Our descent to banana republic status has been postponed.  My nightmare scenario was that the Democrats would gain the power to add D.C. and Puerto Rico as states and pack the Supreme Court with enough new justices to approve anything they want, including limiting firearms to National Guard members and deciding that whatever they call "hate speech" isn't protected by the First Amendment.  But for that to happen, they need to control the presidency (which may or may not happen), the House (which they appear to retain control of), and the Senate, which it looks like they have lost and therefore will be unable to abolish the filibuster.

With two Dem pickups so far in Colorado and Arizona, and one loss in Alabama, it looks as though the GOP majority will hold.  The re-election races for GOP senators that looked shaky for the GOP in Iowa, Montana, North Carolina, and Maine all look solid.  NPR is not giving up on the Dems but headlines, "Democrats' Hopes For Senate Majority Fade As GOP Beats Back Challenges."

Fade to black, they mean.  No end to the filibuster, no statehood for D.C., and no expansion of the Supreme Court to engineer a Dem majority.

The Republic is safe, no matter how many votes the Dems manufacture for Biden.

The once and future majority leader is happy, too.

 
Caricature by Donkey Hotey, cc-by-2.0.