Again, the Republicans have control of the White House, both chambers of Congress and the Supreme Court. The currently unfolding catastrophe is entirely the fault of Republicans. The only meager power the Democratic minority has is through the Senate filibuster, ensuring that the most unpopular Republican bullsh-t needs 60 votes in the Senate, meaning the Republicans need seven Democratic “defectors” to pass something without a filibuster. This has been literally the only thing stopping Republicans from gutting the ACA and taking away healthcare from tens of millions of Americans – the threat of a filibuster on the Continuing Resolution to end the government shutdown. Just last week, Democrats proposed passing a clean CR with status quo ACA funding, and Republicans balked. The American people, in poll after poll, blame the shutdown on Republicans as well. Not to mention, Republicans just got their asses handed to them in last week’s elections. Now is not the moment for Democrats to capitulate on anything. Well, guess what they’re doing?
The Senate on Sunday night took the first step toward ending the longest shutdown in U.S. history, after a group of Democrats broke their party’s blockade and voted with Republicans to advance legislation to reopen the government.
The 60-to-40 vote paved the way for the spending agreement to begin making its way through Congress, where it would still need to be debated and passed by the Senate, win approval in the House and be signed by President Trump to bring the shutdown to a close.
Eight senators in the Democratic caucus voted to advance the measure, which would fund most federal agencies through January. That indicated there were enough votes to end weeks of gridlock that has shuttered the government for 40 days, leaving hundreds of thousands of federal workers furloughed, millions of Americans at risk of losing food assistance and millions more facing air travel disruptions.
But the deal prompted a quick and fierce backlash among Democrats, many of whom were livid that their colleagues had backed down from the party’s central demand in the shutdown fight: the extension of health insurance subsidies that are slated to expire at the end of the year, sending premiums soaring for millions of Americans.
The compromise measure included a provision that many Democrats had sought to reverse layoffs of federal workers made during the shutdown. It also came with a commitment from Senator John Thune, Republican of South Dakota and the majority leader, to allow a vote in December on extending the expiring health insurance tax credits for a year. Many Democrats have said for weeks that such a pledge would be insufficient to win them over, since such a bill has appeared all but certain to die in the Republican-led Congress.
The Democratic defectors’ decision allowed Republicans, who have been unable to push through a temporary spending bill over Democratic opposition, to finally cobble together the 60 votes needed to do so, though reopening the government could still take some time.
I’m not someone who bad-mouths Democrats over every little thing – I feel like that’s what got the country into this mess during the Biden administration – but these eight Democratic defectors are f–king morons, holy sh-t. They are not getting ANYTHING in return, just a “promise” of an ACA vote next month. If the vote even happens (lol) I know exactly how it will go as well. This is absolute horses-t, one of the dumbest political capitulations I’ve ever seen. Dozy Dementia Don has never been more unpopular! The public blames Trump and the GOP for the shutdown! FIGHT BACK, g–ddamn it.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Avalon Red.
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- CMMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz delivers remarks after President Donald Trump’s announcement on lowering drug prices in the Oval Office, Thursday, November 6, 2025.,Image: 1051130110, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Abe McNatt/Avalon
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- Washington, DC Chris Klomp, deputy administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, speaks in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC. Eli Lilly & Co. and Novo Nordisk A/S secured deals with the Trump administration to slash prices for their blockbuster weight-loss drugs in exchange for tariff relief and wider access for Medicare patients. Pictured: Trump BACKGRID USA 6 NOVEMBER 2025 BYLINE MUST READ: MediaPunch / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Washington, DC Chris Klomp, deputy administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, speaks in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC. Eli Lilly & Co. and Novo Nordisk A/S secured deals with the Trump administration to slash prices for their blockbuster weight-loss drugs in exchange for tariff relief and wider access for Medicare patients. Pictured: Trump BACKGRID USA 6 NOVEMBER 2025 BYLINE MUST READ: MediaPunch / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Washington, DC Chris Klomp, deputy administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, speaks in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC. Eli Lilly & Co. and Novo Nordisk A/S secured deals with the Trump administration to slash prices for their blockbuster weight-loss drugs in exchange for tariff relief and wider access for Medicare patients. Pictured: Trump BACKGRID USA 6 NOVEMBER 2025 BYLINE MUST READ: MediaPunch / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Washington, DC Chris Klomp, deputy administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, speaks in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC. Eli Lilly & Co. and Novo Nordisk A/S secured deals with the Trump administration to slash prices for their blockbuster weight-loss drugs in exchange for tariff relief and wider access for Medicare patients. Pictured: Trump BACKGRID USA 6 NOVEMBER 2025 BYLINE MUST READ: MediaPunch / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
Stupid. Stupid. Stupid… (Thanks, Kaiser… You have found more words than I could to describe this insanity.)
Senate Dems were NEVA getting 🤬 anyway #SCOTUS made sure of that with the ruling they gave saying POS Trump can do whatever he wants…y’all think Trump would stand by ANY deal that didn’t 🤬 the ACA? If you think THAT…then that means that you’re ignoring EVERYTHING that Trogloydyte has done…one Executive Order would negate ANY deal that’s made in the Senate…we’re in the FAFO stage & the ONLY thing we can hope is that folks will come out next year IF we have elections…the shutdown did the ONLY effective thing it COULD DO…motivated folks to come out & vote for Dems last Tuesday…NOT WHITE FOLKS…who one AGAIN showed their 🤬 collectively regarding democracy…but Black Men FINALLY matched the energy of Black Women with Latino Women & Men following behind…
Again…Y’all can drag TF outta Schumer who I KNOW should be replaced because he is Netanyahu 🤬 & ain’t NEVA been about the working-class…HOWEVA…THIS AIN’T THAT!
I think I agree with you. I don’t think the Rs care about hurting people, at least most of them don’t, and so I think they would be fine leaving things closed and finding ways to get money to the things they want to fund. I also think Ds get blamed for everything anyway in the long run. I’m not optimistic about anything.
That being said, I’m an excepted federal employee not getting paid but working and so I do have an interest in them figuring something out.
I am working for free too. I think the Democrats are actually getting what they want. They let the Republicans show all of us how awful they are. The Republicans refused to include Democrats in their discussions and they ended the subsidy in order to give more money to billionaires. Now we will wait for them to not come through on their part and Democrats can highlight that as well. And maybe now we can see the Epstein files.
I agree on trump! He even said the other day that we don’t even need Congress any more because they passed that big stinkin’ pile of sh*t the Big Billionaire Bailout Bill, which had his entire agenda so he’s done. We’re all done. No more legislators needed!! GAH!!!!! 😡. And everybody’s going sure, mr. trump, sir, we got you. I AM SEETHING!!!!!
Vote them out!
Vote whom out? None of the rats are up for reelection, including Durbin from my home state.
Hassan, King, Cortez-Masto, Shaheen, Kaine, Fetterman, Durbin and Rosen, none of these POS are up for reelection in 2026.
Been trying to call Shaheen and Hassan all morning. Mailboxes are full
DICK (really living up to his name) Durbin is my senator and he’s not running again – he’s out. He just threw the match into the gasoline on his way out to burn it all down after him.
It’s heartbreaking to now realize just how fragile and for the taking our country was.
Durbin is also my senator. After his retirement, if they try to name anything in this state after him – even so much as a 2-foot alley – I am gonna scream my head off. Consign his legacy to a dumpster fire, ASAP!
Mitch McConnell seemed to have full control over his rethug senators but Schumer can’t even hold his party together on something so important considering what is at stake? He was probably behind the whole thing – it isn’t a coincidence none of the turncoats are up for re-election. How many times do the dems have to sell us out before it’s understood you cannot reform the party from within. Time to primary these a-holes.
We all know any “promise” from The Republicans & current American administration is not to be believed. Those promises are like ocean tides, can be changing any minute. Those 8 Democrat Senators are traitors.
In a functional democracy there would be a no confidence vote and a snap election to replace Sen Schumer but alas…
He’s hoping we’ll all have forgotten about this when he’s up in 2028 but it’s pretty clear at this stage that AOC is gonna walk right into his seat.
And yeah the 8 votes suck but remember how this works: Schumer came around to each senator that could be swayed (because they’re not up for reelection this year or they’re retiring) and convinces them to vote yes. These guys don’t do a single fucking thing without the approval of senate leadership.
My only hope is that centrist normies will finally see the light. We need politicians who fight, not ones who capitulate to uphold the status quo.
But yeah…I’m sure the Fed workers who weren’t paid for 40 days will be happy to know it was all for nothing.
Meant to add that if you want to know why those 8 senators were the easiest to convince, just follow the money. They all receive $$$ from American Airlines PAC.
Well imagine that. Our country is run by corporations.
This is just brutally demoralizing. Since Citizens United, our political system has flipped into a corporate proxy state run by self-interested oligarchs who are busy designing their own version of society. The only group that has actually adapted its messaging is the extremist Republican side, which now targets an undereducated demographic with unsettling success. The problem is they don’t govern or negotiate in good faith.
That shift demands that Democrats evolve rapidly too, but these short-sighted gatekeepers absolutely refuse. This is how middle America will keep getting steamrolled, and how the guardrails of a functioning democracy are going to continue eroding right in front of us. All Schumer did was prove Republican supremacy and Democrat fecklessness.
Yes 1000%
I live in NH and have donated to my 2 senators campaigns. I have sent an email letting them know I will never donate again (1 is retiring so not a threat) and that they will be remembered for caving to a fascist regime. That the blue wave was about the democrats finally being strong and now you have made us look weak. That they only care about corporation’s holiday sales and not that no food during the holidays was our greatest bargaining chip.
I am beyond disappointed and angry and I hope AOC primaries Schumer.
This is a complex issue and I feel for people who have to make it. The problem is you’re not dealing with people that are willing to negotiate in good faith. On one side you have people that are absolutely willing to shoot the hostage and doesn’t care at all, and on the other you have people that care a little bit about people not being able to eat or pay their bills.
So while I do understand that Republicans can’t really be trusted, I also understand that people are literally going hungry. Also, people like to mention every other week how most people are just two paychecks away from poverty, but seems super dismissive about somebody not getting a check for 40 days. It’s easy for me who does not have health insurance through the ACA ( even though my premiums will absolutely go up as well), isn’t a federal employee, has never used SNAP to say hold on and keep fighting, but I also can understand the relief some people may be feeling now.
The biggest issue, the one that we still don’t want to acknowledge is that we didn’t have to be in this situation. 90 million eligible voters didn’t vote. And 77 million people voted for that absolute monster. And this time last year and in the months before, people were constantly talking about how they just had to get along with their family members and coworkers and didn’t talk politics. This is what happens. You have to negotiate with people who would happily see you starve to death.
“It’s easy for me who does not have health insurance through the ACA ( even though my premiums will absolutely go up as well),“
But they got nothing for the ACA with this vote. Nothing. They got a promise for a vote on a Dem bill that will go nowhere in the House. They made the fight about extending the ACA credits then folded without getting the ACA credits. It’s good people are going to get their SNAP benefits but the courts ruled that states must release those funds. Dems could have forced Trump into a prolonged effort to defy the courts even as individual states provide SNAP benefits.
As far as Fed workers go, they lost 40 days pay ultimately for nothing. They don’t get that money back and we’re all still in the exact same situation with the ACA. We’re talking 80% increases in monthly premiums for some people.
If folks wanna say Dems had no choice but to cave then why the did they start this fight to begin with? They could have capitulated from the beginning with the same end result.
🎯
If there was a Nancy Pelosi caliber leader for the Democrats in the Senate, this would not have happened. Schumer doesn’t have it.
Federal workers will get their money back, especially the ones who were excepted and have been working the whole time.
The situation is complicated. I’m not sure what the right answer is. Its easy to say they shouldnt have caved, and a big part of me wishes they hadn’t.
But at the end of the day we dont even know if this will be effective. The House may have different ideas, Trump may veto it, etc.
I admit as a federal employee I would like a paycheck before the holidays, so it does kind of bother me when people are insisting that they hold the line. its easy to say it when you’re still getting a paycheck.
But its also to say “the Dems should cave” when I’m not on the ACA.
So like I said its complicated and while I’m just generally frustrated this morning, I’m also just so so tired of being used as a political punching bag.
They got an agreement for a vote. Whether or not you think that they will follow through there’s nothing to be done for that. You can’t hold out forever. The votes for the CR and for Budget resolutions only last for a short time anyway.
I legitimately don’t understand what people think the solution is. Hold out forever, let people not eat? Yeah the lower courts said that they had to start paying snap benefits, but only Blue State governors were finding ways and money to get it to their constituents. People in red States still deserve to eat. They literally went to the Supreme Court to prevent from having to follow out this order so that’s not a defense to me. If it wasn’t for Ketanji Jackson threading the needle to force them to write a brief defending themselves, they would have dragged it out to the Supreme Court for months. And if you trust this Supreme Court to do the right thing I don’t know what to say.
At the end of the day like I said in my original comment, on one side you have people that would happily not to see you get paid, happily see your insurance premiums go up, and happily see you and your kids starve. The only way to not have to negotiate with people like that is for more people to vote to make sure people like that aren’t the ones that can make the decisions.
I think the Dems had three choices:
1) give the GOP what they want and avoid a shutdown. Blame it on the fact that they’ can’t allow Fed workers to go without pay and they can’t allow flights to come to a halt right before the holiday season.
2) don’t give the GOP what they want and force the shutdown with a commitment to see it through. Make the corporate heads of the airlines so pissed that they start putting pressure on the Republicans they donate to.
OR
3) force a shutdown and make it about extending the ACA, knowing that the GOP will never give in on the ACA. Let Fed workers suffer for weeks on end while families panic about SNAP benefits. Then give in at the last second, having secured none of their demands but succeeded in reasserting the Republicans dominance and power and making the Dem party look weak.
I would have been fine with either of the first two options. IMO they picked the absolute worst path here. Look, I want the Dems to expand their coalition and get new voters on board. No one will remember the 40 days when the Dems held the line when folks are paying $1000s of dollars in new healthcare premiums. Right or wrong, they’ll blame both parties for not saving them from this mess.
Bingo.
Getting a stand alone vote on the ACA premiums is a bfd. Republicans will be on record if they vote against extension of the tax credits. It should make them squirm more than a little.
Oh, Brassy Rebel, they’ve already been on the record about voting no on the ACA. They’ve been very vocal about getting rid of it & have nothing to replace it. BECAUSE THEY DO NOT CARE.
I get where you’re coming from, but this approach feels incredibly short-sighted and doesn’t actually solve anything. States already have safety-net programs for families in crisis — especially blue states, which tend to step up for their residents. Honestly, I think drawing that contrast more clearly is the only path that forces voters to see the difference. Blue states will take care of their people. Red states will happily throw them to the wolves. Let that sink in.
No major healthcare fix is magically passing later. We all know that. The crushing cost of healthcare is just going to shove these same financially vulnerable families right back into the exact situation they’re in now. Pretending otherwise is just wishful thinking dressed up as strategy.
The other consideration is that liberal America really, really needs some energy right now — and this was an ethical, worthwhile cause to mobilize 50%+ of America. Schumer et al just demoralized us all again.
It sucks, but it all sucks. What I’m not going to do is put the shutdown on democrats. And all the blame for all of this is this administration and the republicans.
You cannot fool me!
This is ALL on the ugly orange troll and the MAGA ReTHUGlicans.
This is a shame. Squandered the hard work the Democrats put in, and the political capital the election gave them.
It’s infuriating. But after we’re done being infuriated, what then? It’s clear that Republicans would happily keep the government closed forever. Was that the plan? Does anyone seriously think that the party that gave us Project 2025 would ever agree to extend the ACA subsidies? Ending the ACA was in P2025. Federal workers and starving families are of no concern to them. Sorry to break it to you all that Trump and his enablers have held all the cards ever since November 5, 2024. People who voted for this, voted third party, or didn’t vote are the folks we all should be mad at. This was always gonna be the end game, given the utter lack of human decency in the party that controls every damn thing, including the Supreme Court. And, if you’re not suffering, it’s awful easy to stand firm and demand that Democrats not give in. Last week, the Federal workers union begged the Dems to end this madness because their members are suffering greatly.
Exactly. Far too many people were suffering and this was always going to be the outcome with the Republicans in control. Democrats held out as long as they could with no results. Unless anyone here is one of the many people suffering from this shutdown, it’s easy to say to Dems: Don’t give in. Hold out. That’s not what all of the people suffering from this were saying. I hate this outcome, but until we vote Democrats into more seats, we are screwed.
Thank you, really well said. It IS infuriating and frustrating. and I HATE that dems seem to constantly give in. But here, we had huge blue wins last week and the proposed bill includes reversal of federal layoffs – that’s not nothing.
I’m just not sure what people thought the end game was going to be. trump and johnson have LOVED having the government shut down. they are in no hurry to open it back up.
Thanks for chiming in, I remember you mentioning that you and your family were impacted by the shutdown. And I agree, I feel like the biggest issue is that people are using your actual lived experience as a pawn for either side. Yes it’s frustrating, and yes it feels like people have to see the bigger picture, but what can happen in 6 months does not negate what’s happening right now. And that’s why I said it’s a complex issue.
This is possibly very naive on my part, but my hope has been that once the results of the MAGA policies deeply hit MAGA communities — during the very expensive and emotionally powerful holiday season — more people who either voted for Trump or who didn’t vote at all would finally, personally, understand who and what they voted for. The Republicans are now the party of suffering. That the peak suffering overlaps with our most expensive holiday season seemed like one of the few feeble bargaining chips that the Democrats had, even after the successes of the recent elections.
While the government shutdown and the manipulation of SNAP benefits is horrible and the deliberate cause of widespread suffering, I think the timing of this suffering driven by the Republicans was one of the few things that might have made it possible for the Democrats to successfully press for maintaining ACA subsidies. By January, the Democrats will have lost their tiny bit of leverage, and the Republican destruction will continue unabated.
This sucks, and now it just sucks more.
I’m pretty confident that a hidden agenda for prolonging the shutdown & starving people is to create the threat of looting / shoplifting to justify sending more troops & dodgy militias into cities. Sarah Kendzior’s open letter in 2016 has never left my mind as I watch each disaster unfold:
You can even look back to before his candidacy, when in Feb 2014, he went on Fox News to defend Russia. Why a reality TV host was on Fox defending Russia is its own story, but here is what he said about his desired outcome for the US: “You know what solves it? When the economy crashes, when the country goes to total hell & everything is a disaster. Then you’ll have a [chuckles], you know, you’ll have riots to go back to where we used to be when we were great.”
@Blithe I do think thats happening for some red voters. maybe not as many as we would like but I do think some are realizing how much Trump is screwing them.
The other side of this – or just another angle – is that Rs just are much better at messaging, even if that message is a total lie. Dems have done well for the past 40 days but they were still playing catchup to the lie that this was about “healthcare for illegals” and “genetic mutilation.” It took a few weeks for their messaging about the ACA to take hold.
@Emcee33 I think that was definitely part of the plan here.
Schumer has to play the hand he has been dealt, which is that the other side holds both the House and Senate as well as the White House (and SCOTUS). The other side doesn’t care about people not getting paid or receiving their SNAP benefits. People who live paycheck to paycheck are not able to pay their rent or mortgage, or for food or childcare. Flying is becoming downright unsafe, never mind just inconvenient. Long delays, near misses.
The shutdown is bad for the country as a whole. Having the least vulnerable Senators vote Yes made the most sense politically. It’s horribly frustrating, yes. The best way to make sure this doesn’t happen again is to vote. Anyone who didn’t bother to vote last year has a hand in this mess. Even if they did it out of principle. AOC can primary Schumer if she wants. But right now as the Dem leader I think he was between a rock and a hard place and did what he had to do.
I have a different take on this. Considering that Schumer was a NO vote on this, “the hand that Schumer was dealt” looks like eight senators did an end-run around him and negotiated directly with Republicans. That makes him look like a weak leader. Alternatively, if he was actually involved in the negotiations with the eight senators and then voted no, then he looks both weak and disingenuous. The Dems need a strong leader who recognizes that our limited negotiating options with Republican hostage-taking tactics may seem weak but are backed by the strength of the anger of the people. At any rate, there are many Dem senators who are furious at this. Hope they boot Schumer from leadership.
Democrats: snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.
I hope these people get rightly primaried.
The ACA is dead. Now we can work on getting universal healthcare.
Watching innocent people and their families suffer forever was never going to be a victory. And this now must go through the House. Will Little Mike call them back into session? Will he swear in the newly elected Dem from Arizona, the 218th signature on the Epstein discharge petition? It ain’t over till it’s over.
Yes Brassy Rebel what you say is true and that was my thought too it must pass the house and Gridr Mike will do all he can to not swear her in so that the Epstein files won’t be seen.
And OF COURSE this is the fault of the Republicans. They don’t care about their own voters, much less us. The reason why we hold Democrats accountable is because they’re our representation in Congress. Our only real power and leverage as Americans is our vote.
I am only mildly comforted by the absolutely savage booing and sea of middle fingers/thumbs down the orange loser got at the Washington Commanders game yesterday.
@brassyrebel and several other commenters above. Yes Yes Yes to everything you said! The republicans have all three branches of government and they’re going to MILK it until…
The main source of income in my household comes from a job that is funded by the federal government so we were very much impacted. We have been stressed TF out and terrified that we’re going to lose everything once our savings run out. My sister, who is on disability and who relies on SNAP, was scrambling to figure out how she was going to eat. Our local hospital clinic has run out of funding and is shutting down. It is the only one for 100+ miles. It has been a nightmare.
As you can probably guess, I live in a heavily republican area. And as a blue dot in this heavily red area, I can tell you that there are still far too many people who support whatever that orange THING does and who have no empathy for others. They also delight in the suffering of the people they look down upon. Some were positively gleeful that the “lazy people who don’t want to work” were finally getting what they deserved. They laugh while their neighbors struggle. Our country is beyond sick.
The Republicans were never going to cave, they do not care about the “little” people. You cannot appeal to someone’s better nature, if they do not have one. They are unbothered by the suffering and, I do believe, many of them delight in it. Cruelty is the point and they have gamed the system in such a way that they can’t lose, and they won’t be held accountable, not anytime soon, if ever.
I don’t know what the Democrats could have done.
All I do know is I don’t feel better this morning, only that we might have gotten a brief reprieve until the next round of cruelty. I don’t feel safe or secure. I have no hope left. I feel like we will continue to be pawns in rich men’s games. And I am not sure how long I can sustain this level of stress and worry. It is killing me. And I suspect there are many people who feel this way.
I am so sorry Jess99. Everything you said is spot on. I think the most heartbreaking thing about all of this has been watching people delight in the suffering of others. It’s so vile. I can’t stomach it anymore. I fled home to Canada post Trump inauguration. Sold my condo at a loss (cause no one is buying homes right now mind you I was in a bidding war to buy that condo just 3 years ago) but I still have friends over there, some of whom are making plans to leave.
Even from Canada, watching this has been a struggle mental health wise. Some days I have to walk away from the news it’s so upsetting. It’s so hard to not feel hopeless – the recent election and blue wave gave me a glimmer of hope but some days I worry too many systems have been dismantled already and the damage is not reversible anytime soon. I hate this timeline. Hang in there.
Thank you, SIde Eye.
I’m glad you were able to get out though I am sorry you had to take a loss on your condo. I completely understand leaving, if I could, I would.
Jess99: 💔. I’ve been a fed for 26 years & I am beyond heartsick. I feel for you & your family, I feel for all of us. How many phone calls can I make? How many protests do I need to attend? Too many of my fellow citizens are cruel & hateful & ignorant & don’t care a whit who dies as long as it’s not them but when they do they’ll blame God or gays or transpeople or Democrats, anybody but themselves & trump.
BeanieBean, I’m so sorry. My heart goes out to you. It feels like the calls don’t matter and the protests haven’t accomplished much. There have been no protests where I live but the town did throw together a memorial service for Charlie Kirk.
I honestly do not think there is anything that will break the hold the Orange Thing and his cult has over these people.
Democrats were ‘winning’ the shutdown and I’m not pleased about caving.
That being said, I recommend an unrelenting and massive Dem publicity blitz while this is still fresh.
ACA premiums have skyrocketed, which can be used for 2026 midterm ads. Tommy Tuberville’s vile comments alluding to SNAP recipients all being urban and of color can also be used. There are smart ways to use this turn of events.
That is really the only thing that can be salvaged from this. I’m ambivalent about the timing – the Dems only just got a momentum boost from the midterms, and it feels like they caved less than a week later. Part of me hoped the shutdown would have continued into the holiday travel season to really make some waves and get more attention – but that’s easy for me to say since i have no travel plans and don’t rely on a federal paycheck.
Now, every Dem needs to be shouting from the rooftop that the Republicans own whatever comes next. I just don’t have any faith that the media will go along with that narrative.
Please! The Democrats couldn’t message their way out of a wet paper bag. This shutdown was all for nothing in the final analysis.
Once again snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.
I wrote angry, pleading messages to both my Dem Senators, but – pfshawwww.
I hate my Party.
I don’t disagree, but this was always going to be the end. the shutdown is seriously hurting people. the Republicans were not going to budge. at some point they knew there was no other choice.
I’m with Kaiser on this one … those 8 traitors just completely alienated the voters who flocked to the polls Tuesday to vote blue.
It is so freaking stupid. The Dems just cannot get out of their own way.
This sort of thing is why I went independent.
Can we stop saying the Dems! There were 8. And the 8 are not surprising, but clearly Schumer needs to go and is not effective as a leader. That being said, color me shocked but they actually did get a lot from this deal. Undoing firings (including Dept of Ed Special Ed, which is huge), SNAP funded for the next year, and the R’s are supposed to vote on ACA subsidies and they’ll either not vote or vote against and the Dems should pounce…..
This is very much a Democratic Party thing. No way these eight senators just went behind Schumer’s back to make this deal. Schumer got hammered back in March so now he got eight senators who aren’t up for re-election in 2026 to take the fall and then voted No himself so that he can claim he is against it.
The Republicans will not vote or vote against which means the ACA is effectively dead. That’s why making the government shutdown about healthcare was pointless if the Dems weren’t planning on staying the course. Nobody says it would have been easy to stay and fight. People were getting hurt but hey, guess what? People are still gonna get hurt except now the GOP has another win under their belt.
I don’t have a lot of faith that the median American voter will see this as solely the fault of the GOP. I think a lot will feel so angry and powerless as they continue to feel the squeeze the from the tariffs, inflation and higher insurance premiums that both parties will be blamed for not saving the ACA.
And any agreement that doesn’t request a rule change prohibiting recissions is useless, performative nonsense.
Y’all, this damn near did me in last night. I almost cried. I am really starting to despair.
Just had to say that.
I felt the same way, BeanieBean.
I cry every damn day. This is not sustainable.
I don’t like Schumer and I think they need to get a Senate leader who doesn’t play by the old rules (which includes enriching themselves). Having said that, I don’t know that there was much choice. I believe increasing the number of hungry and/or homeless people in the US doesn’t help anyone. Well, it helps the Republicans if that’s their goal. I suspect this was something arranged with the GOP leadership in the Senate to devise a way to get the government open again. Mike Johnson is now in a position that he either has to open the government or he has to explain why people haven’t gotten hungry enough.
With the high grocery prices, I hope if you can give some amount monthly to your local food bank you do so. The food banks can stretch your dollar a lot farther than you can.
And will Johnson now have to seat Adelita Grijalva so we can finally release the Epstein files or will the GOP find a way around that too?
I’m ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTED. DISGUSTED!!! And my son is on SNAP and I still find these defective Democrats DISGUSTING!!!
I’ve always appreciated your political writing Kaiser and as usual you are dead on about HOW ABSOLUTELY STUPID this is. With the exception of Kaine, who represents the largest federal workforce, I can’t think of a reason why these others (and Schumer – of course he’s behind this) I can’t think of why they capitulated. Eff these mfers!!! Without the tax credits, people will go without insurance, then show up at the ER, which is the most expensive healthcare. The hospitals will hope they will get reimbursed from the Trump government (HA!). If not, hospitals will close, people will die, and costs will skyrocket. Meantime, SNAP benefits have disappeared and COL will
Keep going up. So GD STUPID!!
Chuck should fall on his sword and let someone with new ideas step in. Trump has his number.