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The Democrats are taking a big gamble by going along with a government shutdown, one that they will probably lose.
The most important reason is that President Trump has a giant megaphone. Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer simply can’t compete in drawing media attention.
What’s more, while some Americans may blame both sides – can’t they act like adults and work out these budget fights? – the Republicans are blaming the “Democrat Party” for triggering the shutdown.
At yesterday’s White House briefing, itself a key advantage, JD Vance and Karoline Leavitt kept repeating, like a mantra, that the Democrats support “healthcare for illegal aliens.” That is bunk. They aren’t eligible. It’s already against the law, except in emergency situations. But Trump is pounding that message home through sheer repetition.
VANCE BLAMES SCHUMER’S FEAR OF AOC PRIMARY CHALLENGE AS SHUTDOWN CAUSE
Democratic leadership sits at a sizable disadvantage when it comes to government shutdown-related messaging. (J. Scott Applewhite, file/AP Photo)
A Washington Post editorial yesterday says “Democrats just marched into a shutdown trap … Progressives embraced the same disastrous mentality that led the House Freedom Caucus to believe it could come out ahead in previous government funding standoffs: They wrongly assumed their political leverage would withstand the ensuing fallout.”
A few minutes after the briefing, Hakeem Jeffries stepped before the microphones to declare that Republicans don’t want to provide healthcare “to working-class Americans.”
The minority leader said the administration is trying to “jam their extreme right-wing agenda down the throats of the American people … The Republican healthcare crisis is immoral.”
Frankly, it just didn’t sound as forceful or have the same impact.
Vice President JD Vance suggested Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., is pivoting left for fear of a primary challenge by Rep….
