— Dreams from My Father.

Quite refreshing to hear the youthful Obama speak on race, culture and politics. Inspiring!

https://t.co/dwf8lA08WW

[Mathias Ssemanda @MathiasSsemanda]

Vice President JD Vance blames Trump’s major foreign policy issue — the Iran War for the losses.

[JD Vance @JDVance]

One of the things the data analysts on our side obsessed over was "composition"—whether the electorate looked close enough to 2024 for Republicans to win. And despite polls that showed a Democrat blowout, the data kept on telling us the same story: in some states turnout was merely OK, in other states it was downright amazing, and in no state was it catastrophic. There was a genuine sense of optimism on our team: our people were showing up.

So, I asked the smartest data guy I know, does that mean we're going to shock the world? "No," he told me. "We might do better than the polls suggest. But the data is telling us that a lot of Trump/Vance 2024 voters are pissed and planning to vote for the other guys. Our voters are turning out, but they may not vote for us."

Well, that looks prophetic now. Our voters did show up. In Florida, for example, the electorate was 9 points more Republican than Democrat, just a couple points worse than 2024. Undoubtedly there were places we could have done better on turnout. But the main problem is not turnout. The main problem is that many people who voted for Trump/Vance in 2024 voted for Democrats in 2026.

There will be a lot of infighting and arguing over what happened and why that is. One of the pollsters I really respect told me that our economic messaging wasn’t sharp enough down the stretch. I’m sure that’s true.

But the real reason we lost is obvious to almost everyone.

Another pollster—one of the smartest people I know in politics, told me yesterday we’d lose the generic ballot by 13 points. I felt negative going into Tuesday, but even I was shocked by this. In his polling, he saw that a lot of Trump 2024 voters were angry and planning to vote for Democrats. He asked those voters who had abandoned us what would cause them to come back on our team. The top four answers, accounting for nearly all of the responses were:

1) End the war
2) Focus on cost of living/inflation
3) Put America First
4) Change our relationship to Israel

Our voters showed up. And the above four reasons are why many of them voted for Democrats. This is according to a pollster who nailed the results. While many spent Monday attacking Rachel Campos Duffy for calling for a diplomatic resolution to the conflict, it turns out her political advice was sound. (She’s also a great person.)

In the next few months, there's going to be a lot of gaslighting. Expect to hear any number of establishment politicians say the solution to our woes is amnesty. I'm open to the idea that we should change enforcement—by focusing more on businesses that hire illegal labor, for instance. But anyone pushing amnesty is lying to you.

The reason we lost is the war. The president himself said so last night.

If you'd like to argue it was worth it, that losing the Senate for the next 6 years was worth it, then do so. Argue it was a worthwhile cost to pay. Agree or disagree, that's at least honest.

But everyone knows why we lost. And any honest conversation about where we go from here must start there.

I remain hopeful about our country. To the people who are pissed off and want to say, “I told you so”: you’re right, you did tell us so. Take that energy into electing Republicans who share your worldview. To the people who are just pissed at the results, you should be. Let’s take that anger and get back to the work of saving our country.

[Mathias Ssemanda @MathiasSsemanda]

Breaking - Democrats are begging Elon Musk to move SpaceX HQ to Florida.

[Elon Musk @elonmusk]

This is the final straw.

Because of this law and the many others that preceded it, attacking both families and companies, SpaceX will now move its HQ from Hawthorne, California, to Starbase, Texas.

[Mathias Ssemanda @MathiasSsemanda]

@kerkozer That’s not* a big issue..

[Mathias Ssemanda @MathiasSsemanda]

Trump’s hold onto the Republican Party is long gone. But it’s going to be murky for GOP in the coming years. Sharp divisions and dead ambitions for people like JD Vance.

[Mathias Ssemanda @MathiasSsemanda]

@kerkozer That’s a big issue for the democrats. Newsom and Harris won’t run either and even if they choose to, it’s not hard for Dems to make a choice like when you have a Republican president like Trump who will come out and support an opponent to a Republican candidate he doesn’t like.

[Mathias Ssemanda @MathiasSsemanda]

He is still running American politics for some time and this worries GOP.

[Barack Obama @BarackObama]

Tonight, the American people sent a clear message — they want a politics that brings people together rather than divides them, and leaders who offer concrete solutions to the challenges they face.

These results were only possible because outstanding candidates stepped forward in every region of the country — including in areas once considered long shots. They came from different backgrounds and represented a range of political perspectives, but were united by shared values, a belief in public service, and a commitment to putting the people of their districts and states first.

We also owe a debt of gratitude to the thousands of election officials and volunteers from both parties who helped ensure a smooth election and carried out one of the most essential functions of our democracy.

While this administration has another two years in office, our job now is to roll up our sleeves, make changes wherever we have the power to do so, prevent further damage, and lay the groundwork for the future.

[Barack Obama @BarackObama]

Tonight, the American people sent a clear message — they want a politics that brings people together rather than divides them, and leaders who offer concrete solutions to the challenges they face.

These results were only possible because outstanding candidates stepped forward in every region of the country — including in areas once considered long shots. They came from different backgrounds and represented a range of political perspectives, but were united by shared values, a belief in public service, and a commitment to putting the people of their districts and states first.

We also owe a debt of gratitude to the thousands of election officials and volunteers from both parties who helped ensure a smooth election and carried out one of the most essential functions of our democracy.

While this administration has another two years in office, our job now is to roll up our sleeves, make changes wherever we have the power to do so, prevent further damage, and lay the groundwork for the future.

[Mathias Ssemanda @MathiasSsemanda]

@HSebagala Perhaps that time will never come. Better get consolation by following politics that changes🤣

[Mathias Ssemanda @MathiasSsemanda]

Texas going blue first time in decades.

[Mathias Ssemanda @MathiasSsemanda]

Quite a few surprises on election night, but ABC bringing former Speaker Kevin McCarthy onto its panel was definitely not on my bingo card.

[Mathias Ssemanda @MathiasSsemanda]

@quiensabeband @SkyNews @ShingiMararike 🤣🤣🤣🤣

[Mathias Ssemanda @MathiasSsemanda]

@scamwesigye2 @IanNdamwesiga But it remains a good idea for Mak. The only way to make people stop making a mistake is tell them, another university took this up. I also find Mak more fantastic and aesthetic than MUK. Though students today and most millennials still call the university— MUK.

[Mathias Ssemanda @MathiasSsemanda]

@scamwesigye2 @IanNdamwesiga The Moi reference is actually brought up because it’s people at Makerere who kept inferring that Moi University Kenya took up the acronym-MUK. I think people at Moi keep being shocked by that. Because if you ask the same AI what Moi’s acronym is, it’s MU.