Democrats in Congress have been relentless about casting the government shutdown clash as a fight over helping Americans pay for health insurance.
But there is another, far deeper issue driving the impasse: their outrage about what is happening across the country under a president they regard as lawless and unchecked.
While Democrats believe they have a winning political argument in demanding the extension of Obamacare subsidies, they are also motivated by Mr. Trump’s extreme policies and tactics, and his penchant for running roughshod over the legislative branch with scant pushback from congressional Republicans. That is one reason that the shutdown impasse has dragged on, with no immediate move toward resolution and little sign that Democrats’ resolve is flagging.
Democrats have watched with increasing alarm as the administration has ignored congressional spending directives, dispatched the military to American cities, ordered government retribution against Mr. Trump’s perceived adversaries and mounted an aggressive immigration roundup that has prompted fierce fights in the courts.
Empowering the Trump administration and its perceived abuses by funding the government is an extremely hard pill for Democrats to swallow.
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