For Democrats, the cost of bringing down Trump was steep

I've never seen "Avengers: Infinity War." But I'm familiar with the meme developed from the movie.

In it, the antagonist Thanos destroys half the universe. He is transported to a spirit world where he is asked by a daughter-figure if his deed is done.

Their exchange goes:

"What did it cost?"

Thanos responds: "Everything."

In its hunger to remove President Donald Trump, in its insistence that the Republican Party was broadly racist and misogynistic, and in its tacit acceptance of "socialism" and a "defund the police" credo, the Democrats' 2020 campaign may have cost the party nearly everything else for a long time to come.

On a postmortem call with the Democratic House Caucus, Rep. Abigail Spanberger from Virginia said: "We lost races we shouldn't have lost. … 'Defund police' almost cost me my race because of an attack ad. … Don't say socialism ever again."

Former Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang echoed this sentiment on CNN: "You have to ask yourself, what has the Democratic Party been standing for in [Trump voters'] minds? And in their minds the Democratic Party unfortunately has taken on this role of the coastal urban elites who are more concerned about policing various cultural issues than improving their way of life that has been declining for years."

Here in Minnesota, Rep. Collin Peterson probably lost for similar reasons: Republicans successfully tied him to a caucus that's moved further and further away from a worker's agenda. He was soundly defeated.

If every legal ballot is counted and Joe Biden's win is verified after recounts and appropriate court challenges (which are perfectly reasonable), he will become the first new president in 32 years to take power without his party holding a majority in both chambers of Congress. If Democrats hold their majority in the House, it will be one of the smallest ever. It is very likely that Republicans will hold their Senate majority after runoffs in January.

Democrats didn't flip a single state Legislature, while Republicans flipped several, and some governorships. Republicans picked up congressional seats in California. Democrats flipped none in Texas.

According to New York Times exit polls:

I could go on. Almost all of those numbers are at or near all-time highs for a Republican. Trump helped build a broader coalition we have long merely talked about wanting. Hispanic voters helped deliver Texas and Florida for Trump, support he won without pandering but because, despite all his flaws, these people felt like he was telling them the truth. It's a lesson for all Republicans — as some even now sprint away from the president.

Minnesota obviously is an insulated case (though Republicans did flip a congressional seat) and we have much to evaluate here. But in pursuing and parroting issues that matter to a small segment of the voting population, Democrats may have sacrificed the next two or three cycles in their crusade to remove Trump.

Most noteworthy, if a significant amount of fraud is uncovered through legal proceedings, Trump's message may become a martyr's message for this newly built coalition — a coalition that formed in response to "defund the police" and an endorsement of socialism.

For progressive-minded people who thought their ideas may have a seat at the table in the next decade of American policy, they get Joe Biden. Not much else. A president who promised to appoint Republicans to his cabinet, a likely Republican-majority Senate, a razor-thin House majority shell shocked by surprise losses and a Supreme Court loaded with Trump's picks. In the long-term, Democrats have gigantic issues nationwide and their coalitions are fragmenting.

If the results stand and Trump is indeed the loser of the 2020 election, advocates for the progressive agenda are left with the Avengers exchange:

"Everything."