North Carolina is just a preview of the USA in 2020 or 2024. Republicans, and definitely the R POTUS, will wield every ounce of executive and legislative power to effectuate their agendas (the fact that they spent 6 years whining about Obama governing by Presidential EO aside) and then, the moment that they are in danger of losing that power, they will dump all of it with legislative changes in the lame duck to make the incoming D POTUS as impotent as possible. Bing bang boom, the R legislature(s) go back to being super obstructionist (proof of concept was 2010-2016) and blame government ineffectiveness on the D POTUS, ensuring at the very least an R wave election in the legislature and likely an R POTUS after a D term.
Meanwhile, they get to make hay with their agenda (without obstinate obstructionism from D legislators who will want to try to make government work) including hundreds of lifetime federal judge appointments (coming 2017 despite 6 years without confirming the D POTUS selections in the name of "judicial efficiency and judicial waste") and (probably) numerous SCOTUS appointments, all of which will solidify the R legislative and executive actions into the law of the land, including roll back of civil rights, voting rights and reproductive freedom. Even better, on the off chance D legislators ever get a majority and try to take progressive steps forward, the hundreds of lifetime appointments and conservative control of SCOTUS will ensure they fail while the R train rolls on.
Rinse and repeat.
Just fucking LOL at the Dems or anyone thinking there's ever a realistic chance of recovery for progressive politics.