The Times quoted Rep. Scott Peters (D-CA):
"People were talking in a really cocky way before that Democrats were going to take the trifecta [White House, Senate and House], and we were not ever going to talk to Republicans about anything. We were going to ram all this policy down their throats," said Rep. Scott Peters (D-San Diego), a moderate.According to Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), one of the House impeachment managers who tried to have President Donald Trump removed from office earlier this year, Democrats were told "Republicans had only a 25% chance of keeping the Senate and that Democrats would pick up seats" in the House.
Ambitious liberal policies like Medicare for all and the Green New Deal are likely to be pushed to a back burner, though Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and other progressives have signaled they will continue to advocate for their movement.
Pelosi (D-San Francisco) had said before the election that Democrats would expand the Affordable Care Act by using a special procedure in the Senate that required only 50 votes, but it's unclear now she will have even that.
Instead, Republicans have gained a net of eleven seats thus far, winning all 27 "toss-up" seats in the Cook Political Report, and cutting Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi's (D-CA) majority to a margin of just a few seats.
Democrats hope to take control of the Senate by wining the two runoffs for U.S. Senate seats in Georgia in January, but even then they would only have a 50-50 tie with Republicans and would need presumptive Vice President Kamala Harris to break the tie on every vote.
The Times also reported that Republicans expect President Donald Trump to play a leading role in defining the party's agenda, whether he is in or out of office.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). His newest e-book is The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump's Presidency. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
Comment: At least there's a little justice in the world.