Dems to Democrat Base: Drop Dead

Democrats are fighting so ferociously to keep the federal government closed, it’s as if they were trying to kill a GOP-sponsored scheme to exempt The Top 1% from the income tax. Au contraire, congressional Republicans uncharacteristically are trying to keep Biden-era federal spending cruising on auto pilot, with neither reductions nor reforms. 

But that’s not good enough for House Democrat chief Hakeem Jeffries or Senate Democrat leader Chuck Schumer—both New Yorkers.

Jeffries plus 209 of 211 (99.1%) House Democrats who voted said Nay to the GOP’s “clean,” no-strings-attached continuing resolution (CR) on Sept. 19. Among the 218 House Republicans who voted, 216 (99.1%) said Yea.

Among Senate Republicans, 52 of 53 (98.1%) have voted consistently to reopen the government (Kentucky’s Rand Paul dissents.) At most, three of the Democrat Caucus’ 47 members (6.4%) have done likewise. Unfortunately, it takes 60 votes to pass this spending plan. Even a unanimous vote of all 53 Senate Republicans would require seven concurring Democrats to smash Schumer’s filibuster and adopt the House’s “clean” CR.

Democrats are so desperate to blockade the GOP Senate that they keep throwing their favorite constituencies—the keystones of their base—under the bus.

Between Sept. 19 and Oct. 28, Senate Democrats voted thirteen times to shut down the government and keep it shuttered, even as Republicans repeatedly invited them to underwrite their most loyal supporters. Rather than reopen the government, Schumer & Co ….

•…spurned Food Stamps, never mind that SNAP recipients are 46.7% Democrat—not quite double the 26.8% who are independents and 26.5% Republicans, according to Dec. 6, 2024’s JAMA Health Forum. 

•…blocked a bill by Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., to pay crucial federal employees during the shutdown. Democrats opposed compensating career federal civil servants who, in 2019, were 50% Democrat—again, nearly double those who were Republican (26%) or independent (24%), as the National Bureau of Economic Research reported in April 2021.

•…denied paychecks to air traffic controllers. So what that their union endorsed Kamala Harris for president in August 2024?

Democrats have caused abundant pain, as these Americans deliver public services without pay and try to cover their bills without money.

Nonetheless, Democrats cheer their own intolerable cruelty.

Schumer channeled his inner Marie Antoinette when he bragged that, the longer the shutdown persists, “Every day gets better for us.” This comment was appalling, colder than an Arctic Frost, and downright sadistic.

“Who is ‘us’?” Sen. John Barrasso demanded on the Senate floor on Oct. 9. “Not better for the American people. Who does he mean by ‘us’? Not the military who is not getting paid. Not the Border Patrol who are not getting paid.”

“Frankly, this is our only moment of leverage, and although a very unpleasant tool to use,” Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., said on C-SPAN.

House Democrat Whip Katherine Clark of Massachusetts told Fox News’ Chad Pergram. “Shutdowns are terrible and, of course, there will be, you know, families that are going to suffer … But it is one of the few leverage items we have.”

“This is not a game,” Senate Republican Leader John Thune of South Dakota said Wednesday. “They’re playing with real people’s lives.”

Thune diagnosed the cause of Democrats’ shutdown fever: “Trump Derangement Syndrome,” Thune explained. “Nothing more. Nothing less.”

To “Get Trump,” Democrats are using the American people as human battering rams. Unfortunately for Democrats, the American people are getting battered. And recent polls confirm that they are not amused.

Democrats’ job approval stands at 26%, while 67% disapprove, according to an Oct. 22 Quinnipiac University survey of 1,327 registered voters (error margin: +/- 3.5%). That puts Democrats 41% underwater. If they surface too swiftly, they could get the bends. 

For Republicans, Quinnipiac measured 35% approval and 59% disapproval.

Meanwhile, as CNN’s Harry Enten relates, since the shutdown began, President Donald Trump’s approval is up 1%. The GOP’s overall net popularity has increased by 2%, while congressional Republicans, at the eye of this storm, have seen this figure increase by 5%.

The GOP Congress’ net approval has grown by 8% among independents and 12% among Republicans, who applaud their own team’s performance. GOP voters are pleased, for once, not to watch the invertebrate former Senate Republican “leader” Mitch McConnell of Kentucky surrender to Democrats more quickly than a French buck private awakened by German Girl Scouts.

Schumer and Jeffries are in huge trouble when the head of a bureaucrats’ union tells them to stop goofing off and give back to Americans the government for which they pay trillions in taxes.

“As president of the American Federation of Government Employees, I represent over 800,000 federal and D.C. government workers who serve with pride and professionalism,” Everett Kelley wrote in a withering statement on Monday. “They ensure our skies are safe, our veterans receive care, our borders are protected, and our food is inspected.” Kelley called Schumer’s shutdown “an avoidable crisis that is harming families, communities, and the very institutions that hold our country together.” 

Kelley has had enough: “Reopen the government immediately under a clean continuing resolution that allows continued debate on larger issues.” 

Everett Kelley is right. It’s past time for Democrats to stop torturing the American people. They should junk the shutdown and negotiate with Republicans on health care and other matters. Let GIs pay their bills and air traffic controllers focus on landing planes rather than kiting checks.

With any luck, Democrats have learned this lesson: Making Americans scream in agony is no way to govern. After all, this is not the Spanish Inquisition.

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