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Democrats in Congress see potential shutdown as leverage to counter Trump
(www.theguardian.com)
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this post was submitted on 15 Feb 2025
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This is a lose/lose for Democrats. If they cooperate, it's awful messaging to their base. If they create a shutdown, now all the pain being felt is THEIR FAULT. Not to mention, it just plays into the "We didn't need these Federal workers" talking point.
They should have acted earlier. No planning, just reacting. Terrible, no skills politics.
The GOP has control over all branches of government. I don't see why the Democrats have to clean up ANY of their shit. They aren't creating a shutdown. That's GOP framing.
We are discussing the post, which is about Democrat support or not of a government shutdown. You don't have to participate in that discussion, but THAT'S THE DISCUSSION.
Yes, your conclusion that this is a "lose/lose" for the Democrats is incorrect. I explained why in my comment. If you dont want to defend that position that's fine. You're under no obligation to respond to me or support what you say, but I'm clearly participating in the same discussion.
The Democrats are a minority in both chambers of Congress. The Republicans should be able to pass a simple spending plan on a party line vote, and if they can't then their dysfunction is not and should never be treated as the Democrats' fault
But you can't fool yourself into thinking that Trump, Musk, et. al., won't push that messaging from the bully pulpit, and the press won't AT LEAST half-cooperate.
It doesn't matter at all what SHOULD BE, or what IS NOT. The message is all that matters.
This rhetoric will, however, only work on their base. No centrist or leftist will swallow that.
There's a win if the Democrats really want one. Shutting down the government stops Doge, and cuts more than musk could ever dream of. They can frame it as Republicans trying to spend money and Democrats being about responsibility. Make it about a failure of Trump's leadership.
It's a tough line to walk, because a prolonged shutdown would possibly backfire, but it's probably worth the risk. Shutdowns do tend to hurt the party in power more than the opposition.
This is a way to slam the brakes on Trump and be an opposition party if they have the spine for it.
Genuinely, why do you think shutting down the government would stop doge??? You know they can just walk in and turn on computers themselves... And they'll just pay anyone who needs to put in a password claiming they're essential...
It puts them in the tough spot of declaring Doge essential. That gives a huge opening for the Democrats to attack, when 80% of the government is shut down, that there is meaningful fraud in what Trump kept open. It's also going to be hard to get someone to come in to unlock things when they aren't getting paid. Even essential employees don't get paid in a shutdown, they get back pay after like everyone else when Congress approves it.
They don't care man. They don't.