With the first, death is immediate; with the second, there is hope to find an antidote before it’s too late. That sums up the options Democrats faced last week: vote “No” on the stopgap spending bill and shut down the federal government, which is exactly what Trump and his MAGA Republicans wanted the Democrats to do; or vote “Yes” and keep it open to fight another day.
Last Friday, recognizing this will be a multi-year all-out battle to save our country, Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer chose the second—and with that he threw down the gauntlet, signaling his preparedness to wage war from the inside out, to protect ‘We the People’, our Constitution, and our country.
Many Democrats were livid, chastising Schumer for not using (non-existent) leverage, and calling for him to step down—even though there had been no plausible course of action for Democrats to take had they succeeded in shutting down the government.
Leverage comes when the President does not want a shutdown, and the minority party can negotiate. That is not the case here.
But Democrats were not the only ones angry. Donald Trump, Elon Musk and Project 2025 architect and Budget Director Russell Vought had been gaming for a shutdown. It would have provided them with the ideal structure and sweeping legal powers to dismantle the government irrevocably and make it substantially more difficult for courts to reverse.
A shutdown would have been the gateway for doing so much more damage, unchecked; and that’s exactly what Trump was angling for.
A shutdown recognizes the executive branch led by the president—in this case, Donald Trump—as the sole legal authority empowered to determine how the government should operate. Trump would have become the almighty decider, the one who declares which functions are “essential” and therefore should be maintained, and which ones are “dispensable” and therefore eliminated—and this executive power applies to all facets of government, without any “checks and balances”. Yes, Trump is ignoring the law now but at least he can be challenged in court. If there was a shutdown, most of his acts provoking this constitutional crisis would become legal.
And it gets worse, if that is even possible. It is totally plausible that the government would never “open” again because the Democrats wouldn’t have the votes; the Republicans wouldn’t have the incentive; and Trump would have every reason to keep it closed. And then what? The reality is that a shutdown would have provided Trump and Co. the perfect opportunity to go much further, enabling them to attack every part of the federal government.
For now, that door has been closed.
The Reality: The United State is in the midst of a constitutional crisis. This is uncharted territory. Donald Trump, with the willful support of the GOP, has made a mockery of the rule of law and all that has defined this country since its inception. For the most part, the courts appear as the last line of defense.
Democrats are rightly angry, searching for an effective tool to fight back; and Senator Schumer gave us one last Friday. It wasn’t a throw down; no overt drama. But successful none the less. It was a huge failure for Trump and his silence speaks volumes.
Historically, Schumer’s political instincts have proved right. Democrats now have a clear mission moving forward. They must stop attacking our elected officials and turning on each other.
Instead: Expose. Expose. Expose.
Expose the firings, cuts, closings, tariffs, health crisis, pending recession—everything in excruciating detail. Photograph. Document. Share. Expose.
It is critical to turn the tides. The next spending bill is in September, only six months away.
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