How confident are the Democrats heading into the November midterm elections? If one of their most frequently mentioned 2020 presidential hopefuls is any indicator, not so much. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) turned up on the Rachel Maddow show on MSNBC this week and confessed that she lives every day “in terror” of her party managing to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, leaving both chambers of Congress in the hands of the GOP. That would lead to some unspecified disaster for the nation, apparently. (Washington Times)

Sen. Elizabeth Warren says her life has become a round-the-clock nightmare due to the prospect of Democrats botching the midterm elections. A conversation with MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow revealed the perpetual “terror” the Massachusetts lawmaker experiences as voters prepare to go to the polls in November. Mrs. Warren admitted her fears Thursday evening when confronted with a scenario in which Democrats fail to capture control of either chamber of Congress. “I really, really want us to do [succeed]. I’m going to work really, really hard to make that happen,” she said. “I run every day filled with terror that it won’t because if Donald Trump remains in control of the House and the Senate — and the Republicans won’t stop him — I don’t know what happens in the next two years.”

Don’t take my word for it. Here’s the very brief video of the Senator describing her deepest, darkest fears herself.

Warren actually has plenty to worry about. This set of midterms was always going to be a guessing game for the most part due to the inherent conflicts between history and math. Past presidencies predict that the party in power always loses ground – usually in considerable amounts – during the new president’s first midterm elections. Based on that history, the Democrats should be set to regain control of one, if not both chambers.

But the math in the Senate lined up against the Democrats in almost the worst way possible. The Democrats are defending 24 seats, plus two independents who caucus with them. Ten of those seats are in states that Donald Trump carried in 2016. By contrast, the GOP is defending nine seats and only one of them is in a state carried by Hillary Clinton. The Democrats need to hold every one of theirs and flip two more to take the Senate. Easier said than done.

The House is something of a crap shoot as always, but gerrymandering has made it progressively harder to generate a really huge shift. The Democrats got a major boost out of the redistricting decision in Pennsylvania but didn’t fare as well as expected in the California primaries.

The one question I’d like to see someone ask the terror-filled Senator Warren is precisely what it is she fears if her party remains in the minority. Aside from not being able to generate endless investigations of Republicans or launch a doomed impeachment bid against the President, it’s not as if the Democrats are going to be able to pass any major new laws. There’s no circumstance on the horizon where they wind up with a veto-proof majority.

And what is she afraid the GOP might do with two more years? Pass more tax cuts? Enforce immigration law? Drive unemployment even further down? Oh, the horror. I can see why you’re terrified, madam. Have you considered taking up martini drinking to steady your nerves? I’ve heard good things about it.