By refusing to make concessions that would help President Trump’s party avert a government shutdown next week, Democrats are embracing a very simple strategy: Do something.
To understand why, we need to look back a few months ago, when the country faced its last funding crisis.
In April, Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic minority leader, declined to leverage his party’s filibuster power in the Senate to block Republicans from funding the government. He faced months of backlash from his liberal flank, and his approval ratings have yet to recover.
Now, congressional Democrats are eagerly showing their base that they are willing to fight, even if that battle is all but certain to end in defeat.
Schumer and Representative Hakeem Jeffries of New York, the Democratic leader of the House, have framed their shutdown stance as a push to protect the health care of millions of Americans. They’ve so far resisted the Trump administration’s attempts to pressure them to accept a short-term deal that doesn’t include money for Affordable Care Act subsidies, among other demands.
Health care has helped Democrats win elections in the past. In 2018, the party captured control of the House with promises to protect Obamacare. Democrats would like to repeat that play in next year’s midterms.
It’s an argument based in traditional politics — issues, the risk of losing government benefits and ideology.
But the Trump administration has made clear that this is a shutdown like no other.
Typically, presidents want to avoid shuttering the federal government, fearing negative effects on the economy, in no small part because millions of federal employees would be put out of work — plus a litany of other wide-ranging consequences.
For the Trump administration, the shutdown is not a problem but an opportunity. By forcing a shutdown Democrats will be handing Trump the ability to push one of his major goals: A total gutting of the federal government.
Since he entered his second term, Trump has been trying — and been repeatedly blocked by the courts — to slash federal jobs, cut services and abolish agencies. He’s planning to use the shutdown go even further.
A memo released by the White House this week instructed federal agencies to prepare for mass firings in the event that the government runs out of funding on Sept. 30, the close of the fiscal year.
The government may not reach that point. The Sept. 30 deadline is still four days away, a near-eternity in Capitol Hill time.
But if the administration makes good on their threat, the result of Democratic opposition could very well be that tens of thousands of federal workers who they have vowed, again and again, to support instead find themselves unemployed.
This is exactly the argument Schumer made last spring and Democrats rejected, saying he failed to meet the level of opposition that moment required.
Now, he appears ready to lead his party through the other door.
In some ways, the party’s predicament on Capitol Hill embodies the dilemma of Democrats in this second Trump administration.
They are locked out of control in the White House and in Congress, and the Supreme Court is dominated by a conservative majority. Their lack of federal power means their resistance can only be symbolic, while they hope the nation rallies to their side.
Their base is desperate for them to “do something.” But despite their demands, all Democrats can really do is very little — and hope enough voters will reward them for trying.
Another Trump target, explained
It’s not just James Comey. The Justice Department is also pushing for an investigation of one of the world’s most influential foundations, funded by one of the right wing’s foremost boogeymen: George Soros. My colleagues Theodore Schleifer and Nicholas Kulish explain the basics:
What is the Open Society Foundations?
The Open Society Foundations is effectively a network of several philanthropic entities, including political groups, with offices in more than a dozen countries. Total assets under management of Soros’s entities are about $23 billion.
Why is Trump targeting the foundation?
Since his November election, Trump has sought to attack the left’s infrastructure, targeting entities including ActBlue, the Democratic Party’s online fund-raising powerhouse, and law firms that have done work for Democrats.
There are few more reliable pillars in Democratic fund-raising like Soros. In addition to his nonpartisan philanthropy, Soros and his related organizations are together among the country’s largest Democratic donors.
Who are the key players at Open Society?
Soros turned 95 last month, and he has largely ceded control to one of his sons, Alex.
Alex Soros, who has a doctorate in history from the University of California, Berkeley, was in 2023 named the chair of the board at the Open Society Foundations. He has by and large continued his father’s work aiding liberal causes. He regularly posts photos with Democratic politicians on social media and this summer married Huma Abedin, the longtime Hillary Clinton aide.
Read more in an expanded version of this explainer.
Lisa Lerer is a national political reporter for The Times, based in New York. She has covered American politics for nearly two decades.
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