The government is scheduled to “shut down” Friday night, and Democrats didn't have a single good option. They chose to surrender, but here is how it unfolded.
Option A was to shut down President Donald Trump's government. This would have been a temporary best for activist resistance types before the reality of what it was a hit. Option B was to join Republicans and claim to be a huge room adult to the rage of the Democratic base. Option C was to talk about the big game, take part in the theatrical protest vote, then quietly release more endangered members and carry spending bills to the finish line while party leaders denounce the evil.
“We are seeing more candidates as Democrats pass the grief phase.”
You'll notice that none of these options ended with a Democrat victory (although some taste better).
Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer (DN.Y.) knew all of this and didn't like it. He knew that shutting down the government would give a much needed boost to the morale of Democratic activist bases, but he had to calculate the costs. This was not intended to unfold like a closure under President Barack Obama, who maximized the pain of the American people, encouraging Republicans as “terrorists” and “arsonists” in the bully pulpit.
He knew Republicans control the White House, and even management and budget director Russell Vought would have had a lead in what the closure would look like. Combining the authenticity of cutting off Vought's government with the broader government cut agenda of the Trump White House and government efficiency, the outcome was not a victory for Democrats.
Plus, he knows Democrats and Republicans are seeing government closures through very different lenses. “We've never taken a position that closures are the sum of all the horrors,” a longtime House Republican staffer and past closure combat veteran told The Beltway Brief.
“In the worst case, it's something we can avoid as a distraction from what we really want to do,” the staff said. “But that's it. But if you're a liberal, shutdown is a nightmare because the machines you use for power aren't on. Our base couldn't care much. Our base couldn't care anymore.”
Schumer was not there all day to make a decision. Things have been turned around in rare cases, and the House of Representatives ahead of the Senate, passed a clean resolution Tuesday night, funding the government and quickly left town. On Thursday night, the Senate held hot potatoes, no one could pass it on.
Also, Senate majority leader John Tune (Rs.D.) chose not to give Democrats a breathing chamber. He may have moved faster considering the midnight deadline on Friday, or he may have voted by Thursday, but he knows the pressure to force offensive votes is key.
“We've seen more candidates,” one Senate Republican Senate speaker told Beltway Brief on Thursday afternoon.
Schumer knew that the shutdown would not be in his part. So what about Option C? What does theater resistance look like? It looked like what we were beginning to see before the surrender on Thursday night.
It started with a powerful show of power. Schumer came out Wednesday and said Republicans didn't have the votes — and Democrats wouldn't offer them.
Next: Schumer proposes another pass, like a month's CR showing that he fought, although there were no successful shots. “Our caucus is unified with a clean CR on April 11th,” Schumer said Wednesday night.
Meanwhile, red and purple National Democrats like Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania were beginning to peel off, and Schumer knew that, so he might have given vulnerable members the opportunity to vote “yes” on the sticky note (with a 60-vote threshold) proposed the changes proposed by Democrats. support.
Conservatives are aware of these operations. Republican leaders often set in a dominant opposition fight with the Democrats, but they only claim that they did their best. Schumer was not used to this dynamic. He couldn't forge it. He told his base to kick the rock and played Possum (the victory for the Democrat James Kerrville side). Now the activist asks, “If not now, when?”
This week's fight ended before it really began. This was realistic and politically intelligent, but where do we go from here? When will Democrats choose to fight the White House that their voters demand, and when do they have the power and ability to win?
The radical is ready to raise the banner and dash towards the rampart. How long does a party chuck schumer keep that spirit at bay?
Flame News: Democrats in damage control mode as Schumer's shutdown approaches
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