Not going to get into the Acosta debate.....because frankly it's not worth the energy!
But on a broader point, this election is going to ensure that - from a legislative standpoint at least - Trump is going to come out of his first term without much of a lasting legacy.
Despite control of the Senate and House, they only passed one significant piece of legislation in the past two years which was his tax bill (which was very company-centric, but not generally viewed as terrible, even by a lot of Democrats. They just fought it because Trump!). They failed to repeal Obamacare (the final significant act of John McCain), they failed to pass immigration reform or funding of the border wall, they failed to deliver very much.
Now they've lost the House, there is zero chance that any significant part of Trump's platform gets passed into law. At best, he might be able to reach across the aisle and do a deal with the Dems on something like an infrastructure bill. But only if they stop fighting eachother for a couple of months.
Trump can - and will - pass further executive orders to amend or add new regulations. But (just as happened in the last six years of Obama's presidency) those are never permanent; they'll just get rescinded the moment that the next Democrat president comes into power.
The biggest lasting effect that Trump is going to have is likely his judicial appointments (which he can continue to make because the Republicans held the Senate) - on all levels, but particularly the Supreme Court. And especially if the notorious RBG can't make it through another two years. Then you will likely see an attack on Roe vs. Wade (the previous SC judgement that guaranteed a woman's right to choose) - although that won't ban abortion outright across the nation, it'll just return control of the decision to the states (at which point the deep south and the flyover states will ban it, the coastal states will not and the polarisation of the US will continue).
As for the Dems - their desperate search for a realistic candidate to defeat Trump will gather force for the next twelve months.
Although he lost to Cruz, I think Beto is still as likely as anyone. He's cool and likeable, and noone seems to care that he's lacking in much substance or has some seriously questionable baggage (because.....Trump!). And getting within ~3% in Texas - even against the completely uncharismatic Ted Cruz - is actually pretty impressive for a Democrat.