Hopes and Warnings for the Next Four Years

Hopeful Reminder

While the GOP has complete control of the government right now, this control is weak. They lost seats in both the House and Senate in this cycle. The presidency was won by the slimmest of electoral margins, by a madman who the GOP hopes they can control but likely won't be able to, with not even a plurality of voters in support and historically low approval going into office.

Warning for What May Come

This situation means there will be a very strong temptation for the GOP to do whatever is necessary to hold on to power in the coming elections. We've already seen willingness to shed norms in the name of holding on to power over the last decade:

• Abuse of the filibuster to turn a Senate minority into a majority for purposes of legislation and appointments
• Refusing to even hold hearings on a moderate Supreme Court justice nominee that was widely liked for over a year
• Threatening the full faith and credit of the United States in paying its debts over a domestic policy dispute
• Shutting down the government, or threatening to, essentially as an attempted veto override

Each of these actions, in the moment, made some tactical sense from their perspective. However, each one has also chipped away at the foundations of the republic.