Although how much the recent election had to do with disgust with Trump, and how much it had to do with the revelations of the shutdown, is hard to establish.Was the possibility that Repubs would dig in and refuse to compromise because they don’t care about Dem priorities not considered before this began? If it was, was “calling attention to the issues” (the only thing achieved) worth doing this? Is a shutdown the only way to do that?
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) November 10, 2025
Probably the cruelty of ICE/BP has been a more important factor than the abstraction of SNAP benefits. Food lines showed unpaid workers/bad economy. If they linger after the government reopens, that’s definitely on the GOP. The savagery of Stephen Miller’s goon squads is underrated in the Beltway obsession with who votes how on a motion for cloture that Schumer may, or may not, have been able to control (Senators are institutionally independent; six year terms will do that to you. The House is more institutionally controlled. Two year terms will see to that.). The savagery is still with us, and I’m sure more people are concerned about that, and understand only we, the people, can do something about it. They also understand who’s causing it.
As the last election showed, sometimes a vote against is better than a vote for. Trump has run so wild the normal rules don’t apply. People are voting against the GOP because the GOP is the enemy, not the only alternative. Losing the ACA is not going to make voters turn against Democrats. Especially not when the GOP fought to keep the government closed in order NOT to fund the ACA.
Shutdowns are terrible statecraft. They are the neutron bomb nuclear option: they only hurt people. The GOP has instituted every one since they started, and always relinquished when the pain to people was too great.
Not this time. This time, the pain and the cruelty are the point. People will vote against their own interests as long as they think they aren’t affected. Latino voters thought Trump would deport criminals. They found out Trump considered them criminals. Reopening the government is not going to make them think better of Trump’s deportation policy. Even MAGA is starting to understand Trump and the GOP only care about rich people; and that doesn’t include them. The shutdown actually helped them understand that, because Trump and the GOP said: “Fuck ‘em! We got ours!”
May you live in interesting times.
(And complaining, as Rick Wilson does, that Trump will declare victory? Trump also says inflation is non-existent, grocery prices are lower than ever, and gas is nearing $2 a gallon. And that he’s the most popular president ever, without whom the country would have burned to the ground. So bragging he won would be worse? For whom?)
They always say when people are surveyed about the R agenda they refuse to believe what's actually there. So maybe the shutdown had to happen, to try to make the point loud and clear. The fact Trump is spending someone else's money on his Epstein Ballroom at the same time he's willing to let Americans, members of his base included, go hungry isn't going away.
ReplyDeleteI really expected the GOP to try something to “save” the ACA. The best they came up with was giving people a check rather than paying the “evil insurance companies.” Of course, if you don’t want to do that, Medicare for All is the only solution. But the GOP doesn’t want a solution. They just want tax breaks for the rich. Fuck everybody else. If the shutdown made that plain, I’m fine with ending it.
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