MicroWaveOct 24

The GOP expected Democrats to relent on the shutdown by now. That isn't happening.

https://lemmy.world/post/37791296

The GOP expected Democrats to relent on the shutdown by now. That isn't happening. - Lemmy.World

Democrats have only hardened their position as the government shutdown enters its 23rd day, leaving Republican majorities in Congress with few answers — and many criticisms. For the 12th time, Senate Democrats blocked the Republican Party’s government funding legislation this week without a single senator switching his or her vote. Just three Democratic caucus members voted for the bill: John Fetterman, D-Pa.; Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev.; and Angus King, I-Maine. That means Republicans are still five votes short of the 60-vote threshold to ensure passage of the bill, just as they have been since before the government shut down 23 days ago. Democratic voters had pressured their party to take a more confrontational posture toward Trump in the shutdown battle. The new stance may be paying off with the party’s base.

Show threadsleepundertheleavesOct 24

I’ve been rolling my eyes for weeks at how the Democrats think they’re doing anything but virtue signaling.

Everything President Trump wants, he’s getting funded despite the shutdown. ICE, the military, “renovations” to the White House, indictments of his political enemies, FBI investigations of “antifa”, everything.

Everything that’s being cut by the shutdown is what President Trump wants to cut anyway. Everybody he’s fired during the shutdown is someone he intended to fire eventually. SNAP benefits, WIC, Medicaid and Medicare? He was eliminating all those anyway. The government shut down just lets him do it faster.

Right now Trump and his followers hold all the cards. If the shutdown continues, they win. If the shutdown ends, they win. The Democrats aren’t hurting anyone by themselves but continuing the shutdown, and the only thing they’re accomplishing is making themselves look worse once they inevitably cave.

The Democrats are such an embarrassment. They created Trump, they funded Trump, they gave Trump $2 billion dollars worth of free publicity in 2016, they made Trump the face of the Republican Party, they spent the last four years making him not just the leader of the opposition but a victim of political persecution by letting Biden’s FBI go after him for anything and everything they could. And now, when the leopard is eating their face, they think giving the leopard exactly what it wants will give them some kind of leverage?

I’m so tired of this.

Show threadblakemiller
What do you think is the right course of action? How could the Democrats turn the shutdown into a win?
Oct 24 at 11:45pmWeb
Show threadsleepundertheleavesOct 25

They can’t. They can only lose less badly.

Here’s what I think, for what my thoughts are worth.

The only path to victory for the Democrats begins with taking the House in a landslide in 2026.

(And you can say elections aren’t going to matter in 2026, but if that was so, why is Trump demanding Republican states gerrymander for him?)

The 2026 election will be a referendum on Trump’s actions in 2025 and 2026. That’s the strength, and the weakness, of Trump’s unilateral actions - he owns the consequences of his tariffs and benefit cuts and regime change policies and general economic illiteracy.

Except that now Trump can say the Democrats shut down the government and it’s their fault children are going hungry and seniors aren’t getting medical care and hundreds of thousands of federal employees are laid off and people in disaster zones aren’t getting FEMA money band so on and so forth. The things being cut in the shutdown are all things Trump wants to cut anyway - but by blaming the cuts on the shutdown he dodges responsibility for their consequences.

So the Democrats need to end the shutdown, while looking as strong as possible (which isn’t very strong), and refocus their efforts on mitigating the harm Trump’s doing to people, fighting at the state level to fund state programs, using the obvious failures of Trump’s policies to get Democrats elected at every level of local and state government, and preparing to win the referendum on Trump’s policies that’s coming in fall 2026.

(Which shouldn’t be hard, because Trump’s policies are hot garbage, but I’ve learned not to underestimate Democrats’ abilities to fail. Your big populist hope has a fucking Nazi tattoo and posted racist shit on Reddit? Fucking really? 350 million people in the United States and you had to give us a Democratic version of Pete Hegseth?)

The Democrats have drawn a line in the sand around health care. Which, I get, and also is a guaranteed loss for them. Either they take the Republican deal, end the shutdown in exchange for later negotiations on health care, and then Trump refuses to allow those negotiations, and Democrats look weak and stupid. Or the Republicans give in, negotiate with them on health care first, and then Trump line item vetoes and defunds whatever those negotiations come up with, and Democrats look weak and stupid.

It’s a Lucy with football moment. Making the end of the shutdown dependent on negotiations was fucking stupid,because the Republicans will break any deal they negotiate. The Democrats should have fucking known it before trapping themselves in a situation that depends on Republicans negotiating in good faith.

So the Democrats need a strategy to get out of the shutdown without looking weak, and without the Republicans turning around and voting for the shutdown, because Trump recognizes he can extract more concessions from Democrats, because they need an end to the shutdown more than he does. And that’s where I run out of ideas and can only say good fucking luck.

Show threadblakemillerOct 25
I think it’s pretty common for Dems to fall victim to their own principles in moments where good strategy still exists. There’s nothing that says the GOP can’t change the rules to pass their funding bill with 51 votes. That’s the story Dems should be telling nonstop. This isn’t a Dem shutdown, the GOP possesses all the tools the need to get their agenda done — simply tell that story and let the GOP own it and Dems walk away winners.
Show threadMiddleAgesModemOct 25

Extended shut downs usually go against the ruling party.

They should hold the line and only compromise if they get real, serious concessions from the other side.