Over the last two years, a cadre of right-wing bomb throwers and a handful of moderates made it impossible for the tiny paper GOP majority to govern on its own. All of the essential functions were performed by a coalition of Democrats and a group of mainstream Republicans. Notwithstanding the public perception that the election produced a red wave, the composition of the House, when all of the votes are in, will be almost exactly the same as before. With Trump as president and a GOP majority in the Senate, will the dynamics in the House change?
Yes, because the bomb throwers are likely to be in charge. The good news there is that we are unlikely to endure any more crises on the debt limit; they will serve no purpose with Trump in the White House. The bad news is that the vast majority of Republicans will probably support large cuts to the national safety net. The issue then is whether the remaining handful of moderates, most of whom won by very small margins, will swallow these cuts at the risk of losing their seats. We’ll see.