Senator Who Caved on Shutdown Says “Standing Up to Trump Didn’t Work”
7mon 9d ago by lemmy.world/u/inclementimmigrant in politics from newrepublic.com
It doesn’t get more pathetic than this.
Oh I disagree that the Democrats won't be more pathetic than this.
It literally was. His approval was collapsing. Why the fuck is this so hard for anyone with an ounce of power?
They like retaining power more than actually standing up for what is right.
I got news about that retention with the direction we are going
Pretty sure all the ones that did this aren't up for election.
These slimy fucks just used the shutdown to win the elections.
We need to impeach them, or somehow get the electorate to have a memory longer than a goldfish
The ones that voted are either A) Retiring, or B) Not up for Reelection in '26, yes.
They almost certainly did this either under pressure from the air travel lobby to not let this disrupt the thanksgiving air travel season, or because they were actually worried that Trump was going to get enough votes to nuke the filibuster.
They're focused on all the do-nothing jobs and speaking opportunities post-retirement.
Or do the other thing that any other country would have done by now
They won't need a memory much longer than that if they keep being reminded of just how much they've been massively fucked over and over again.
STOP thinking about Yourself and START thinking about the Rich People who's Private Jets were being Grounded and Stocks going DOWN! This was ALMOST becoming a TRAGEDY! It's a GOOD thing Dems caved when they did before something CATASTROPHIC happened like MILLIONS of Children going Hungry! MILLIONS of Working Class Families losing Healthcare! Rich people Feeling UNCOMFORTABLE!
Oh, I think about the rich... Lately, I've been thinking about them a whole lot.
Head and shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes.
Gouge their eyes, eat their ears, rip their bowels through their nose.
Head, shoulder knees and toes, knees and toes.
money
True, look at all the oligarchs Putin offed to steal their money. Maybe Trump will kill Elon. I hear they aren't friends anymore.
I'm pretty sure some of their flights out of DCA were moderately delayed. It was horrific!
Ezra Klein had an interesting take which was that the shutdown was to actually to bring attention to the healthcare subsidy issue in a very public way, even though they knew Trump would never negotiate on the issue in the end. But now they have a massive policy cudgel, and the media initiative heading into the midterms.
Ezra Klein can eat shit
An abundance of shit
We've tried nothing and we're all out of ideas!
Uhh, more Americans blamed Republicans and Trump's approval tanked.
This guy is full of fucking shit. There was no reason relent and it would've set Dems up for success next year.
Primary them all.
When they say "standing up to Trump didn't work" they actually mean that their corporate donors got mad at them and threatened to cut them off
Start some grassroots movements to kick the fuckers out? There's gotta be some mechanism they can be removed by.
Primary them, and then they'll ratfuck your progressive candidates, and run third party if they lose.
You're not wrong sadly:
- We saw that with Cuomo going Independent against Mamdani
- We saw Sinema flip Independent
- We saw basically the same thing when DINO billionaire Bloomberg derailed Sanders and Warren in 2020.
- We'll almost certainly see Fetterman do the same thing.
At least with Mamdani's case, it was worth trying.
How the fuck would he know?
LESS THAN ONE FUCKING WEEK AFTER SWEEPING ELECTION DAY
Yup. Snatching defeat from the stomach of victory.
I mean these spinless MF'ers had to reach down deep, past the jaws of victory, just to pull out the comfort of being a conservative.
Democrats held out until after the election, that's all this was.
They promised big things for the election and then went back to the status quo as soon as it was over.
Same as it ever was for these ratfuckers.
Did King really believe this, or were there other reasons why he caved? His son, Angus King III, is running for governor of Maine, and Senator King’s decision may have been a misguided attempt to help him. King is also not up for reelection until 2030, so perhaps he thought he could escape electoral consequences.
Isn't the election already over? How does caving now help? And if the gubernatorial election hasn't happened yet, well, vote for the other Democratic candidate, I guess?
It’s probably a move to appease the corporate donors. I believe it kicks the can for the shutdown to be next year since it’s pretty much guaranteed to happen again.
Dems made them promise to put those ACA measures back in next year. They can light a fire under Republicans during midterms if they don’t stick to their word and there could even be another shutdown which would tank Republicans at the polls.
It was a weak move to cave this time around, but there’s a lot of room to demand even more when it’s right around midterms.
Dems made them promise to put those ACA measures back in next year.
They got Thune to promise a separate vote in the senate on the ACA credits, probably in December. Even if that passed in the senate, Johnson won't schedule a vote on it in the house. And if by some miracle it passed the house, Trump would just veto it.
It's nothing. It's absolutely nothing. At most they got Republicans to vote against ACA credits specifically, which is nothing compared to other shit they've already voted on, and will be far less effective than letting them take the heat for the shut down. The fact that they were willing to prolong the shut down just to kill the ACA credits says a lot more than a simple vote would.
Even if trump were to sign it, enrollment ends on December 15th, so agreeing to hold a vote in December basically guarantees people will be hit with higher premiums which is what they were fighting to avoid.
Blue states need to implement their own public healthcare options. The longer we rely on the Federal government for it, the more likely it gets taken away at this point in time. People living in Purple and Red states will be the ones demanding it if all the Blue states are not even using it.
It all makes sense when you realize moderate Dems want what Trump is doing.
Dems made them promise
Can't trust the promise of liars. They threw it all away for a promise of a vote that will never fucking happen.
The vote will probably happen, it will simply fail.
If Dems are smart they would use the failure to deliver on that promise by Republicans and the possibility of another shutdown to pass positive legislation leading up to midterms.
This was the only leverage dems had for this congressional budget year. They gave it up for a vote on a single concession, which will be voted against.
Corporations likely came in requesting things to open back up else a lot of the corporate donor money would stop. It was not a good move to fold, imo, they likely are aiming to make this a next year’s issue.
If Republicans vote against the concession then that will make even Republican voters upset, since so many people depend on having lower health insurance premiums via the ACA subsidies.
That's not going to happen, republican voters will support their candidates opposing the opposition.
If he thinks it doesn't work, then why doesn't he resign? The whole point of having senators is that they have some power and if they simply don't believe they have any, then they literally serve no purpose. And it's one thing to fight against Trump and lose and realize that you were mistaken, that you thought you had some control. But it's another to keep working your job and collecting the paycheck while openly admitting you're powerless.
Millenials, Gen Z this is your chance. Start running to take congress and senate positions in the next elections. Or find new people to support. Things do not have to stay the way they have been. There is enough of the voting population outside of the boomer gen now to change voting outcomes but you need to put yourself out there and not hope for someone else to do it for you.
In the meantime, do what you can with your spending. Don't send any money to billionaires even if that means giving up stuff you currently buy. Time to start starving the billionaire class since the (current) governments are owned by them.
And maybe start a new party. Call it progressive. Democrats certainly aren't.
Bull Moose Party, 2026!
Maybe 2032..
By then we might be able to vote again.
"Man who climbed halfway up small hill before giving up says reaching the top is impossible"
These worthless sacks of shit never even put their boots on.
Oh boy is that sad. Standing up to Trump works just fine. To put it politely, you get fucked for sure when you roll over, at least when you stand up there's a chance.
Well this is pretty much exactly what Republicans needed.
They pitched that they were perfectly willing to be reasonable and the democrats were the crazy ones.
Now they pass an extension, specifying to block the non-existent illegal immigrant gap and say "see, we were ready to take care of the people, but the democrats forced things to be bad, and these few democrats reluctantly came over which just proves they were in the wrong"
Another chunk of what I assume is their strategy: Make 2025 bad in ways to make it easier to make 2026 feel great by comparison.
Remember how well "if you can't fight them, join them!" worked for all of those people in Nazi Germany and WW2? Definitely caving in to the Nazis was a smart move...
Trump is a loser piece of shit wannabe Nazi, you don't cave to Nazis, you fight them at all costs because caving is always worse than you think it is.
Tbf you'd have to actually try first instead of caving immediately.
2025 elections said what? 🤔
None of them are up for re-election in 2026.
I think the commenter's point was that the 2025 elections show that voters want to elect people who stand up to Trump.
Let's hope that's true.
The Democrats don't do shit except send me weekly texts from ActBlue begging for money. That's the only time I hear from them or there is some outreach. I'll never send a cent ever again. The state of our country is partially their fault for not even maintaining a functional party with candidates that don't require holding your nose.
Just make him a fucking king already then, you spineless mollusks. That'll make your jobs much easier so you won't have to make hard decisions like choosing to fight for your constituents.
Senator Angus King is in the Trump/Epstein files confirmed.
I wonder who paid him off.
AIPAC
And corporate and ultrarich
It was working until some cowards gave in.
"Standing up to trump didnt work.. sure republicans were panicking and melting down at the overwhelming support democrats had at the time, literally convinced the GOP was on the verge of extinction, and had the overwhelming majority of people blaming Republicans for it all..
but I didnt want to risk the ACA subsudies actually going through, cause thats what I've already built my next campaign around, so we gave trump everything he wanted without getting a single thing"
Then nothing works and it's civil war....maybe try something else first.
In any other circumstance, this would be the end of the conversation. There's no point in further conversation because even when their entire job is literally "do nothing", they refuse to do it. So, you walk away, tell Security to remove them from the building, and let them know all further communication will be done through legal representation.
The fact that this isn't happening shows that the entire system was doomed to begin with.
They're not up for reelection next cycle, so they're already getting fired, it's just too bad that's not happening for several months and it already fucked this particular situation and everything behind it (and they'll do it again before they're gone).
Standing up to fascists with politics doesn't work, that's true.
Standing up to fascists with force works. The people are apparently not desperate enough for that yet, and now the time that they will be desperate enough is farther away.
They have only delayed the inevitable.
Pretending to have a spine for a few weeks must have been exhausting. Cowardly idiot.
The Democrats who caved just happened to be all safe in their districts with no upcoming elections. This is strategic like everything in politics. They stood to make more money by caving so it wasn't just these eight, it was a group decision.
Not solving healthcare will of course work to their advantage. Gotta keep dangling that affordable healthcare carrot. Did you expect them to tackle another big important issue?
I wonder if I am getting little too cynical sometimes but the Democrats always convince I am not.
Being a democrat is like having commanding officers most of which cannot grasp which end of a gun the bullets come from.
It's not stupidity or cowardice, the dems who voted to reopen are doing this on purpose. Their interests dont align with the well being of the vast majority of Americans.
Ok...after today, It's possible I may need to retract that a little.
"Standing Up to Trump Didn't Work...so I took the money and decided to get out of politics" FTFY
Unfit for office.
Nothing says "journalism" like repeating the content of a televised interview and getting the name of Maine's governor wrong.
And giving him what he wants will. Goodbye and good riddance you braindead meatbags
Caving to Trump, though, works just great -- for Trump and GOP, Certainly not for amyone else, such as theUS public,
I've heard this argument that the deal they got wasn't going to get any better in a few places. What are the counter arguments to that?
Because it was working, trumps numbers are down a bit, the election losses. But those didn't phase the Republicans at all seemingly. I personally think they still should have held out, but I don't have any logic for my stance. Is there any?
Yes. All the same logic for dealing with a bully. The next "deal" will be worse. Now they know they can push as hard as they want and the opposition will always cave. This was the one chance the Dems had to show a spine against this admin and now it's gone.
The next "deal" will be struck in January when federal funding runs out, when we have another Democrat sworn into the house, when snap benefits are not at risk for another 8 months.
I'm also disappointed in this, but its worth pointing out that they may be setting up for a later fight which doesn't come at the cost of starving our poorest citizens, which the trump administration has shown the nation they're gleeful to do.
I hope your right, I really do. It just seems like every time a fight has been lost, the answer is always "but next time" or "but next election".... Meanwhile look where we're at now. How many more next times do we have?
In fairness, it was only 8 democrates. But yeah, I am not sure why the Republicans would give in in January if they wouldn't now.
I wonder if Obamacare folks would've paid their first payment for 2025 by then? There may be value in letting folks see sticker shock, as it gives a clear "this is what we're fighting for" signal
Didn't they already get the letters or something? But I would assume they pay for the month up front, so that is a great point.
I didn't see anything about securing snap benefits or anything. Is that a side effect kind of thing?
But in a major concession for Democrats, the deal does not include an extension of enhanced subsidies under Obamacare, or the Affordable Care Act, after Republicans held firm against extending those funds beyond this year. That means more than 20 million Americans could see their premiums spike next year.
Hot dang, I read a cbs news article and it didn't mention that. I even went back to check. Isn't cbs under new ownership or something?
Idk, I definitely remember initial articles only saying "Democrats caved!" And I had to dig around to find out who, and had to dig around more to find out what was agreed to.
You are speculating at possible future fights ... But that's not what they said when they caved, is it. So they're lying about their motives?
I mean they did get some things in other areas. The argument I am hearing is that the deal won't get better. And I find it hard to counter that myself.
What'd they get in other areas? I must have missed that.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/government-shutdown-senate-deal/
Some year long funding for the VA, reversal of any federal job cuts from october 1st on. And blocking further job cuts for a little while. Nothing massive, but not small either. And it only ends the shut down for about 2.5 months. I still don't like it, but I can't argue that it is nothing either.
Their corporate overlords (amazon mostly I bet) were going to start losing money from the holiday air shipping and travel closures so they called up Schumer and told him to rap it up.
Schumer voted no. I'm looking for real reasons that won't get me laughed out of the room for being uninformed.
Schumer was in on it and voted no because he wanted the plausible deniability because he knows he's in hot water for all his previous collaborationist deals. The yes voters are loyal sacrificial patsies who (all but one I think) aren't up for reelection. It's backfired on him because one of the patsies chickened out while being grilled on camera and blabbed on him. That's the consensus.
As to why now, yeah I'm pretty sure the air traffic closures were going to inconvenience their corporate donors.
What the fuck is with this article? All over the place. Horrible read. Two relevant paragraphs.
Eight Senate Democrats caved to Donald Trump and voted to approve a budget deal with Republicans to end the government shutdown, angering their colleagues in Congress as well as their own party’s base.
These eight senators, including independent Angus King who caucuses with the party, are all either retiring or up for reelection years from now. They likely feel that they won’t have to pay an electoral cost for failing to stand up for Democrats’ goal of extending health care subsidies, instead settling for a future vote on the matter.
The full list of these Democrats is below:
Senator Richard Durbin (Illinois, retiring) Senator Angus King (Maine, term ends in 2030) Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (Nevada, term ends in 2028) Senator Jacky Rosen (Nevada, term ends in 2030) Senator Maggie Hassan (New Hampshire, term ends in 2028) Senator Jeanne Shaheen (New Hampshire, retiring) Senator John Fetterman (Pennsylvania, 2028) Senator Tim Kaine (Virginia, 2030)
As a resident of Nevada, I sure wish we could recall federal offices the same way we could recall state ones right about now...
He's 81 and in for reelection in 2030?
(Last year he won over two other candidates like 15 years younger than him, still over retirement age.)
Who are his sponsors/who does he work for?
Was it about air travel?
If Olympic games/basketball/hockey/etc would be chosen by vote USA teams would all be over 80 probably.
In my mind it was 100% either pressure from the air travel lobby, or because they thought Trump might actually get the votes to nuke the filibuster.
He has to go. POS.
While King does caucus with Democrats, he isn’t an explicit member of the party anymore and hasn’t been since the 90’s
These traitors need to be removed from office.
Fucking christ, I hate Neoliberals
vote blue no matter who tho
Trump was willing to starve the hostage, they were not. Simple as.
I do not believe this had anything at all to do with hungry people.
As someone far more astute than me pointed out, they caved at the same time flights started to get cancelled, not when people were about to go hungry, nor even when they missed their SNAP disbursements.
It's the big donor issue of flight cancellations, not the welfare of citizens, that dictated it's time to end the shutdown now and not a month ago.
If that were the case, they would've caved 40 days ago. Caving now ensures that all the pain we went through was for absolutely nothing.