[Maru]

It's not a blue wave, no, but it is not the red wave either some were demanding. This is good news for Democrats if they want to keep Congress locked (legislatively) for the next two years. That gives them plenty of time, two years in fact, to play Inspector Gadget. Nancy Pelosi can be Chief Quimby.

What's gonna really suck is when the budget comes back around for a vote. Both parties are going to attempt to pack as much pork that can fit in order to 1) impress their base 2) "negotiate" (i.e. give each other free money) in order to get a bill passed. They'll be at a stalemate for a bit yeah. Rah rah, party line, etc. It could lead to a monstrocity (like Obamacare) where the budget will have so much pork, it will blow up the deficit even further. Both parties pull these shenanigans at other times, sure, but with a split Congress, Republicans or Democrats won't really introduce any major cuts, because neither party can never agree on where these cuts should be. So it's much more likely that this Congress will make our deficit much worse, and very unlikely we will see any meaningful cuts and tax-reform is pretty much off the table. With the House being explicitly responsible for making budgets, this will be particularly fun for our deficit.

Someone said the last time we had both houses under party control for more than 4 years was 1968 (an epic year). Can't remember if that statistic included the Presidency or not, but I'm trying to research it. I would believe it.

With the Senate, Republicans will still have control over appointments with regards to the appellate courts. Also, the Supreme Court will be further in their pocket if anyone else retires. Ruth Gader Ginsburg is 85 for one. Republicans also have a bigger majority now, so approval for Presidential nominees will be cake.

A few of the far-left candidates have gone mainstream tonight, so that will be very interesting. Some say this is handing them rope to hang themselves... sure, but the Democrats show an amazing ability to learn from their mistakes. The Republicans keep hobbling on with a loyal base, and as much as I hate Trump at times, he's at least pushed them to at least try to reform beyond "low taxes for everyone"... they also have to tune into the social&cultural narratives that are playing out across the country... something they've never been keen to focus on as a platform. Outside of "more experienced" and "family values" anyway.

It's also interesting that in Purple-ish States where Republican candidates were unfavorable towards Trump, most of them ended up losing.

Basically this was a Purple wave with big bright spots of Red and Blue... but zoom out, and this is actually a moderated Congress. It's just a shame both our majority parties are complete r*tards who can't negotiate. It could end up being a silver-lining though... culturally. Questionable, but maybe.

It will be even more interesting to see how Trump deals with a grid-locked Congress... it's so much easier to talk sh** I think when the same team runs the Presidency, the House and Senate.