Granted, his main opposition on the Hill was Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) and Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY). Democrats still hate Chuck. Jeffries is Temu Obama. It’s not like Trump and the GOP needed to do much to shred their talking points and outmaneuver them as the shutdown fight raged. For over 40 days, Trump fought off Democrats and the media, who wanted the White House to cave on illegal alien health care, NPR funding, and other nonsense. The deal that Democrats agreed to sign off on to end the impasse is essentially what Republicans offered from the get-go. The GOP and Trump remained united, and the Democrats blinked. The two words that could describe Trump in the wake of this fight: total victor. (via NY Post):
The collapse of Chuck Schumer’s shutdown gambit, when seven fellow Democrats and one independent broke ranks with him, serves as a humiliating bookend to the longest government closure ever.
It also simultaneously highlights one of President Trump’s most sweeping and crucial Washington victories over his most toxic opponents.
[…]
In the end, the only concession Republicans made was a promise to hold a vote next month on the issue, which is relatively worthless because nobody believes the vote is likely to lead to any changes in the status quo.
The lack of any concrete result explains why so many Dems and their media megaphones are spitting mad at the outcome and are calling for Schumer’s head.
He was the chief proponent of the shutdown, and got next to nothing except a major black eye for himself and his party.
His calculations were so off the mark that even much of the media didn’t play along this time because it was so obvious that Dems were fixated only on rescuing Obamacare and that Republicans were determined to say no.
Even in Washington, blaming the GOP for refusing to fund something it said it was never going to fund had zero logic or persuasive power.
For Schumer, the death knell of the flawed strategy came when he was unable to hold his caucus together any longer.
[…]
In fact, extending the shutdown, given GOP unity, would have been colossally dumb.
The 42-day closure was the longest ever, and caused enormous strain and pain for tens of millions of Americans.
Over 1 million government workers were furloughed without pay, food benefits were delayed for needy families and chaos swamped airports across the nation because of a shortage of air traffic controllers.
What about SNAP benefits? Well, that talking point got some traction, but the GOP offered to fund them 15 times during this impasse, and the Democrats said no. They’re on tape saying inflicting pain on the American people was a bargaining chip for them. They liked doing it. Please tell me someone at the RNC is compiling the mega compilation to be used against Democrats. SNAP will be funded through September 2026.
Like in March, the Democrats had no plan, no message, and no clear leader—all three of which you need in a melee of this sort. Schumer tried twice to pick a fight over spending and lost both times. Trump won, and Schumer might be given the boot as Senate leader. On the flip side, it’s not a forgone conclusion that Democrats would get behind Jeffries to lead them next session of Congress. We have two bad leaders, messengers, and potential lame ducks leading the Democrats' shutdown fight. No wonder they lost.
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