Meh. 2008 Was Worse.

Last night certainly wasn't the most fun I've ever had in a PJ Media liveblog. I went to bed feeling like that poor young pilot on the doomed Learjet in Florida, riding in a rudderless missile trapped in a fatal nosedive (the doomed jet being my country, in this analogy).

But this morning, the customary bleating and gloating of the Democrats just isn't bothering me as much as I thought it would. First of all, I learned long ago to stay off social media when something upsetting happens, and this is a great time to do that. And second, the narrative from the left-media is actually kind of hilarious, when you look at how hard they're puffing themselves up.

Axios (one of my favorite punching bags, partly because I think those guys do a solid job when you look past their leftism) headlines its analysis "The Trump obliteration." Subtle!

"Make no mistake: Democrats won by epic, sometimes historic margins across red and blue states, up and down ballots, obliterating almost everything President Trump, and a Republican Party remade wholly in his image, built over the past decade in American politics," brays Axios. And that's just one example.

Oh noes!

You'd think the left had fulfilled its fantasy of packing all the Republicans and America-Firsters onto cattle cars and sending us away once and for all, tearing down the entire U.S. government, and replacing it with its Godless socialist utopia at last!

But in fact, this was actually a rather basic reactionary midterm election.

Whenever things look grim, it's always instructive to zoom out and take in the historical perspective. In the case of last night's election, we need to look back less than 20 years, to 2008. With the first-ever (half) black presidential candidate, the nation clamored to be a part of history in the making. Far too many people voted for a Marxist because of his skin color and smooth talk, and they took the rest of the ballot along for the ride.

The result? Both the U.S. House and the Senate went deep, dark blue. And believe me, it was a lot worse than what we woke up to today.

The Senate

On January 3, 2027, Democrats will kick off the 120th Congress with a Senate majority of at least 54.

As I write this, two Senate seats remain outstanding. Mississippi is tied between incumbent Democrat Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith and Republican challenger Scott Colom at exactly 48.9%-48.9%, with over 95% of the votes counted, so I'm sure that will take some time to sort. And Alaska looks like it will elect the repugnant Democrat Mary Peltola (currently at 48.2%) over incumbent Republican Dan S. Sullivan (47.9%), with almost three-quarters of the vote counted. If Democrats sweep both of these races, as they seem to be doing this icky year, they'll top off at a 56-44 Senate majority.

That's disgusting, but the 2008 election was worse. In January 2009, as the 111th Congress took the reins, Democrats ruled the Senate with a 59-41 majority. Technically, two of those 59 Senators were "Independents," but one of them was Bernie Sanders, and they both caucused with the Democrats.

The House

This one will be tougher to call. As of now, according to our partners at Decision Desk HQ, Democrats have locked up 241 seats to the Republicans' 149. By my math, that leaves 45 seats as yet undecided.

After the 2008 election, Democrats came away with 257 seats, while Republicans held 178. I expect the Dems may even top that majority by a seat or two this time around. Whatever — they have the majority either way, and they will use it to pump the lower chamber full of suck for as long as they can. The precise number of Islamo-Marxists in the House is but a detail.

The Presidency

Lest we forget, 2008 was a full general election — and well-meaning voters swept Barack Hussein Obama into the White House that year, too. (Yes, someone with a name like that won the White House just seven years after September 11.) He won the popular vote by a resounding 6 or 7 points, and he took two-thirds of the electoral vote. Horrifying.

And with that trifecta, leftists were able to pass damaging legislation that is still eroding the country to this day. Luckily, that ain't gonna happen this time, with President Trump warming up his veto pen to the temperature of the Sun's surface.

2008 was a much worse election than what we just had. But Democrats in power are the best argument for voting Republican, and a mere two years later — in the 2010 midterm elections — Republicans swung back hard. We gained 64 House seats and won back control of that chamber. And we took back six Senate seats, eventually winning back control in the 2014 midterm elections.

So yeah, whatever. Enjoy your moment, lefties. Trump is still president, Jesus is still king, and everyone will hate you again by 2028.

We'll muddle through.