Next two slides give a sense of what Rs essentially precluded by clinching at least 50 seats. That marginal seat is wildly important to Dems' range of legislative motion.
First, by the numbers. GOP won more raw votes in both races, albeit narrowly. Perdue in particular ran 2pts ahead of DJT, and in 48 other states, he'd be locked in for another term. Otoh, Biden is on the verge a fairly stunning victory among the same voters.
Second, synergy, for lack of a less consultant-y term. This is a 2-for-1 special where both tickets stand to be complimentary. Perdue surely helps the post-primary reconciliation effort for Rs, and the Ossoff-Warnock buddy comedy is an intriguing combo for Ds, at least on paper.
Trump carried 226 CDs in 2016. The (once-clear) path to the majority was predicated on consolidating the 29 of them Dems hold in nominal Trump country. Dems are now favored in 228.
Again, McConnell is not the issue. The fact that he introduced a $1T bill months ago that failed to launch because the President didn't lean in should have been a hint.
All else aside, and suspending disbelief for a moment--the first minute. That guy, with that tone, dedicated to that message, could climb back in this race before it spirals out of control.
You can get mad about it or you can heed the caveats--even the glimmer of humanity and humility in the early going is eclipsed by the rambling tangent that follows; we know there's no other Trump besides the one we know; and the wheels are going wobbly either way.
I've been talking/thinking through how this could offer any upside or silver lining, and it always comes back to yes, but it would require a normal human in a Trump suit. Which is why these sorts of moments are disarming. Goes back to something I raised on the debate preview pod.