If our Senators have no will to end the filibuster, we’re truly fucked even *if* we take it back. The kind of deep, structural reforms this country will need after four more years of Trump will require even more pushback and political courage than a shutdown, and we can’t even do *that!*
E_Cayce on
Yes, the shutdown was all about politics.
But the justification for it was ACA subsidies. GOP caved for 1 year extension.
What’s the justification to keep the shutdown? If you think common voters care about the political win you are less in touch than Democrats.
It’s the GOP who caved in. It’s insane that people are helping the GOP to switch the narrative into making it a Dem loss.
Yes. Chuck should have gotten consensus. It’s a loss for him. A surmountable one.
hibikir_40k on
It’s true that the shutdown was hurting Trump, but it would also have helped him if they actually negotiated the ACA subsidies back in. What helps democats in 2026? The worst possible economy and the most possible suffering on the streets by voters, especially those that aren’t paying attention to politics. That’s how Obama got his majority. So Democrats didn’t really want to win either.
That’s the problem of the strategy of this shutdown. They’d need to ask for something that is a significant win politically, but doesn’t actually make the country that much better… but not something quite so minor as to make it look that their demands are petty. Not an easy find.
So all in all, I read all of this as “we wanted to look like fighters until the election, and we want the world to burn right now, in ways that can in no way be blamed on us”. And that’s exactly what reopening does. Is it worth it to look like the leadership is softer than a wet noodle? I don’t necessarily think so, but that’s the real price that is being paid here. I don’t know who is the good cop and who is the bad cop in senate leadership, but whoever isn’t Schumer needs to appear to be the one taking the lead come 2026.
3 Comments
If our Senators have no will to end the filibuster, we’re truly fucked even *if* we take it back. The kind of deep, structural reforms this country will need after four more years of Trump will require even more pushback and political courage than a shutdown, and we can’t even do *that!*
Yes, the shutdown was all about politics.
But the justification for it was ACA subsidies. GOP caved for 1 year extension.
What’s the justification to keep the shutdown? If you think common voters care about the political win you are less in touch than Democrats.
It’s the GOP who caved in. It’s insane that people are helping the GOP to switch the narrative into making it a Dem loss.
Yes. Chuck should have gotten consensus. It’s a loss for him. A surmountable one.
It’s true that the shutdown was hurting Trump, but it would also have helped him if they actually negotiated the ACA subsidies back in. What helps democats in 2026? The worst possible economy and the most possible suffering on the streets by voters, especially those that aren’t paying attention to politics. That’s how Obama got his majority. So Democrats didn’t really want to win either.
That’s the problem of the strategy of this shutdown. They’d need to ask for something that is a significant win politically, but doesn’t actually make the country that much better… but not something quite so minor as to make it look that their demands are petty. Not an easy find.
So all in all, I read all of this as “we wanted to look like fighters until the election, and we want the world to burn right now, in ways that can in no way be blamed on us”. And that’s exactly what reopening does. Is it worth it to look like the leadership is softer than a wet noodle? I don’t necessarily think so, but that’s the real price that is being paid here. I don’t know who is the good cop and who is the bad cop in senate leadership, but whoever isn’t Schumer needs to appear to be the one taking the lead come 2026.