Dems plot to 'take advantage' as Trump at his 'most volatile' point of shutdown: report

Democrats sense blood in the water in the shutdown standoff following their blowout election wins across the country this week — and are debating among themselves how best to press their upper hand, according to a new report.

The core issue of the shutdown continues to be securing an extension of Affordable Care Act subsidies that are expiring for millions of Americans and causing health insurance premiums to skyrocket. Democrats are adamantly holding out for Republicans to agree to this; Republicans have said they will bargain on it, but refuse to do so until after the shutdown has concluded.

According to Punchbowl News' Andrew Desiderio, "Dems came to consensus that they should hold out a bit longer" — meaning, to block Republicans' proposed vote tomorrow to end the shutdown — "to try to extract more from GOP," including language prohibiting President Donald Trump's Office of Management and Budget from moving forward with plans to lay off workers during the shutdown. The belief among Democrats, Desiderio wrote on X, "is they can get a better deal and shouldn’t fold for what’s currently on the table."

Per Desiderio, "Some Dems also said at lunch that Trump is at his most volatile since the shutdown began — pointing to his blowups at Senate Republicans over the filibuster and the election results — and said their party should try to take advantage of that."

Trump has ramped up his demands to abolish the Senate filibuster and pass government funding on a party-line vote, as the shutdown has dragged on for weeks and poll after poll shows voters assigning a majority of blame to his party — which in theory they have the votes to do, but which a critical mass of Senate Republicans remains adamantly against for fear it would give more power to Democrats when they next control Congress.