As Democrats hold their House leadership elections today, they are met with the stinging reality that they are now a party lost in the wilderness in search of an identity. The losses under President Obama have been brutal. In 2017, Republicans will hold the White House, the House, the Senate, a majority of governor’s seats, and the most state legislatures in history.

In just one election cycle the concept that the Republican Party could not win national elections was turned on its head. President-elect Trump won Rust Belt states that haven’t been in Republican hands since the time of the great Ronald Reagan. According to the Washington Post, of the nearly 700 counties that twice went to President Obama, one-third flipped to support Trump. Additionally, Trump won 194 of the 207 counties that voted for Obama in either 2008 or 2012.