A former aide to President Donald Trump is seeing a shift in power to the Democrats as the government shutdown persists.
Republicans control the House, Senate, and White House, but have failed to pass a continuing resolution to temporarily fund the government. They seek help from Democratic senators, who are drawing a hard line on reinstating healthcare subsidies for Affordable Care Act users. Republicans have refused to agree, saying they'd only talk about the subsidies after the shutdown ends.
Speaking to MSNBC, former press aide Sarah Matthews said Trump is "definitely not making it easy on or for the Republicans in the House and the Senate right now, because their messaging seems to be all over the place. They seem to be in disarray, as we would say."
She surmised that it might be the first time since Trump took office that "Democrats actually have the upper hand, and that they all seem to be singing from the same song sheet. They know what their priorities are and what they want out of a deal."
Democrats appear to be winning the battle with the public, however. The CBS News/YouGov poll, taken between Oct. 1 and Oct. 3, found that 39% of respondents believe Trump and his fellow Republicans deserve the most blame for the shutdown, while only 30% blame Democrats.
By contrast, she said Republicans "are a bit all over the place. And that largely has to do with the message that's coming from Trump and him putting out these things that kind of seem to fly in the face of each other."
In one prominent example of GOP disarray, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) argued that the healthcare funds should be reinstated. Matthews said Greene could help Republicans agree to such a deal.
The CBS/YouGov poll also indicates that 52% of Americans surveyed don't approve of how Trump and the Republicans have handled the shutdown.
"Look, there are plenty of Republicans who are going to be at risk for holding on to their seat when it comes to the 2026 midterms, and health care will be a large part of that if these premiums end up doubling," Matthews explained.
Separate polls show that a majority of Trump voters support the Democrats' healthcare demands.
"I also think this is a blatant example of lame-duckism being on the forefront now, and that this is something that the Trump administration is going to have to deal with, where some of these Republicans might actually find their spine and be willing to go against the president," Matthews added.
Matthews closed, "Whereas, we haven't typically seen that from many Republicans in the past."
