When Democrats clawed their way back to a House majority on Tuesday night, conservatives across the country felt the sting. Sometimes, even in the wake of a terrible election, you have to find ways to polish the turd, and I'm going to do my best to do that now.
Let's be honest here: the outcome sucked.
Winning back the seats we never should have lost will take a painfully long time. Still, much of what happened Tuesday reflects how American politics has always worked. Greg Gutfeld put the results in context on Wednesday's episode of The Five.
"This happens," Gutfeld said. "Voters punish the incumbent party every midterm like clockwork. Clinton in 94, Obama 2010, Trump 2018. It's the most reliable pattern in American politics, second only to the combover."
He also explained why the party in power almost always takes the hit. "It is easier to sell a story when you are out of power than when you are in power," he added. "Those in power play defense while they're doing stuff. Those out of power have nothing to do but create the story for the next election."
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The reality is that Democrats won by running against the clock, with no real plan. They offered voters zero ideas for solving the country's problems. In fact, the biggest problem facing Americans right now, affordability, is a mess of their own making. The high prices squeezing families today took hold under Joe Biden, when inflation spiraled out of control and hit a 40-year high, while it has cooled under President Trump.
So what exactly is the Democrat Party's fix for the cost of living?
It doesn't have one, and voters will figure that out soon enough. Why? Because if Democrats knew how to tame inflation and bring down prices, they would have done it during Biden's presidency. The moment they have to govern instead of complain, they quickly reveal themselves as the party of slogans, not solutions.
But here’s the real silver lining.
I suspect this outcome will help the GOP in 2028. Democrats will treat their new majority as a mandate to double down on woke ideology and impeachment, and Gutfeld sees the same thing coming.
"You're gonna expect investigations, impeachment theater. They're gonna say they're not gonna do it," Gutfeld said. "You're gonna have a progressive pipe dream wish list untethered to reality like you've never seen. They will immediately alienate the country."
History backs him up. "Reagan's party got crushed in '82, came back to win 49 states in '84," he noted. "It's because when America gets a taste of the weirdness, they return to the fold."
🚨 NEW: Fox’s Greg Gutfeld just made a BIG prediction about the future of the Dems following the midterms: “Democrats will over-reach. It’s going to be hilarious. Expect investigations, impeachment theater. They will have a progressive pipe dream wish list untethered to reality like you’ve never seen.” “They will alienate the country and people like Harold Ford Jr will be rendered irrelevant. The left will govern until the party dies. The Dems have lost the house the last three out of four cycles they’ve held it. And when America gets a taste of the weirdness, they return to the fold. Two years is a blink,” adds @greggutfeld
— TV News Now (@TVNewsNow) November 4, 2026
Make no mistake about it, this sentiment extends well beyond conservative commentators. On Tuesday, before a single result came in, ESPN's Stephen A. Smith, hardly a MAGA loyalist, laid out the trap waiting for Democrats on his podcast, Straight Shooter with Stephen A.
"The flip side to it, however, is I am also mindful that if they do win the House, ladies and gentlemen, do you know this might be exactly what cost them the presidency in two years?" Smith said on Straight Shooter with Stephen A. "Culture wars, cancel culture, woke ideology, and all of these other things that have served to create and foment chaos in our country years ago becomes revisited because you back in power."
Then he turned to the impeachment talk already bubbling up on the left. "I think it'd be the stupidest thing that the Democrats could possibly do," Smith warned. "It's more of the same. It will remind the American people of exactly why they went in a different direction in 2024 to begin with."
Winning back the House could be the very thing that COSTS you the White House in 2028! And TRUST ME, there's a reason I'm saying that! I've got a message for BOTH parties, and some folks aren't going to like it! Watch my full episode on YouTube about the 2026 Midterm Elections. https://t.co/LbEipbDRYz
— Stephen A Smith (@stephenasmith) November 4, 2026
He's right, and Democrats will charge ahead anyway because they can't help themselves.
Losing hurts, but it also clarifies. A party that wins on grievance alone has to show its hand eventually, and this one has nothing in it except the same radical agenda voters already rejected.
