Vote to shut it down, NOW

"Shut it down Chuck"!!

The Schumer Shutdown. The Democrat Shutdown. The Sore Loser Liberal Shutdown. The AOC Shutdown. The Make America Weak Shutdown.

There are an infinite number of names Trump, MAGA, and MAGA media will dub this. And it will stick.

And the Democrats aren't going to get a "win" on this.

And you’re trapped in amber, like a bug on Trump’s too-ample ankle.

I wrote Trump a very strongly worded letter. What more do you people want?

It's the only option, even at the risk of backlash. Just be clear about the reasons, constantly, everywhere. Explain that this is officially a lawless administration that does not give fuck one about the constitution or any real government, and Democrats are no longer going along with the sick joke that is this cult.

Ezra pointed out that the Dems were not in a position to win earlier in the year &, especially with the leaders they have, may not be now, either.

[quote]The Schumer Shutdown. The Democrat Shutdown...

The problem with this theory is that the government is under complete Republican control. That's the line of defense: "they have the WH, the Congress, and the Courts and they still can't pass a budget!"

Not that you're wrong about MAGAts blaming Dems and it sticking, but at some point we're going to have to grow up and accept that, to quote an unnamed U.S. major: "It became necessary to destroy the town to save it," coined at the Battle of Ben Tre during the 1968 Tet Offensive in Vietnam.

R2, the Republicans always attak and criticize. And yet when Gingrich as Speaker threatened, Bill Clinton let it shut down. He had no more Fucks to give. The thing the Dems have to do is not "care." Have the balls to stand up and tell them to fuck off. Stop with the lengthy speeches and lectures and shut it down.. Then t ell them to fuck off. And if the Media questions you tell them, "It's the right thing to do. " Stop over explaining and begging for understanding. Stop caving in. Just fucking do it. Ask yourself, What would the Republicans do in this situation.... see?

I actually think the Democrats do need to explain themselves, and be really forceful about it. Everything about this "administration" is a sick joke. Bondi, Tulsi, RFK Jr (for fuck's sake) are completely ridiculous twats who have no business being where they are and no intention of doing the real job. Nobody in this cabinet of cunts does. Even the ones that started out competent like Rubio and Besent have to say and do stupid ridiculous things to stay on the Cunt in Chief's good side. It's ridiculous and everybody should stop pretending it isn't, and stop mindlessly funding it.

I recall Nancy Pelosi backing Dump into a corner during his first term, and letting him verbally take responsibility on camera for a shutdown. Dump got hammered in the polls for that. Do that again.

Nancy was the best student of politics…

Couldn’t agree more. I understood why Schumer chose against a shutdown earlier. Elon was on his destruction spree and Schumer rightly assumed Must woukd use the shutdown to justify even bigger cuts.

They’ve already cleared all the trees in the federal work forest so fuck them. They’ll own this. Not us. And even if we do, it will in no way compare for the cruelty/stupidity of these monsters and won’t ne a factor in the midterms.

Burn the whole thing down.

I don't even give a fuck any more.

Let Republicans take the blame for everything now.

But...

But...if there's a government shutdown how will the National Guard troops in DC (and/or Chicago) get paid...?

And Social Security checks would still go out.

The danger is the Trump and his MAGA will not vote to re-open it.

R10 - Yeah, it takes a woman like Nancy with bigger onions than any man in the Capital to cleverly outmaneuver DUMP. They are mostly weaklings although I think MTG's nuggets are bigger than Nancy's.

that is just not much of a threat r16. If it is just going to be this complete piece of shit government that will not govern for anybody other than the cult, it isn't worth opening or reopening or running or anything else.

So why didn’t that dumb fuck Schumer realize this last year when he had the chance? Fuck the Dems! They’re complicit in this destruction.

Funds for the court run out in two weeks

Keep the focus on the real problem, all the cunts in the Republican Party who believe they have a god-king who must never be questioned at any time or in any way. That is the problem. Schumer may suck in his way, but the problem is and always will be Trump and the Cult and the cunts that worship him.

Trying poppers and Viagra at the same time might work out well for him. And Americans as a whole.

"GOP, Democratic leaders look to de-escalate shutdown standoff"

[quote]Democrats are trying to keep the path open to a deal to avoid a government shutdown by saying privately they are not going to draw a red line against President Trump’s $5 billion pocket rescission in the spending talks, preferring instead to let the courts handle Trump’s attempt to sidestep Congress by rescinding funding unilaterally.

Things are pretty bad if moderate Ezra is suggesting radical action.

As someone who is also pretty moderate and has both left and right views depending on the topic, I agree with him. This is a genuine emergency and the Dems must take advantage of this opportunity to shut it down and explain to people what's really going on.

If you remember the scene in Jurassic Park where the group is introduced to the raptor paddock and Muldoon tells them that the raptors keep attacking the electrified fence because they are checking it for weaknesses, that's how I view Trump's actions in LA, DC, etc. It's all testing and practice for what's coming - the total takeover by his thugs of the U.S. He wants to cancel elections He wants another term in 2028. One dictatorship under Trump. This cannot be allowed to happen.

fucking christ. this is a political battle. Does anybody in Congress give a flying fuck about separation of powers and the power of the purse? If not, fuck it, shut the whole goddamn thing down now and everyone just admit it's now a monarchy.

I agree with a couple of the posters above. If they shut down government doesn't that mean that Trump will act unilaterally on anything he wants and basically be able to operate as a dictator?

And how many government employees will work without pay, R26?

As I understand it, there will be a lot of sorting from the Executive Branch about vital, and not vital services. But with rescission, they are already doing that. Simply deciding what to actually fund and saying fuck it to anything they don't like or care about. So in this case, I think a shut down is more like stating the obvious, that the president has been acting like a dictator and Congress no longer feels like going along with the charade. And then the entire country can decide whether it wants to continue with the kind of government it has had for over 200 years or not.

[quote]So why didn’t that dumb fuck Schumer realize this last year when he had the chance?

Ezra Klein explains this in OP's post. (Here's a gift link to the article if you don't want to watch the video at OP.) Basically, Schumer had a valid but weak rationale last year, Now he doesn't.

Ezra Klein is very smart about all this and I'd encourage everybody to read him. (But he's pretty hot too so if you prefer to watch the video, I would understand.)

The majority of the country can’t describe the kind of government the country has had for 200 years. They also don’t own passports and have never even heard of long division.

[quote]Ezra Klein is very smart … he’s pretty hot too

Helen Keller has entered the chat.

Who doesn't get paid when the government shuts down? Congress? The Cabinet? ICE agents?

Democrats

Ezra lays out the problem very well. But he doesn’t have a solution.

He says the Democrats need a coordinated strategy - - - they’ve got two weeks.

He says the Democrats need new, trusted leaders who can clearly explain the problem - - - they’ve got two weeks.

What he’s proposing is that Democrats shut down the government as a means of signaling their alarm.

But when a shut down happens the Executive gets to decide which services are “essential” and which are not. So he deems essential those things needed to further consolidate power and spends what little money his cronies don’t steal solely on and “red state” needs.

Who is going to stop him; the shuttered courts?

I like this idea very much, but I have. a Susan Collins kind of concern about shutting down courts when they are one of the last guard rails we have.

Ezra started strong, and I liked him when he was young (and cute as a button). Now he is very self important, a careerist, and kind of a blow hard.

[quote] But when a shut down happens the Executive gets to decide which services are “essential” and which are not.

Republicans love these situations where a huge part of the government is declared non-essential.

In effect they already do that r37, as with USAID. They simply say they won't do certain things even if Congress has approved them. And that's the issue. What is the point of passing a budget if Trump just considers it "advisory"?

Memo from former Pelosi aides on framing the 2026 message.

The Democrats have a much bigger messaging problem than we were ever led to believe. If they get blamed for shutting down a government they don't control.

The Supreme Court is literally greenlighting everything he's doing and overturning lower court orders that try to stop him, so the federal judiciary in the end is NOT stopping a thing he's doing.

The Trump administration is already picking and choose what agencies are allowed to do.

The Democrats have very few weapons available to them right now. If they don't use one of the ones they have when given the opportunity to do so, history will not look kindly on them.

Schumer should threaten an all-nude Democratic hunger strike on the Senate floor until Trump caves.

All jokes aside, Democrats need to move back toward the center. The voters up for grabs—moderate Republicans, Independents, and centrist Democrats—are alienated by progressive excesses yet appalled by MAGA. I know non-MAGA Republicans who voted for Clinton years ago and would back a moderate Democrat today. There simply aren’t enough far-left “woke” figures like AOC or Mamdani to take over Congress or win the presidency, so going full woke is a non-starter.

The winning strategy isn’t more warnings about “authoritarianism” or “losing democracy.” It’s practical, kitchen table issues: affordable living, sensible public safety, consequences for repeat offenders, and ending blanket no-cash-bail policies. Policies like these speak to fairness and accountability, and they resonate with the voters who actually decide elections.

If Democrats want to build a broad coalition, they must focus less on rhetoric and more on solutions that affect everyday Americans.

Unfortunately, that messaging doesn't work r42. It is painfully obvious that the Republicans exist only to serve the rich, and nobody seems to give a fuck. It's not that running on affordability is wrong, it just doesn't seem to resonate much. As for crime, we all know that gets us into a stupid bidding war on who can be the biggest asshole toward minorities and the poor and Republicans win that one in advance.

Except possibly for the kind of crimes that the people referenced at r39, which really does get to Democratic strengths in being the only party willing to question the sacred need to constantly serve the interests of the feckless rich.

A different view from “Political Wire” —

Democrats are under pressure to show they can stand up to President Trump.

Some progressive voices — especially Ezra Klein and Robert Reich — are urging the party to shut down the government at the end of the month.

They argue Trump is seizing power undemocratically and that Democrats have no choice but to use the only leverage they have left: cutting off funds.

But history shows shutdowns are a losing strategy.

The party forcing a lengthy standoff never comes out ahead. Republicans in 1995 and in 2013, and Trump himself in 2019 all discovered the same lesson: the public blames the side that caused the shutdown.

The logic is simple. When the government closes, voters see the pain—unpaid workers, shuttered services, more inconvenience. The pressure builds not on the president, but on the party that triggered the crisis.

Eventually, they cut a deal that usually looks worse than what they could have had before the standoff began.

And in this case, the risk for Democrats is even greater.

Trump has no personal stake in whether the government operates. He’s not about to be forced to sign a bill just to end a shutdown he doesn’t mind continuing.

If Democrats somehow hold firm in the face of growing anger among voters, Senate Republicans could simply use the moment to abolish the filibuster and ram through their own spending bills.

In that case, Democrats get absolutely nothing.

Democrats can’t block Trump by paralyzing the government. Their only real option is to win back control of the House or Senate in 2026.

And it’s quite possible that forcing a shutdown will make that goal much harder.

I love when people who've worked tirelessly to undermine actual Democrats like goofy Ezra Klein come out with these pronouncements!

Naturally, they always come with a slam to Chuck Schumer for street cred, because as we know, Schumer is flooding our cities with the National Guard and destroying Democracy!

It's catnip to most bandwagon types who are easily hooked by this.

Still, like a stopped watch, I think giving MAGA Mike nothing and claim "We're Defunding Trump!" would be a good disruptor, but let's quit acting like Democrats got us here...maybe those losers who stayed home on election day or listened to Rashida Tlaib!

Political Wire is wrong. Democrats should take on this fight, purposefully and bluntly. Announce that they have no intention of going along with the clownish bullshit of the Trump Cult without some serious reforms and some serious restrictions on Trump's dictatorship, including an end to all recessions, all invasions of American cities, and all attempts to kill programs the Congress has approved just for the fuck of it. They will not simply roll over and play dead for a bunch of whores and grifters simply because of some nonsense that simply doesn't apply to our new political world.

[quote] He says the Democrats need new, trusted leaders who can clearly explain the problem -

There are quite a few out there. And none of them is sticking their head out so they cannot be burned before they get a shot in the next primaries.

Messaging is important. The Republicans probably don't mind a shutdown. They want no government anyway. And they can blame others for the shutdown. Win-win.

I'd say if the Democrats take a shutdown into consideration have one major demand, just one. It would be easy to meet that one demand and shift blame back to the Republicans for not agreeing to it. Make it count big time tough. Insist on a once and for all immigration bill, the one from 2024. Demand a Supreme Court reform. Something like that. Get something good for cooperation.

No, shut it down. Let Republicans own it.

Let it all burn down!!

R50, reporting from Nepal.

The only power the minority party usually has is to block budget negotiations and shot government down to get a win for some of their demands.

Shut it the fuck down

Trump doesn’t even care about the Congressionally passed budget. He will find what he wants and hold back the funding for what he doesn’t like. The GOP Congress will say nothing