Meanwhile the Democrats will satisfy their malevolent, puerile impulses with subpoenas, investigations, etc. A one way street to nowhere.

Disaster averted: Trump just third president in 100 years to gain Senate seats in midterm election while losing House seats

Republican strengthen control in Senate even as they lose House

By Jeffry Bartash, MarketWatch, November 7 2018:

 

Rick Scott, right, helped President Donald Trump and Republicans extend their control of the Senate with a close win in Florida. The state’s governor eked out a victory in his Senate race vs. Democratic incumbent Bill Nelson.The 2018 midterm election wasn’t a disaster for Donald Trump like it usually is for the president’s party: Republicans strengthened their control over the Senate even as the lost command of the House for the first time in eight years.

How unusual is that? It’s only the third time in the past 104 years that the party holding the White House has gained seats in the Senate in a mid-term election while losing seats the House. The same split outcome also occurred in 1970, 1962 and 1914.

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Historically the party in the White House has lost a badly in midterm elections, especially when a president’s job-approval rating was below 50% as it is now with Trump. The president’s party has lost an average of 37 seats since the end of World War Two.

Read: Democrats take control of House after health care, immigration drive voters to polls

Republicans on Tuesday lost at least 26 House seats, with more than a dozen whose outcome is still undecided. Democrats could end up winning more than 30 seats.

In other words, the losses suffered under arguably the most polarizing president in modern times fit right in line with the norm.

Success is a rarity. The president’s party has won seats in both the House and Senate just twice in the past century in a mid-term election: 2002 under George W. Bush and 1934 under Franklin D. Roosevelt.

The White House can take solace in the party’s gains in the Senate, but they were more likely the result of a unique map than anything the president did.

Democrats had to defend 26 Senate seats, including 10 in states that Trump won in 2016, some by very large margins.

Republicans had to defend just nine seats and only faced true competitive threats in a few, mainly Nevada, Arizona and, surprisingly, Texas, where incumbent Ted Cruz is unpopular. He eked out a small victory over a charismatic Democratic challenger.

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Republicans picked up Senate seats in Florida, Indiana, Missouri, North Dakota — all of which lean conservative or staunchly conservative. Only the race in Florida was nail-biter. The others were convincing wins.

Republicans appeared primed to hold on to a Senate seat in Arizona by the barest margins, but Montana was too close to call.

For now it looks like a pickup of three seats to give Republicans a comfortable 54-46 margin in the Senate. Even in the House, the Democratic majority is projected to be narrow.