The Senate voted on Sunday to break the stalemate that had dragged the country into a weeks-long government shutdown — by agreeing to conditions first posed by Republicans before Democrats, under the leadership of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), decided to scream and shout and shake it all about.
In other words, the Democrats shut down the government for absolutely no reason. They kept the government closed while somehow simultaneously complaining that a closed government was forcing millions to go without SNAP benefits and causing flight delays as the nation trudged toward Thanksgiving week and that we must therefore reopen the government no matter the price.
In the end, this was a Democratic shutdown from which the Democrats gained absolutely nothing. But we also have to understand that we now live in a world where the Democratic Party is motivated less by concrete wins and losses and more by demonstrating to its radical base that its politicians are willing to fight. Call it a “No Kings” protest in Congress.
After a handful of Senate Democrats did the unspeakable and reached a deal to open the government — you know, the thing they supposedly cared about more than anything else — Democrats and activist-pundits alike were furious.
“This deal would never have happened if he had not blessed it,” Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) complained, saying that it was time for Schumer to be replaced, that he “is not meeting the moment,” and that the New York senator is “out of touch with where the party’s base is.”
Co-host of The View Sunny Hostin concurred, accusing the Democrats of caving and surrendering to Republican demands and saying Schumer’s “days are over.”
Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA), likely with an eye on the rhetorical mob outside the city gates, pretended the shutdown had passed him by, claiming that he was “so focused on the Virginia elections” that he “wasn’t in the discussion on the healthcare to see how dug in they were.”
Republicans oppose Obamacare? That’s brand new information!
Then there’s the New York Times’s Ezra Klein, who, intentionally or otherwise, said the quiet part out loud. “Democrats said the shutdown was about the [Affordable Care Act] subsidies, but for most of them, it wasn’t. It was about Trump’s authoritarianism,” Klein wrote. “It was about showing their base — and themselves — that they could fight back.”
WHAT DEMOCRATS HAVE SAID ABOUT VOTING TO END THE GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN
And that’s the point: None of this was about healthcare, food stamps, or even flights home for Thanksgiving. It was about the fight, and only the fight. We now have a political class in D.C. that is primarily, if not entirely, motivated by the desire to be seen fighting, even if doing so does damage to its own political platform, let alone the country.
While such behavior from our elected officials is undeniably deplorable, the Trump administration also needs to see this as a real opportunity to get the wobbling train back on its tracks, reminding Americans who voted for Trump in 2024 that while Democrats are fighting for their increasingly radical base no matter the consequences, Republicans are staying above the fray by actually doing their jobs. It’s not juicy, or sexy, or edgy, but it also happens to be exactly what we elect (and pay) our politicians to do.
Ian Haworth is a syndicated columnist. Follow him on X (@ighaworth) or Substack.
