Democrats are barreling headfirst into a trap of their own making, and there’s no way out that doesn’t end in disaster for them. With the looming threat of a government shutdown by Sept. 30, Senate Democrats, with Chuck Schumer leading them, have decided to hold the line. But this isn’t a simple case of resisting Trump and pleasing their base. The problem for them is simple: whether the government shuts down or not, Democrats lose this fight.
Earlier this year, Schumer and company were practically foaming at the mouth, warning of apocalypse if a shutdown occurred. Back in March, Democrats warned about tens of thousands of layoffs, chaos across government services, and the supposed unchecked power it would hand Donald Trump and the Office of Management and Budget.
They weren’t wrong. Schumer himself, facing pressure, ultimately voted with Republicans to keep the government open. Though his move was pragmatic, the political damage was real. Schumer’s political stock tumbled, and he faces a real threat of a primary challenge in 2028—potentially from none other than Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Despite their previous apocalyptic predictions of what will happen under a shutdown, Democrats are now singing a very different tune, downplaying the risks of a shutdown and brushing off Trump’s plan to for mass layoffs as little more than theater.
Schumer insists Trump’s OMB plans are intimidation tactics, quipping that “Donald Trump has been firing federal workers since day one — not to govern, but to scare.” He even suggests courts would eventually overrule the firings or that workers could be rehired down the road. That deflection may play with MSNBC’s audience, but in the real world, federal employees and contractors know what’s at stake.
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Meanwhile, Republicans are pounding Democrats for the hypocrisy. Senate Majority Leader John Thune has rightly pointed out how Democrats are contradicting everything they said just months ago about the dangers of letting Trump decide which parts of government live and die during a shutdown. Back then, Schumer warned that Trump and Musk would wield “carte blanche to destroy vital government services.” Now he shrugs it off with some courtroom-theory fantasy. Democrats can’t wriggle out of this contradiction, and voters see it.
Democrats are pretending to be engaged in serious discussions about how to keep the government open, but their proposals read less like a serious negotiation and more like a wish list for the the radical left: permanent Obamacare subsidy extensions, repeal of a Trump healthcare provision, and more taxpayer dollars for NPR and PBS. Republicans laughed it out of the room. It’s like Democrats haven’t come to terms with the fact that Trump and the GOP won the elections last year.
Here’s the problem Democrats can’t spin away: if they hold their ground and force a shutdown, Trump will proceed with mass firings across the federal government. If they fold and pass a deal, their own base will turn on them for caving yet again. Either way, Democrats will come out of this weaker, less credible, and politically bruised. Schumer may think he’s outmaneuvering Republicans, but what he’s really doing is cornering his party into an unwinnable political war.
