But If You Try Sometimes . . .

The Omnivore thinks assesses (from a vast height, looming over social media) that the GOP feels relieved that the blue-wave didn't wipe out the Senate or Ted Cruz. For Democrats there seems to be a sense of disappointment that they didn't undo the 2016 election: that's fair--you get to have your hopes up, so long as you are clear-eyed about what the chances really seem to be and take what you get with some measure of realism (i.e. not claiming the vote itself was illegitimate).

That said, what happened last night was what absolutely had to happen in order to keep things from getting far worse.

1. With actual intent on the part of the House to investigate / check the president we will get to see if there's really "there" there to a lot of the non-Russia questions the admin has raised (The administration? Well, yes--by not, for example, releasing Trump's tax returns).
2. The House Investigative Committee vs. the FBI should be similarly shut down and the urges to declassify sources and methods can be ramped back.
3. We won't have to live with Speaker Ryan trying to figure out how he can disagree with what Trump says without actually disagreeing with it in any material fashion (similarly, it'll be nice to have Flake out of office after the cycle ends--we won't have to listen to endless complaining followed by liberals saying "if you don't like it, maybe you could call your Senator--do you know any Senators?")

There's also the possibility that having guys like Nunes, DeSantis, and Cruz in office for the next few years will keep reminding liberals of what they don't like about the part.

The Omnivore has a few observations / questions:

• It appears that most of the Obama-Trump districts came home to Democrats. Maybe Trump's racism convinced them that their worst fears were, in fact, realized?
• This election seems to have brought out democrats in ways that previous mid-terms only dreamed of. We will need to see how that compares / holds up later in the next election.

For now, though, while there is stuff for everyone to feel good about, The Omnivore feels that this election met the requirement of giving the Democrats some leverage against Trump and Trumpism--and it has further entrenched Trumpism in the GOP meaning that they will be living with it for the foreseeable future.