Subject: Re: I changed my mind
One thing that I'm pretty sure will happen: A lot of the Democratic base will never again believe that pols like Schumer et al. have their backs.

The argument that "This would have been even worse if we hadn't caved in to the bully" won't get much political traction--even if it's probably true.

Which is silly, but not something that leadership can control. Causing damage in a pointless gesture that only makes things worse might make a portion of the Democratic base feel like leadership "has their backs," but ends up being worse for both the country and the party.

It's not "caving in to the bully" if the bully is actually in charge. The GOP won control of both chambers and the Presidency, so the Democrats can't stop them by using a shutdown as leverage. The GOP was never able to do it to the Democrats, and the Democrats won't be able to do it to them.

The Democrats already made their best stand - they forced the GOP to try to get a bill through the House with their own votes. The GOP succeeded in doing that, so they've won the day. The Democrats can't stop it now, and fighting it only makes it worse for a lot of people they care about (recipients of government services, federal workers) and for the party as a whole.

I am inclined to agree with Matt Yglesias on his take on the CR in general, and this in particular:

The fact is, Democrats lost the election in November. They lost the White House. The lost the House. They lost the Senate.

It drives me crazy that the very same progressives who shit on Democrats for not being able to stop bad things Republicans do after they lose elections spend all the time before elections shitting on the idea of being more pragmatic and moderate and winning more seats. If there were four more House Democrats, none of whom supported any policy changes in a progressive direction whatsoever, that would still give Democrats a majority and the ability to block all kinds of GOP fuckery. That’s true on DOGE, it’s true on Medicaid and SNAP for billions of poor kids. It’s actually a really big deal. If you want to stop Republicans from doing bad things, you need to win races. You need to back moderates in red-leaning districts and encourage party leaders to take popular positions and win.

https://www.slowboring.com/p/s...

If that "lot of the Democratic base" would grow up and stop being butthurt about the Democrats "not having their back" in futile gestures, and instead would be more concerned about winning swing seats, then they wouldn't be in this situation.