There is a natural ebb and flow to life, and that extends even to politics. For the last 40 years, Republicans have tried mightily to cast their victories in amber and seal them against any outside influence. They have tried to peg the political mood of the people permanently in their favor. They have grown increasingly intransigent over the years, unwilling to perform even the most basic tasks of governance if any credit at all would inure to the benefit of the Democrats. Politics is give and take, and Republicans have been steadily taking more and more.
They still have resources at their disposal, but their grip is slipping. The most popular issues all skew heavily Democratic. People really want health care, for instance. Health care that doesn't go away when you need it most. Health care that isn't tied solely to whether your employer provides health insurance. Republicans have chosen the unpopular side of that issue, because any benefit would obviously reflect well on the Democrats who passed the ACA in the first place without a single Republican vote.
Republican absolutism on reasonable firearm regulation is another issue that is turning against them. Turns out people don't really want to be packing 24-7 ready to blaze away at any given moment. The NRA is no longer the invincible political force it once was, and they're outspending their resources. Candidates aren't afraid to cross them anymore, and some of them are getting elected over NRA opposition.
In the next two years, the House should pass bills that heighten the differences between Democrats and Republicans. Yes, the bills will get shot down in the Senate, but establish a practice consistent with the party platform, and demonstrate to voters that you're on the winning (popular) side of issues. Force the Republicans to oppose popular solutions and waste time explaining why fewer mass shootings or insurance coverage for pre-existing conditions are bad things. As bad as the Senate map was for Democrats in 2018, it's every bit as bad for Republicans in 2020. New Democratic majorities in state governments can draw fairer district maps for 2020, and we could see another blue wave that will be far more effective without the systemic obstacles and firewalls the Republicans have been putting in place for the last four decades.
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