THE MIDTERM ELECTIONS OF 2018 - OPPORTUNITIES FOR DEMOCRATS

--> Control of the House represents enormous opportunity for the Democrats. To be sure, there are myriad issues to be investigated – all those scandals-du-jour reported breathlessly in the press and then promptly forgotten in the absence of anyone in Congress or the DoJ with the will and power to do anything about them. Now, finally we have House committees ready, willing and able to shine a light on the snakepit of malfeasance within the Trump administration. (See David Corn in Mother Jones, “House Dems Already Have Their List of Trump Scandals to Investigate. Here it is.”). I doubt Trump, spuriously claiming victory in the midterms, foresees the full implications of Democratic control of the House.
On the other hand, in Trump’s recent appointment of “Daddy Warbucks” Whittaker as interim AG implies resistance within the DoJ to prosecuting anything the House might send its way jeopardizing the President. Even so, for every refusal to prosecute, Whittaker would have to explain himself to the referring House committee, thus exposing him to public scorn and, possibly, impeachment. (I have serious doubts the appointment will withstand constitutional scrutiny, but that’s another topic. With the emergence of Whittaker’s blatantly disqualifying biases and questionable business ties (apparently unknown to the tyros on the WH staff), Trump is already backing away from Whittaker, claiming“not to know” him – his usual ploy when confronted with unsavory revelations about appointments he intends to disavow. I suspect the appointment will not stand, forcing Trump to nominate someone subject to Senate confirmation, meanwhile, leaving Rosenstein as acting AG.)
It would be a mistake for Democrats to focus overmuch on investigations, valuable as they might be. The sounder course of action for House Dems is to put forth a raft of legislation enjoying majority public support, placing House and Senate Republicans in the uncomfortable position of repeatedly voting against the will of the majority. Such measures would include reversing the Republican sabotage of the Affordable Care Act (especially protecting its “pre-existing conditions” provisions) and remedying the inherent deficiencies of the Act (such as the omission of a public option); raising taxes on the very wealthy and corporations as a means of balancing the budget (including eliminating the income cap on FICA taxes); restoring the critical portions of the Voting Rights Act eviscerated by SCOTUS; protecting the Muller investigation; reversing the administration’s wrecking-ball approach to environmental, worker safety and educational issues; student debt relief; infrastructure funding; protection of women’s right to choose; and generally proposing to override many of Trump’s autocratic executive orders favoring corporations at the expense of everyday Americans. This approach would inform the electorate of all the popular measures the Democrats could be counted on to offer if elected in 2020, thereby undermining Trump’s bid for re-election and Republican control of the Senate.  
The flipping of 6 state legislatures and 7 governorships affords Democrats the opportunity to un-gerrymander the twisted boundaries of congressional districts drawn by now-ousted Republicans, thereby leveling the playing field in those states where minority rule has been the order of the day in the aftermath of the 2010 census and Operation Redmap. Courts which balked at redrawing blatantly gerrymandered congressional boundaries due to a lack of time before the 2018 midterms, will now have 2 years to do so.  
Despite Beto O’Rourke’s loss in Texas, I’m feeling much relieved about the prospects of rescuing the democratic process and, indeed, the Republic.