Democratic lawmakers have a strong opportunity to come out on top in the ongoing government shutdown, argued political commentator and columnist Michael Tomasky in an analysis published Monday in The New Republic — but only “if they’re willing to use it.”
“If the Democrats stick together, they can win this and make [President Donald] Trump cave,” Tomasky wrote. “The Democrats have three cards to play here that give them a strong hand, if they’re willing to use it.”
The most-recent government shutdown lasted 35 days — kicking off in late 2018 and maintaining the title of the longest in United States’ history — and was sparked by Trump’s demands over border wall funding. Trump ultimately caved in that fight and did not secure funding.
The previous shutdown, however, was during a time when Democrats retook a majority in the House. Today, Democrats are a minority in both chambers of Congress but, as Tomasky argues, they have three powerful tools at their disposal.
“First, keep hammering away on healthcare premiums,” Tomasky writes. “It’s working. Granted, it’s a relatively small number of people on these healthcare exchanges — 21.4 million. But they’re exactly the people the Democrats need to stand up for and show that they’re representing their interests.”
Republicans’ refusal to fund extensions of Affordable Care Act subsidies was a core component in the ongoing government shutdown, but polling data suggests Democrats have a winning argument on the matter. Not only did voters overwhelmingly support extending the subsidies by a rate of 78% to 22%, but even self-described “MAGA supporters” backed extending the subsidies by a rate of 57% to 43%.
Tomasky also argued that it would be a “huge political gift for Democrats” should the Trump administration make good on its pledge to further purge federal workers amid the shutdown, another matter that Republicans are underwater on among voters.
And third, Tomasky wrote that Democrats were well-positioned to connect the chaos of the second Trump administration directly to the ongoing shutdown, which polls also suggest will be a winning stance.
“[Voters] surely know by now, after watching this horror show for eight months, that Trump sows chaos,” Tomasky wrote. “Well, a long shutdown is the definition of chaos. If Democrats just say over and over and over again that ‘this chaos is brought to you by Donald Trump, who creates chaos everywhere he goes,’ that should resonate.”
