What does this election mean?

As I’m sure you’re well aware, this past Tuesday was the 2018 midterm elections. Just one year ago, the political pundits were saying we would see a massive blue wave. That this election would be a major referendum on President Trump and the Republican Congress. But as time went on this proved to be less and less true. In the end, although not all of the results are in, it is clear that the Republicans will not only retain control of the Senate, but actually increase their control there, and that Democrats will take the house by a fair margin. As of right now, Democrats have managed to pick up 30 house seats, but there are still some that are too close to call. Realistically, they will probably pick up another five seats.

Now I know what you’re probably thinking “that’s a lot of seats for Democrats to gain!” and that’s half true. Democrats were in the minority prior to the election, so 35 seats does not give them overwhelming control of Congress, but it does mean that they will easily get to decide who the next speaker of the house is. On the other side of Congress in the Senate, I think Republicans will have at least a 53 seat majority in the Senate, possibly 54 depending on how Arizona turns out.

Also for reference, in President Obama’s first midterm election the Democrats lost 63 house seats and six Senate seats. In the past unpopular presidents usually, lose about 37 house seats and a number of Senate seats. Popular presidents usually lose about 30 house seats and relatively few Senate seats.

So what does all of this mean going forward? Trump and the Republicans will continue to appoint conservative judges and new cabinet members, but with significantly less opposition. The Senate will no longer have those extremely tight votes that require the Vice President to cast the deciding vote. In the house, Democrats will take control of every single committee. This means everything from the judiciary committee to the foreign affair committee. Democrats have already announced their intentions to investigate the Trump administration like there is no tomorrow. In my opinion, I don’t think they will find anything earth-shattering. If there was anything, Robert Muller will bring it out in the long overdue Russia investigation. At this point, I think Democrats are looking for fools gold with all of these investigations. They expect Trump to have all of these horrific skeletons in his closet that will for sure bring him down this time.

But the way I see it, even if they do find something, the only thing I see possibly ending his presidency is proof that he committed an outrageous felony. We all basically know all of the bad things Trump has done at this point. For crying out loud, proof that he paid to sleep with a porn star wasn’t enough to stop him. You can’t fling more dirt at one of the most morally corrupt people who basically admits to a lot of what he’s done.

At the same time, Democrats will have to decide who they want as the next speaker. They can either reselect Nancy Pelosi, an idea already endorsed by Trump, or they can go with a new fresh face. Scores of Democrats have already made their opposition to her as speaker known, so there is a good chance she won’t get it. But if she does, Republicans will have a field day. For crying out loud she made yet another gaffe in her victory speech this past week.

Republicans couldn’t have asked for a better time to lose the house to Democrats. Either they will make a big show out of nothing and get nothing done, or they will have to work with the President in order to retain the house. Either way, Republicans will have a great set up for the 2020 election cycle.