It’s finally over, almost anyway — the most important midterm elections in recent history. Every election is billed as the most crucial ever. But this one really was. If there ever was to be a check on this president guilty of a laundry list of corrupt appointees, direct attacks on democracy, and drift toward authoritarianism, it had to be with these midterm elections.

For the Democratic victory and possible check on this president, we can breathe a sigh of relief. Even with that, however, the elections were a combination of the good, the bad and the ugly.

First, the good. As polls and pundits had predicted, Democrats will take over the U.S. House of Representatives. This is the singularly most important outcome of the election. For the sake of this democracy, it was absolutely essential that at least one branch of congress act as a check on this president who exalts dictators and, given his preferences and Republican acquiescence, would become one. 

It was for good reason that our nation’s founders established three co-equal branches of government. Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. President Trump does not understand or, if he understands, is frustrated that he is president, not king. The founding fathers believed that the Congress, protecting its power, would use that power to prevent the president from a march toward authoritarianism. 

Instead of checking the powers of the president, this last Republican congress acted as Trump’s defender in chief. President Trump now has to deal with powerful Democrats who promise to check his malfeasance. As Republican congressmen had the power and responsibility to check the excesses of the president, it should not have been necessary to elect Democrats to do this. But in view of sheer Republican timidity and capitulation, election of Democrats was absolutely necessary.

It is good that most Democratic senators in states won by Trump in 2016 held their seats, including those in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, Michigan, Montana and our own Tammy Baldwin in Wisconsin.

Good for Democrats was election of some impressive young politicians, including Native American women in New Mexico and Kansas. Even former House Speaker Dennis Hastert’s seat in suburban Chicago fell to an African American woman. Democrats can take heart that their candidates were competitive in previously hardcore Republican states like Georgia and Texas.

In Florida, finally something good. Through a referendum, Floridians have awarded felons who have paid their dues to society the basic right of citizenship — to vote. It makes sense to encourage and assist them to become fully engaged citizens again. 

Democrats gained important governorships in states won by Trump, including Pennsylvania, Michigan, Iowa, and even Kansas. Wisconsin voters finally handed Governor Walker his walking papers, along with his attorney general. It was the first election Walker ever lost. Unfortunately, with help of his gerrymandered Republican legislature, his legacy lives on. Walker tried his best to cripple the University of Wisconsin-Madison, one of the world’s premier universities. His Foxconn scam, awarding billions to a Taiwanese firm with a checkered history, is already unravelling with indications of bringing over Chinese workers instead of hiring locally.

Even if governor-elect Evers can’t accomplish a lot with that obstinate gerrymandered Republican legislature, he is in a key position, along with other Democratic governors, to check further Republican gerrymandering for the decennial redistricting in 2020.

Second, the bad. Predictably, Republicans are crowing about how successful Trump was in increasing the Republican hold on the Senate. It was the absolute worst map in recent history for Democrats as so many Democrats were up for re-election in states that Trump won in 2016. It’s bad that Democrats lost senators in North Dakota, Missouri, Indiana and, as this is written, probably Florida. But they gained seats in Nevada, and Arizona for a net loss of only two. It could have been far worse.

With McConnell and his Republicans still controlling the Senate, it will be difficult for House Democrats to get their legislation to the president’s desk. It’s not that he would sign it anyway. However, there are several topics on which it might be possible for Democrats and Trump to agree, including infrastructure and protection of Social Security and Medicare. Moreover, as the Republicans claimed to be in favor protecting pre-existing conditions, it behooves Democrats to quickly pass such legislation, challenge Senate Republicans to live up to their promises, and get the legislation to President Trump’s desk. 

Third, the ugly. Ever since Nixon’s “southern strategy,” Reagan’s “welfare queens,” and H.W. Bush’s “Willie Horton’s revolving door,” race has been a factor in elections. What’s new with Trump and Republican politicians, particularly in Florida and Georgia, is changing it from “dog whistle” politics to explicit racially charged innuendos. 

A second ugly feature of this election was outright voter suppression exerted by a variety of means. Explicit voter suppression was particularly evident in North Dakota, Kansas and Georgia. Less explicit, though only thinly veiled, methods of suppressing voters more likely to vote Democratic occurred throughout much of the nation. Voting should be made easier, rather than more difficult.

For the election in general, there was something for both Democrats and Republicans to claim victory, and both are doing it. 

With such important Democratic victories, Trump and his Republicans — it’s now totally his party — are free to spin the results as a Trump victory if they so choose. In any case, the Republicans, realizing it or not, are better off because the nation is better off with a Congress that at least has the possibility of checking the malfeasance and excesses of a president who openly admires and emulates ruthless dictators.

Will Democrats live up to promises to produce legislation and hold Trump to account for his malfeasance? They surely ought to be able to walk and chew gum at the same time.

Next week: Avoiding traps set by the media and Republicans.

— John Waelti of Monroe, a retired professor of economics, can be reached at jjwaelti1@tds.net. His column appears Saturdays in the Monroe Times.