5 Ways Liberals Are Consoling Themselves After Devastating Midterms

When you suffer a defeat, sometimes the only thing you can do is crawl into your dark place and stay there until you’re ready to come back out and get on with your life.

Understandably, many Democrats seem to be going through that process after Tuesday’s midterm elections resulted in massive gains for Congressional Republicans.

The GOP retained power over the House, took control of the Senate and further diminished President Obama‘s relevancy. That’s a lot to take in.

Here are five ways Democrats are consoling themselves:

1. Denying the election’s impact, as CNN’s Sally Kohn and MSNBC’s Joy Reid have done:

This election is not a shellacking. It’s a speed bump. The long arc of history bends toward an increasingly progressive electorate.

— Sally Kohn (@sallykohn) November 5, 2014

Whatever happens tonight I think it’s fair to say that this is no “wave election.” — Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) November 5, 2014

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2. Changing the subject, as New York Times editorial writer Jesse Wegman tried to do:

I can report that the mainstreaming of “Democrat” as an adjective is now complete. Well done, Republics.

— Jesse Wegman (@jessewegman) November 5, 2014

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3. Hating the game instead of the players, a la Democratic National Committee Vice Chairwoman Donna Brazile:

So, gloat as much as needed, but the same GOP establishment that bought this election, will buy 2016 without Rand Paul as the nominee. — Donna Brazile (@donnabrazile) November 5, 2014

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4. Searching for alternate sources of blame in a Ouija board-like fashion, as MSNBC’s Krystal Ball and Joy Reid did:

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5. And on a somewhat more optimistic note, hoping the future is better than the present, like MSNBC’s Chris Matthews, Salon’s Joan Walsh, and the Rev. Al Sharpton:

Allison Lundergan Grimes will be back.. (And she’ll admit to voting for Hillary Clinton when the time comes!)

— Chris Matthews (@hardball_chris) November 5, 2014

Joan Walsh: “Time and demography are still on the Democrats’ side, but this election showed the difficulty of holding together the Obama coalition without Barack Obama.”

Still live on MSNBC, it’s a big night for Republicans. Let’s not be in denial, the road just got tougher but not hopeless. We will prevail. — Reverend Al Sharpton (@TheRevAl) November 5, 2014

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[Featured image via Instagram @real_sharpton]

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This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.