Would the Democrats be better off losing the presidency in 2020 and winning the Senate? If you think that the economy is headed for a crash, then Democrats would prosper from having Donald Trump in office to shoulder the blame. In holding both houses of Congress, they could successfully stymie Trump and head towards impeachment. Winning the presidency but losing the Senate, by contrast, might well be an exercise in futility. None of the grandiose legislation that most of the Democratic candidates for the presidency, apart from former VP Joe Biden, are proposing would be snuffed out.

But a trifecta would be even better, putting the Democrats in the same position that the GOP enjoyed for the first two years of the Trump presidency. The cluster of candidates running for president is increasingly viewed as a millstone around the neck of the party, compromising its chances to regain the Senate in 2020. This is why there is mounting speculation in the media that a number of Democratic candidates for the presidency, including John Hickenlooper, Beto O’Rourke and Steve Bullock, will say hasta la vista to Iowa and return back to their home states.