Spin Cycle: Dems Shut The Government Down For 40 Days. What Did They Win?

Democrats followed big wins — albeit in the reliably blue states of Virginia and Maryland and the deep blue city of New York — with what could only be described as capitulation on the government shutdown as it stretched into its 40th day, as eight Democratic senators voted with Republicans to break the filibuster.

For those who don’t spend their Sunday mornings glued to the television — and their Sunday afternoons attempting to dig through a week’s worth of network and cable news media spin — The Daily Wire normally would compile a short summary of what you may have missed. But with the shutdown driving discussions and an 11th-hour deal to break the stalemate, the real news rolled in a bit later than usual.

In the moments leading up to and immediately following the the test vote — and then a final vote in the Senate — critics in the media and within their own party quickly began piling on the Democrats who chose putting an end to the suffering of their constituents over another day fighting for something Republicans were clearly unwilling to give.

CNN let the mask slip almost immediately, after weeks of largely giving cover to the Democrats, and conceded that their pet party was actually the driving force behind keeping the Capitol shuttered.

???? JUST IN: CNN has STUNNED viewers after stating the quiet part out loud after Democrats caved on the shutdown

“The DEMOCRATIC filibuster has been broken!”

They just called it the Democrat shutdown!

Remember who REFUSED to pay the troops!

pic.twitter.com/eXOIzTDxMf

— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) November 10, 2025

“We’ve got plenty more on the other side, we will talk much more about this,” the anchor said. “Again, you’re looking live at the Senate floor as the Democratic filibuster has been broken. We have so far reached 60, we are waiting for the official count, but right now, 60 votes that would unlock moving forward with this plan to reopen the government on the Senate side.”

CNN anchor Jake Tapper had conceded several days earlier that Democrats were ultimately responsible for the stalemate, but he qualified the statement by noting that he certainly understood why they were holding out.

CNN exposes Democrats for shutting down the government and trying to mislead the American people.

JAKE TAPPER: “Democrats are the ones that are not voting to fund the government…” pic.twitter.com/9sTlM9hCwI

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) November 5, 2025

“Democrats are the ones that are not voting to fund the government,” he said on election night, adding immediately, “Now, I understand why they’re doing so, they’re doing so because of health care, and they want to fight and they want Republicans to negotiate, etc., etc.”

He went on to praise Democrats for sticking to “sharper” messaging and convincing voters that Republicans were actually the ones holding things up.

But Senator Angus King, an independent who caucuses with Democrats and had previously voted no on efforts to break the filibuster, said after casting his vote with Republicans that the messaging — however “sharp” — was just not working.

A Democrat senator who helped keep the shutdown alive is now admitting the truth: he caved because the strategy had completely collapsed.

Sen. Angus King told reporters he voted for the compromise funding deal for one simple reason — “it wasn’t working.”

And he openly… pic.twitter.com/aD9awqpXzO

— Overton (@overton_news) November 10, 2025

“It’s been six weeks. The Republicans made it clear they weren’t going to discuss the health care issue. The Affordable Care Act, tax credits until until the shutdown was over,” King told reporters. “We tried to keep working that for six weeks. It didn’t happen. The vote that we have is not a guarantee for sure … As I assessed it, there was zero chance of dealing with the ACA issue as long as the shutdown continued.”

On MSNBC, a panel discussion laid out what was happening on Sunday evening – and immediately questioned what Democrats had actually won by keeping the government closed for nearly six weeks.

“Weekend Primetime” host Antonia Hylton kicked off the conversation by noting how “strange” it seemed to watch Democrats win so handily in Tuesday’s elections and then roll over just a few days later.

“The President is kinda getting what he wanted”

“I don’t understand how a democratic senator goes, ‘wow we won really big — let me cave now. I don’t understand. That makes no sense to me.’ ” pic.twitter.com/xkkOptXJlD

— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) November 10, 2025

“We spoke about this earlier, but it’s strange, Dean, to go back to the original sort of part of this conversation of whether [Trump] is a good deal maker,” she began. “In a way, it seems like the president is kind of getting what he wanted 40 days ago when all this started — he was out there saying that oh, this is all about Democrats trying to give health care to illegal immigrants, he just said that to reporters moments ago, repeated that refrain the Democrats had actually very successfully pushed back against.”

“Then there’s all this energy in the wake of the election on Tuesday,” Hylton continued, noting that even Trump had conceded that the shutdown was likely hurting Republicans in Tuesday’s major races. “[Trump was] acknowledging that he was on his back foot, and now here he is winning again? How did he do it?”

“The Democrats — I don’t understand how a democratic senator goes, ‘Wow, we won really big — let me cave now.’ I don’t understand. That makes no sense to me,” another replied.

Another questioned whether Democrats had intentionally dragged things out in order to get through the election.