For starters, they still wouldn’t be able to get much done in the way of legislation. Even if Democrats were to ride a huge wave in November and win back both chambers, they’d face the same problem Republicans have now: majorities so slim as to be unmanageable. Even with iron discipline and complete unity, any Democratic legislation would be blocked by Republican Leader Mitch McConnell in the Senate, who would suddenly rediscover his previous love affair with the filibuster. If that didn’t work, President Trump would be waiting in the wings with his veto pen. At best, a takeover of the Senate would allow Democrats to stall Trump’s march toward packing the federal judiciary with conservative judges.

By winning back the House, however, Democrats would take control of committees. This sounds good until you realize that the new Judiciary Committee chair would be under immediate pressure from the party’s liberal base to begin impeachment proceedings against Trump. Democratic leaders Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi would have great difficulty stemming this tide, because this is exactly what the vast majority of the base of their party wants: 76 percent of Democrats want their lawmakers to “begin the impeachment process against President Trump” if they win back control of the House of Representatives, according to a Quinnipiac University poll taken last month.