SNL‘s Democratic Midterm Ad Captures the Anxiety of a Nation

In just under three days we’ll have a clearer picture of exactly how fucked our country is. The midterm elections will finally, mercifully wrap up late on Tuesday, and if all goes well our horribly divided country will still be horribly divided. Polls indicate that the Democrats will probably take the House, and still have a very slim shot of taking the Senate; all they need is one to put a crimp in Trump’s plans, assuming they actually have the desire or ability to serve as a legitimate opposition party.

Democrats are used to losing, of course. Hilary supposedly had it in the bag, and when the party held the Presidency and both houses of Congress after Obama’s election we were supposedly entering a new Golden Age of liberalism. Neither really panned out, of course. The Democrats are like Cubs fans before 2016, or, to use a metaphor much nearer and dearer to Paste’s heart, like the fans of literally any sports team based in the state of Georgia: they’re used to snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. They’re professional losers at this point. And even when the Democrats do win the big one—something the Falcons, Braves, Hawks, Bulldogs, Yellow Jackets, etc. almost always fail to do—they still somehow seem weaker for it. Yeah, the media’s weird fixation with bending over backwards for a political party that never acts in good faith (uh, the Republicans) has a lot to do with that, but also the Democrats just keep fucking up. It’s their brand.

SNL’s writers typically aren’t the most astute political analysts, but they totally nailed the pervading mood among the country’s liberals at the moment in the fake campaign ad below. Yeah, there’s reason to be optimistic. There’s also reason for them to absolutely shit their pants with fear over the fact that almost nothing ever goes right for them. At this point two years ago they were ready to send Trump packing back to TV and get cracking on the return of the Clinton family to the highest seat of power, so Democrats know not to ever get excited about anything anymore. That’s the premise SNL is running with, and it’s 100% grounded in reality, which makes this funnier and more painful (and thus even funnier) than most of their political comedy. Check it out below and go vote or something.