Nancy Pelosi appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert Tuesday and her message was “We will win.” She was talking about Democrats taking back the House but there wasn’t any talk about the Senate except in passing.

“Up until today, I would’ve said, ‘If the election were held today we would win,'” Pelosi said. She continued, “What, now, I’m saying is ‘We will win.'”

Colbert joked that Pelosi by saying it flatly might jinx the outcome.

“We will win. We own the ground. We’re not yielding one grain of sand,” Pelosi said.

“And how long are the curtains that you’re measuring right now?” Colbert asked.

“No, we’re not measuring, we’re just walking precincts and if everyone votes we’ll have even a bigger victory,” Pelosi said. She added, “Democrats will carry the House, if we have a bigger victory the Senate, governorships, it’s going to be a great night for America.”

As the crowd cheered, Colbert crossed himself and said, “I feel like I should sacrifice a goat or something to take the hex off from what you just said.”

Democrats have a decent shot to take back the House but almost no shot of taking the Senate at this point. But I guess for Pelosi the real victory would be a chance to take her giant gavel back before she retires. Then she could announce her retirement not as the person who lost the House for Dems but the person who took it back.

Asked about toning down the rhetoric, Pelosi promised that would happen if Democrats win next week. That seems unlikely given that Democrats have already suggested they want to relitigate the Kavanaugh confirmation, go after Trump’s tax returns, and, if you believe Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, investigate a whole lot of other hot topics which are unlikely to lower the temperature in Washington:

🕵🏽‍♀️📖 Get ready to investigate the GOP’s:
– Federal response to Puerto Rico
– Human rights violations under ICE
– Environmental Protection Agency firings
– Travel Ban & Family Separation
– Election security & lack thereof
– Corruption, corruption, corruption https://t.co/hjUFBnP8ms

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) August 27, 2018

Pelosi has been publicly pushing back against those in her party crusading for impeachment on the grounds that it’s too fringe at this point and could create a harmful backlash. Her argument has been aided by the fact that she’s essentially powerless at the moment to do much more than she’s doing. So she can call for even tempers on the grounds that it’s the best way for Democrats to return to power.

But if they win back the House, Pelosi is going to have a hell of time convincing those same members to sit quietly on the back bench. The far-left base will turn all its attention on using that fresh foothold to punish Trump by any means necessary. It’s going to be a madhouse and Pelosi is not going to be able to tone it down, even if she wanted to.