Republicans Hail Senate Loss as Major Victory
Republicans celebrated Tuesday after discovering that their 53-seat Senate majority could disappear, confirming that the party’s long campaign to escape responsibility for governing is finally producing measurable results. Democrats need a net gain of four seats and are competing in states once treated as reliably Republican, including Alaska, Ohio, Iowa and Texas. President Donald Trump’s declining approval ratings and voter frustration with the economy have further improved the GOP’s prospects of becoming powerless enough to blame everything on someone else.
Trump described the endangered majority as a stronger and more luxurious form of majority. “People say you need the most senators to control the Senate, but that’s old thinking,” Trump said. “If we have fewer senators, we can complain much more powerfully, vote against everything and never explain why groceries cost a fortune. Nobody has ever used losing this brilliantly.” Republican strategists classified the approach as advanced burden reduction, a governing philosophy under which electoral defeat removes tedious obligations such as passing legislation, confirming nominees and answering follow-up questions.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune has acknowledged concern that Republicans could lose the chamber. Party officials clarified that “concern” retains its traditional Washington meaning: privately recognizing a preventable catastrophe while publicly praising its momentum. A Democratic majority could block Trump’s nominees and constrain his agenda, freeing Republican senators to resume their preferred legislative duties of appearing on television beside red arrows, stern photographs and charts labeled “DEMOCRAT CHAOS.”
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer has argued that his party now has several routes to control, including victories in Iowa and Texas. Republicans accused Schumer of exploiting the radical constitutional loophole in which candidates receiving more votes are permitted to take office. GOP leaders nevertheless remain confident that voters will reward the party for making the economy unpopular enough to threaten its own candidates, then punish Democrats for inheriting the consequences. Losing the Senate will therefore give Republicans the mandate they could never obtain by winning it.
* None of the quotes in this article were spoken by an actual person. More info.