Your analysis seems to be missing a logical cog: You decry the Democrats' shutdown "surrender" but it was that surrender that, by ending the shutdown, forced Johnson to seat Grijalva, which in turn moved Trump/GOP's Epstein nightmare forward. So to these tired eyes it looks like the Democrats made, politically and tactically, a very smart decision. What am I missing?
I agree with you. Trump, and most republicans in congress do not care about people suffering, losing healthcare, etc so in my opinion the Dems were never going to get that ACÁ tax extension. They held on long enough to make their point and bring more awareness, then needed to move on. And the “moving on” part is proving to be a nightmare for trump.
That's way too three dimensional chess to ever attribute to the Democratic Senators who caved - remember who we're dealing with, Chuck Schumer is in no way a brilliant tactician or courageous leader (and forgive me but we all know who orchestrated the capitulation). More likely it's all just a lucky coincidence that has spared these Senators extended scrutiny after their failures on the shut down vote. They got nothing in return for their votes, and the ACA is likely mortally wounded.
They got a Dem seated in Congress and a marketing win: public blames Repubs for shutdown and Epstein is back in the discourse. People who decry Dems caving either don't live in states with a lot of federal workers, or prefer the fist-waving grandstanding of Saint Bernie.
They did not get the concrete objective that was the shutdown's nominal peg in the ground. But they knew when the commenced the shutdown that they were extremely unlikely to get that.
So you could blame them more for starting the shutdown than for ending it -- though after going along in March, the pressure to "do something" now was intense.
It is not at all clear when Johnson would have seated Grijalva if the House had remained closed, and there was no compelling reason to open it other than voting on the funding bill.
The best thing about Trump possibly holding up the files is that it keeps the story in the news. Just like having DOJ go after Dems, keeps story in the news. Thank Jesus these people are morons and don’t look down the road first.
Thank you, Mr. Berlatsky. The bungling of the epstein files is really amazing. djt could have scrubbed the files months ago and released them. djt could have had them destroyed and used our former Justice Department to fight a never-ending legal battle for which he would have his version of plausible deniability. It all makes me wonder what is happening behind the scenes.
It’s looking more and more like the “surrender” to end the shut down was not an actual failure, but losing the battle to win the war. It was clear Trump and the GOP were not going to give in on the subsidies, so Dems needed a way to end the shutdown, push getting the Epstein files released, and make health costs a 2026 campaign issue. Their move managed all three. It might just turn out to be a stroke of genius. The angst and anger kicked up on the part of the Democratic Party may serve to kickstart their enthusiasm for the election. If Dems turn out, Republicans don’t stand a chance, no matter how much gerrymandering occurs.
"The Senate could also pass it with some sort of noxious amendment designed to kill it, forcing another vote in the House. And even if it survived that, it would still have to go to the president, who may veto it. The House and Senate would then have to muster a two-thirds vote to override him. And even then Trump still might just refuse to release the files, and the whole thing would go to the courts, and who knows what would happen at that point."
There's also the danger that Schumer will do what he does best and work to kill any democratic support for releasing the files.
Yoo hoo, Sen Barrasso. Your boy is ALREADY a lame duck. Did you miss your party’s recent shellacking?
Also, all the attempts to further delay releasing the files? Is another bad news day for Trump & Republicans.
The late MI & IA AD Don Canham said “don’t make a 1 day story a 3 day story.” Trump has made the Epstein files story a many months story with no end in sight.
What is almost humorous about the MAGA lust for the Epstein files, and the assertion that MAGA still can be made frothing at the mouth just by the mentioning of the name Bill Clinton, who for all practical purposes exited the political stage after the Gore-Bush battle was thrown to Bush and those scoundrels James Baker and Dick Cheney by the SCOTUS in 2001.
I have a silly question, that nevertheless bugs me. I'm paid subscriber. So why am I seeing between every other paragraph an advertisement to convince me to become a paid subscriber?
Your analysis seems to be missing a logical cog: You decry the Democrats' shutdown "surrender" but it was that surrender that, by ending the shutdown, forced Johnson to seat Grijalva, which in turn moved Trump/GOP's Epstein nightmare forward. So to these tired eyes it looks like the Democrats made, politically and tactically, a very smart decision. What am I missing?
I agree with you. Trump, and most republicans in congress do not care about people suffering, losing healthcare, etc so in my opinion the Dems were never going to get that ACÁ tax extension. They held on long enough to make their point and bring more awareness, then needed to move on. And the “moving on” part is proving to be a nightmare for trump.
That's way too three dimensional chess to ever attribute to the Democratic Senators who caved - remember who we're dealing with, Chuck Schumer is in no way a brilliant tactician or courageous leader (and forgive me but we all know who orchestrated the capitulation). More likely it's all just a lucky coincidence that has spared these Senators extended scrutiny after their failures on the shut down vote. They got nothing in return for their votes, and the ACA is likely mortally wounded.
The problem is that they caved, again, and got literally nothing in return.
They got a Dem seated in Congress and a marketing win: public blames Repubs for shutdown and Epstein is back in the discourse. People who decry Dems caving either don't live in states with a lot of federal workers, or prefer the fist-waving grandstanding of Saint Bernie.
1: I'm no Bernie fan.
2: They failed to protect healthcare.
3: She was going to be seated regardless.
4: Schumer's track record of blatant spinelessness has removed any benefit of the doubt.
They did not get the concrete objective that was the shutdown's nominal peg in the ground. But they knew when the commenced the shutdown that they were extremely unlikely to get that.
So you could blame them more for starting the shutdown than for ending it -- though after going along in March, the pressure to "do something" now was intense.
It is not at all clear when Johnson would have seated Grijalva if the House had remained closed, and there was no compelling reason to open it other than voting on the funding bill.
There was no clear path to a winning endgame for Democrats, and a great deal more pain was going to be inflicted. Was "the cave" disappointing? Yes. Because, as you say, it fits into an infuriating pattern. Was it bad politics, per se? I think not. See https://whowhatwhy.org/politics/us-politics/shutdown-post-mortem-straightening-out-the-democrats-circular-firing-squad/.
The best thing about Trump possibly holding up the files is that it keeps the story in the news. Just like having DOJ go after Dems, keeps story in the news. Thank Jesus these people are morons and don’t look down the road first.
Thank you, Mr. Berlatsky. The bungling of the epstein files is really amazing. djt could have scrubbed the files months ago and released them. djt could have had them destroyed and used our former Justice Department to fight a never-ending legal battle for which he would have his version of plausible deniability. It all makes me wonder what is happening behind the scenes.
It’s looking more and more like the “surrender” to end the shut down was not an actual failure, but losing the battle to win the war. It was clear Trump and the GOP were not going to give in on the subsidies, so Dems needed a way to end the shutdown, push getting the Epstein files released, and make health costs a 2026 campaign issue. Their move managed all three. It might just turn out to be a stroke of genius. The angst and anger kicked up on the part of the Democratic Party may serve to kickstart their enthusiasm for the election. If Dems turn out, Republicans don’t stand a chance, no matter how much gerrymandering occurs.
“House Speaker” and “masterclass” in the same sentence! And they said irony was dead …
"The Senate could also pass it with some sort of noxious amendment designed to kill it, forcing another vote in the House. And even if it survived that, it would still have to go to the president, who may veto it. The House and Senate would then have to muster a two-thirds vote to override him. And even then Trump still might just refuse to release the files, and the whole thing would go to the courts, and who knows what would happen at that point."
There's also the danger that Schumer will do what he does best and work to kill any democratic support for releasing the files.
Yoo hoo, Sen Barrasso. Your boy is ALREADY a lame duck. Did you miss your party’s recent shellacking?
Also, all the attempts to further delay releasing the files? Is another bad news day for Trump & Republicans.
The late MI & IA AD Don Canham said “don’t make a 1 day story a 3 day story.” Trump has made the Epstein files story a many months story with no end in sight.
Nuts, meet fist. Repeat.
What is almost humorous about the MAGA lust for the Epstein files, and the assertion that MAGA still can be made frothing at the mouth just by the mentioning of the name Bill Clinton, who for all practical purposes exited the political stage after the Gore-Bush battle was thrown to Bush and those scoundrels James Baker and Dick Cheney by the SCOTUS in 2001.
I have a silly question, that nevertheless bugs me. I'm paid subscriber. So why am I seeing between every other paragraph an advertisement to convince me to become a paid subscriber?