23 thoughts on “Democrats Shut Government Down”

  1. Keep in mind that four Republicans voted against cloture (no counting Mitch McConnell’s procedural no vote and John McCain’s absence), and five Democrats voted in favor.

  2. Strategically, I do find it strange that the Democrats didn’t take the six-year CHIP reauthorization bait, put it in the bank, and then come back in an even stronger negotiating position next month. Mr. Trump hadn’t wanted to give that away for only a shot term spending bill, but it was in the bill that the house passed.

    1. Will they really be in a stronger position?

      Sure, it is closer to the DACA deadline but if Democrats really care about DACA, then that puts the pressure on them to compromise since no deal means it expires without the Republicans having to do anything.

      Democrats could take the route of scuttling any deal because they want the issue but Republicans will put a lot on the table and give them every opportunity to compromise. Refusing to compromise wont look good for the Democrats. DACA for $20 billion? Even if the wall doesn’t work, $20 billion is a pittance, especially compared to the righteousness of virtue signalling.

      1. I’d meant a stronger position in that CHIP reauthorization would no longer be available to use against them, but yes, you must be right that they see themselves in a less powerful position in a month and thus chose to make their stand now.

        1. Given how long they’ve been logrolling Republicans, perhaps they continue to believe all the people who say Trump’s stupid and though they could roll him, too.

        2. Forgot about CHIP, that is another big one.

          It is tough to tell what is Resistance play acting and what is rational, but dirty, politics. Game theory in regard to negotiation relies on people being rational but I am not certain that the Democrats are rational beings right now.

      2. If the Democrats don’t get to keep the Dreamers, they will fill the TV networks, the newspapers, and eventually the history textbooks with sob stories. The Dreamers would share a chapter with the Chinese Exclusion Act and Jim Crow.

        It wouldn’t be as useful as having the Dreamers and their descendants be reliable Democrat voters, but it wouldn’t be nothing.

        1. And if the Democrats choose that rather than accept a compromise that still gives them everything they want, it will be enlightening to a lot of people.

    1. I don’t think that was the original motivation, but I do think it became a driver as the week progressed.

  4. If the republicans don’t blink, they’ve won. They should keep the shutdown going for as long as possible. Perhaps they could start sending out termination slips?

    1. “If the republicans don’t blink, they’ve won. They should keep the shutdown going for as long as possible.”

      Yes and if I was the Republicans I would force the Democrats to filibuster; no “threat of a filibuster” bs the real mcoy. They (the Republicans) should attempt to bring a Senate bill to a vote; let the Dems then filibuster away. Let it be played on the 24/7 news cycles for as long as the Dems are willing to do it. Let the American people see who is keeping the government shut down. Let’s see how that plays for the Dems in the 2018 mid term elections where they seem to think they are a shoe in to take both houses of Congress.

  5. It is interesting that the media isn’t running endless stories about how the full faith and credit of the United States is at stake and how we will default on our debt obligations and crash our and the global economy. They also aren’t running personal interest stories about all the government workers and civilians that will be affected by a shut down.

    Democrats are not making a deal because they do not want a deal. They want the issue.

    This is always the case with progressives. They don’t want to solve the problems they claim to fight because then they wouldn’t have a reason to exist. It is the greatest perverse incentive of all and it requires them perpetuating and exacerbating all the evils they protest against.

    1. Oh, another thing. Republicans have been talking about how this hurts the military, which is good PR to target their base, but Democrats hate the military. In order to peel off Democrat support they need to run PR targeting the same groups the Democrats did when Obama was President.

    2. If the Democrats want this issue, then let’s let them have it. The issue, which they cannot deny, is that they want to make the welfare of non-US-citizens a higher priority than the interests of the citizens who elected them to do a damn job. That is the only way to accurately state what they want.

      1. “The issue, which they cannot deny, is that they want to make the welfare of non-US-citizens a higher priority than the interests of the citizens who elected them to do a damn job. That is the only way to accurately state what they want.”

        Like I posted above let/force the dems to actually filibuster. Then after days or (maybe week(s)) of the shutdown the Republicans could as Trump suggested today in one of his tweets invoke the so-called “nuclear option” and pass a spending budget (not just a continuing resolution but the actual budget) on a simple 51 vote majority. They (the Republicans) would then come across like heroes saving the guv from the crazy dems; see how that would play out in 2018 elections.

      2. While you are right, Democrats have no problem prioritizing non-citizens over the USA, not just the politicians but many of their voters. This angle, and the military one, should be part of the messaging mix but to peel off Democrats, then you need to target those same groups Democrats did during the last shut down.

  6. Turns out that the 45th Space Wing relies upon furloughed employees to support both launches and static fires. This puts a hold on the Falcon Heavy static fire attempt (most recently scheduled for tomorrow — Monday 2018-01-22) and, if it drags out past mid-week, will impact the 30 January scheduled SpaceX launch of SES-16.

    https://twitter.com/gpallone13/status/955118574988865536
    Greg Pallone, News 13, Brevard Co., FL.
    NO LAUNCHES: per @45thSpaceWing key members of civilian workforce are removed due to govt shutdown. 45th cannot support @SpaceX commerical static fire tests @NASAKennedy or launch operations

    1. It will be nice when Boca Chica site is up and running. Maybe SpaceX can lease a pad to their competitors so they too can avoid congressional monkey business.

  7. Looks like the shutdown is over. Dems accepted a promise to have a vote on illegal immigration.

    I begin to wonder if Trump showed the GOP how to grow a pair. They seem to be interested in fighting more.

  8. “It’s because they don’t really have a politically palatable answer.”

    I think the Left (i.e. Commies) have an answer that is palatable to their dedicated base, and to Never-Trumpers but that’s all. The rest of the nation is beginning to see how they’ve been played for fools by Obama, Clinton, and the Schumers and Pelosi’s of the Congress.

    For example, a few are beginning to see that they really didn’t have to spend the 8 years of the Obama Dictatorship in economic stagnation or retrogression.

  10. Well the latest word out is that Trump made an offer of amnesty and citizenship for Dreamers after 10-12 years IF the Dreamer behaves themselves. In exchange, Dem/Socialists have to agree to end the lottery, end chain migration, and fund the Border wall. I also heard some talk about E-verify but I don’t know the particulars.

    Seems like a reasonable deal to me. I don’t expect the government to round up 2 million Dreamers and send them all back.

    Conservative opponents of the deal claim that the deal an be diluted by the next President. But I think this is always grue no matter what laws you pass.

    It does put the onus squarely on the Dems.

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