When the final results are tabulated, President Trump’s first midterm election will fall short of the “shellacking” endured by Barack Obama, closer to the “thumping” voters handed George W. Bush. But the signs for Trump’s re-election aren’t all bad.

Let’s not sugarcoat it: The Trump-era GOP has a real problem in the suburbs that is unlikely to be resolved as long as he remains titular head of the party. And the Republicans’ failure to compete in Senate races in the Rust Belt — complete with Scott Walker losing his bid for a third gubernatorial term in Wisconsin — does not bode well for Trump repeating in the states where he penetrated the Democrats’ blue wall in 2016.