Usually, when something confusing, unusual, or kinda-sorta ambiguous happens in politics, there’s a frantic PR rush to define the narrative. On both sides of the aisle, politicians race to the cameras to “sell” their version of the story.
That’s because people don’t know what they saw 'til you hold their hand and explain it to 'em.
It’s a lot like “selling” in pro wrestling, where one guy reacts to the dreaded figure-four leglock by screaming, writhing, and moaning in agony. It’s not the offense that keeps the audience emotionally engaged, but the degree of drama and danger expressed by the victim. (The hyperbolized urgency of the TV commentators helps, too.)
Without the post-move theatrics and “selling,” politics — and/or pro wrestling — doesn’t make any sense.
(Birds of a feather and all that.)
So, you’d assume that last week’s “Schumer Shutdown” becoming this week’s “Schumer Surrender” would fall neatly into that category. After all, parliamentary procedure, partisan hackery, and 60-man filibusters are confusing for the layman to follow. Yawn!
Joe Six-Pack is (vaguely) aware that the GOP controls the White House and Congress — and that a stupidly long government shutdown was screwing up air travel and depriving federal employees of paychecks — but he wasn’t following the ins and outs of the political bickering. Which is why, under normal conditions, we’d expect the Republicans and Democrats to grandstand on national TV today, declaring victory and putting a “happy face” on the results.
But that’s not going on. Instead, the most influential leftists are “selling” a painful, horrible Democratic defeat.
From Jessica Corbett of Common Dreams: “Ocasio-Cortez Notes Schumer’s Role in Democratic Failure That Got ‘Nothing’ in Shutdown Fight”
As the US House of Representatives prepared for a vote to reopen the federal government, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Wednesday called out members of her own Democratic Party in the Senate, including Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who capitulated to Republicans in the shutdown fight, for which they received “nothing” in return.
[…]
“I think it’s important that we understand that this is not just about Sen. Schumer, but that this is about the Democratic Party,” she told CNN‘s Manu Raju. “Sen. Schumer—there’s no one vote that ended this shutdown. We are talking about a coordinated effort of eight senators, with the knowledge of Leader Schumer, voting to break with the entire Democratic Party in exchange for nothing.”
In Politico’s coverage — “The shutdown is ending, and House Democrats are furious” — the word “mad” was used four times — in just the first two paragraphs! (With “fury,” “bitter,” and “sour” included in paragraphs three and four. Y’know, just in case Politico wasn’t clear.)
That’s because the Democrats are listening to their base: By a four-to-one margin, they wanted the Schumer Shutdown to continue!
According to a Kaiser Family Foundation survey:
A large majority of Democrats (81%) say Democrats in Congress should “refuse to approve a budget unless it includes extending these [Affordable Care Act] tax credits, even if it means the government remains shut down.”
That 81% almost exactly mirrors a survey from MoveOn.org that led the left-wing organization to demand Chuck Schumer’s scalp:
The progressive grassroots group MoveOn is calling on Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to step down from his powerful role after moderate Democrats joined with Republicans to work to end the government shutdown.
[…]
Around 80% of MoveOn members that the group surveyed said that Schumer should quit his leadership position, according to the organization.
Which is why EVERY Democrat with 2028 presidential aspirations won’t dispute the defeat. They don’t wanna get on the wrong side of their own base.
Almost immediately, Gavin Newsom attacked the Schumer Surrender. So did Illinois’ rotund governor, JB Pritzker. As did Bernie Sanders. Along with Pete Buttigieg, Cory Booker, Tim Walz, and the aforementioned AOC.
Other than Kamala Harris (who’s busy hawking books overseas and/or getting mocked by Australian journalists), it’s not coincidental that every major 2028 Democratic presidential candidate is singing from the same hymn sheet: The shutdown is over, and the Republicans won.
And that’s great news for Trump and the GOP. In politics, winning begets winning.
Victory is its own momentum.
Related: Jugular Time: Trump Should Demand a Constitutional Amendment to End Gerrymandering Once and for All
Therefore, the smartest PR move for the MAGAverse is to piggyback on the Democrats’ now-acknowledged defeat by “selling” the horrifying cost of their failed strategy: “Chuck Schumer and the Democratic Party led our country into an unnecessary, utterly pointless government shutdown that starved families, bled industries, jeopardized air travelers, and cost our economy billions of dollars. And now, they’re admitting that all this pain was for NOTHING?! Thank goodness President Trump is here to clean up their mess — yet again.”
So, that’s the positive: Democratic in-fighting and virtue signaling will make selling our victory a slam-dunk, can’t-miss success.
We won, and the whole world knows it.
The negative is, there are early signs that GOP unity won’t survive the forthcoming healthcare war.
From the USA Today article, “Master stroke or dumb luck, Dems may win shutdown’s long game”:
By master stroke or dumb luck, congressional Democrats may have won the long game by losing the short one on the shutdown. They have spotlighted the rising cost of health care and forced Republican senators to vote against premium help that Democrats support.
[…]
Nearly three-quarters of those [voters] surveyed, 74%, supported extending the tax credits for people who purchase health insurance through the Obamacare marketplaces. That includes not only almost every Democrat (94%) and most Independents (76%) but also half of Republicans (50%).
In fact, 44% of MAGA supporters − Trump's most fervent followers − want them extended.
Moderate Republicans from purple states were always vulnerable on healthcare. Statistically, independents are twice as likely (38%) to trust Democrats on healthcare costs as Republicans (18%).
With the 2026 midterms shaping up to be a helluva uphill battle for Republicans, look for moderate Republicans to be hyper-sensitive to political pressure: It won’t take much for 'em to cave.
Plus, some ex-members of the MAGA Army have staked their own path on the healthcare issue, including the mercurial Marjorie Taylor Greene.
As the government shutdown drags into its second week, Georgia’s congressional delegation is locked in a partisan struggle over who is to blame, with one of the state’s most high-profile Republicans, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, seemingly charting her own political path by challenging both parties on the issue of rising health care costs.
Greene, a staunch supporter of President Donald Trump, broke with her party’s leadership and declared, “I’m carving my own lane” in an online post this week. She said she would go “against everyone on this issue” because the premium hikes would impact “my own adult children” and her constituents in northwest Georgia.
She criticized the Republican-controlled Congress for prioritizing “foreign countries and foreign wars” over domestic health care affordability concerns.
Throughout the shutdown, she was the #1 ally of the Democratic Party.
From CBS News: “Jeffries names his surprise GOP ally during shutdown: ‘Three words — Marjorie Taylor Greene'”
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries listed GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene as an ally on the other side of the aisle during the longest government shutdown in modern history, after she spent weeks blasting her fellow Republicans over their handling of health care.
Hours before the House voted Wednesday to approve a Senate-passed funding package to end the shutdown, Jeffries was asked by "CBS Evening News" co-anchor John Dickerson if he found any Republican allies during the 43-day impasse.
The Democratic leader replied: "Three words — Marjorie Taylor Greene."
"She's been very clear that this health care crisis is not made up, it's real, Republicans have no health care plan, and that Democrats are correct in fighting to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits," Jeffries continued.
Prediction: When the healthcare debate heats up in a few months, Tucker Carlson — an ideological booster of MTG, on issues ranging from Israel to all kinds of conspiratorial gobbledygook — will have Greene’s back, reframing it as “America First” to SUPPORT President Obama’s signature legislation.
(Hey, it’s no less weird than claiming it’s “America First” to back Iran, support Qatar, defend Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro as a “cultural conservative,” hate Israel, slobber over Russian baked goods, and cheerlead neo-Nazis. At this point, Tucker’s gonna be Tucker.)
That’ll lead to two GOP vulnerabilities in the looming healthcare war: Squishy Republicans in competitive districts who fear the wrath of the voters, and “useful idiots” with oversized egos like MTG, who’ll be buoyed by “influencers” like Tucker Carlson.
The next battle is coming. Strap on a helmet: It’ll be a doozy.
The Trump White House should strategize accordingly.
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