Democrats tried their hardest to convince the country that the government shutdown was the fault of President Donald Trump and the Republican Party. They relied on every political weapon at their disposal. They used their accomplices in the media. They used celebrities to advance their political narratives. They unleashed their social media army of trolls to constantly smear the GOP in hopes of persuading the public that the Republicans were responsible for the shutdown.
Yet, in the end, like so many times before with Democrats, they were the ones doing the very thing they accused Republicans of doing. And Trump and the Republicans broke them from continuing their harmful and divisive political games.
Consider the words of House Minority Whip Rep. Katherine Clark (D-MA), who said the quiet part out loud. During an interview on Fox News, Clark admitted — perhaps mistakenly, perhaps in a moment of rare political truth from a left-wing politician — that the government shutdown was an opportunity for Democrats to gain political leverage, even if people were suffering.
“Shutdowns are terrible,” Clark said. “And of course, there will be families that are going to suffer. We take that responsibility very seriously. But it is one of the few leverage times we have.”
Leverage. Democrats repeatedly went on their soapboxes and preached about the shutdown hurting people when, in reality, the only thing they cared about was political power and using perceived “leverage” to amass more of it. They didn’t care about any suffering. They gleefully accepted it and viewed it as necessary collateral damage. It is similar to the Democrats’ antics during the COVID-19 pandemic when they openly admitted they were taking advantage of the worldwide emergency to benefit their political agenda.
It’s all part of their “never let a crisis go to waste” political strategy, a sentiment embraced by Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC).
“This is a tremendous opportunity to restructure things to fit our vision,” Clyburn said in the middle of the health crisis during the deadly pandemic. And if they were willing to let people die during a pandemic to advance a political agenda, clearly, they had no problem with people enduring hardships during a government shutdown. And so Democrats went on media circuits and talk shows and repeatedly lied to the people over and over and over again.
Consider their rhetoric. For weeks, a common refrain by Democratic politicians was that the shutdown was due to Republicans. “Republicans control the presidency, the House, and the Senate,” they would say. This message was disseminated through every available medium. Republicans held the majority and were the ones who could and should reopen the government.
So, Republicans did.
It was never true, of course, and Democrats knew it all along. Hence, Republicans needed eight Democrats to join them. They were, as usual, lying to the public. And, when Republicans did use their majority to vote to open the government, it was the Democrats, once again, trying to sabotage those efforts and obstruct the government from opening. Fortunately, eight Democrats had enough decency and common sense to go against their party’s line.
WHY DID DEMOCRATS FIGHT SO LONG — BEFORE CAVING?
This stunt should cost the Democrats, politically. They should lose a ton of credibility with the public. They should be deemed untrustworthy. Their narrative, even before the shutdown began, was dishonest and deceptive, predicated on advancing a political agenda rather than prioritizing the welfare of the people.
Typically, they would weaponize their accomplices in the media to influence and persuade public opinion. They used it the last time there was a government shutdown when Trump was president. It was a tactic Democrats used this time, too. The difference was that Trump and Republicans were privy to their tactics and did not cave. They stood firm and refused to acquiesce. They knew they were on the right side of history on this and were not going to surrender.
Unfortunately, with the monopoly in legacy media, the truth will get convoluted, and the narrative will become misrepresented. The Democrats’ lemmings and foot soldiers will try to position this as a political win, even though it was an embarrassing defeat. But if there is ever any justice, it is that the people, especially those affected by the shutdown, will realize any pain they endured during this time was due to Democratic political games.
