If things hold as predicted, the United States Senate is split at 50-50, meaning Democrats control it because they control the White House and Vice President Kamala Harris will break any party-line ties.

Rather than focus on the blame game here, though, conservatives have to figure out two things right now if they want to retake either the House or the Senate in 2022.

The first thing conservatives need to figure out is whether or not pro-Trump and Trump-skeptical conservatives can exist going forward. Let’s assume Trump isn’t running again in 2024. If that’s the case, where do his voters go? The Georgia results appear to indicate that if he’s not on the ballot, they don’t go out and vote. Can they work with people who were not down with Trump?

Likewise, can Trump-skeptical or Trump-hating conservatives exist in the same coalition as Trump supporters? Both sides have become so angry with each other that there doesn’t seem to be a clear path toward unity at this time. Maybe if Trump fades from the scene a bit, there will be some healing, but it’s impossible to tell right now. Mature adults would get over it, realize one man is not representative of a whole ideology, and move on. But I am not entirely sure I’ve seen anything resembling maturity from either side in this.

The other thing conservatives need to figure out is the roadmap to 2020. I’ve mentioned it before, but it bears repeating: After Barack Obama, the Democrats had no bench whatsoever. Republicans are a bit better off than that right now, but in order to make sure they avoid a 2010s-Democrats-level wipeout, they need to start building up their reserves.

Local and state races are key. New and fresh faces have got to be trained. There has to be a return to normalcy in terms of rhetoric and principle. It’s not enough to just be a conservative, to say that you want to beat the Democrats, or to say you supported Donald Trump when your opponents wouldn’t. You need to articulate actual principles now. The Democrats and their principles are clear. Republicans have been focused so much on Donald Trump that they have lost their way when it comes to the things that they are supposed to believe in, like limited government size and spending.

We have heard stories for years about George Soros, corrupt election officials, and all sorts of issues with Democrats trying to usurp the country at these lower levels. But all we have done about them is complain. It’s easier to complain rather than go out and actively fight it. We should be doing more to recruit and elect better people. You can beat election fraud by working harder to get people out.

The 2020 election turnout was the highest it’s been in over 120 years… at 66.7 percent. That means one-third of the country still didn’t go vote. How much different would the results be if we got 75 or 80 percent turnout?

Conservatives have to figure out where they are going from here. I know what I’m doing. I see local school board elections not too far off and plenty of problems that need to be addressed. I see a local government led by a weak, ineffective robot. I want both of those bodies to be changed, so I am going to fight to do so. Does that mean I have to work alongside people who treated these last four years differently than I did? Yes, but I am willing to do that because ideology is more important than any one politician.

What are you going to do to right the ship here?