Establishment Democrats are backing away from the shutdown fight

Right now, the reporting that's coming out is that House Democrats want the shutdown fight, while Senate democrats do not. Politico confirms the same. A lot of pundits and democrat-aligned intellectuals are taking sides. For example, Scott Galloway said in a recent Pivot podcast that he's radicalized and wants the shutdown fight. Dan Pfeiffer from Pod Save America said he's opposed because he doesn't see how the message will work.

I want to know how this sub feels about it, but polling is disabled. So I'll make one parent comment in favor of shutting down the government, and one parent comment opposed to it and ask that people upvote the one they agree with (don't downvote the other one, that'd be double voting).

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Now, an argument in favor of the shutdown fight.

This is the tool that the congress has to enforce the separation of powers and check an out of control presidency. The only alternative tool is impeachment, which republicans will not go for. I think its a mistake to try to go down that path as Al Green did on Democracy Now (Green is who was thrown out of Trump's speech). Withholding funding until the executive self-corrects is the built in check on a runaway executive, who loses the legal authority to compel taxation or borrow money if the congress doesn't approve the budget. Centrists can stand on inviting congressional republicans to reassert the authority of congress rather than resisting Trump, while the left gets a serious act of resistance.

Right now, I perceive the republicans to be offering the Democrats yet another head-fake. There have been several signals out of the executive that they are placing fetters on Elon Musk's influence. But that is unreliable and temporary. Most federal agencies, even if their director is "in charge", have directives to prepare to cut staff by half, maybe a little more, maybe a little less. And Trump told his cabinet that if they don't cut their staff, then Musk will. It's clear that their goal is to continue to run roughshod over congress' appropriations authority to continue dismantling the government.

If democrats agree to a continuing resolution through September, it will be devastating to them as a party. They won't just lack any leverage to protect the federal work force from savage cuts, they will have surrendered their leverage. Go look at the Fed workers talking about it: they're even saying they wish they could shut down the esssential services. They feel like republicans hate them and half the country thinks they are useless, and seem to wish they could go on strike just so they could teach Americans why federal workers are important. They legally cannot do this unless congress allows a shutdown.

Elizabeth Warren called for a shorter CR than through September, so that they can have the fight again in the near future. I can understand that logic: a confidence-building step where the Trump admin has to engage in self-restraint to prove they are capable of following the law and then you can either extend or withhold at that point. The problem with the Warren strategy is the debt ceiling, which we hit days after the deadline on the CR. That is the point of maximum leverage, and institutionalists are scared shitless of the fallout from breaking it. I can be persuaded of Warren's position if the democrats explain what their strategy around the debt limit right after would be, because I currently don't trust them to actually extract concessions rather than allow normal business to continue while wearing colored hats meant to show their disapproval. But its also kind of a moot point if the republicans don't offer any such negotiation position in the first place.

And that is the crux. Democrats are seeking relevancy in resistance. The Republicans goal is to high-handedly turn the government into an illiberal democracy like Hungary or Turkey or, at worst, Russia. Why are we trying to do confidence building measures with people that we know are pathological liars from years of experience? When what they are working towards is fundamentally upending the system? If democrats want to be a relevant opposition, they need to show they are ready to fight, not just persist.