Sherman Van Buren

I think Schumer basically got rolled by Shaheen, Hassan, and King which is profoundly embarrassing

negotiating over the next cr in january is going to be DOA. they know theyre going to cave because theyve done it twice now. why give democrats anything at all?

idk which possibility is more damning for Schumer

either

A) he helped orchestrate the fold

OR

B) he genuinely opposed the fold but was so incompetent that he was unable to stop the splinter group from folding

The problem is with each cave the Dems will seem less serious about holding the line each time.

the thing is that once youve caved twice in exchange for fucking nothing at all, you have zero credibility. the GOP is gonna hold the line until dems defect (which they will). shutdown politics are over.

don't even know what to say because my thinking six weeks ago was "the ACA subsidies are a bad negotiating move because it's too easy for republicans to agree to that, it's not asking enough" & now here they are ready to destroy the country to prevent people from being able to afford their premiums

Also like, the Dem leadership can't make a big show of making it about healthcare because it's the only issue that polls well enough for them to risk taking a stand on, blow out the Republicans in state and local elections in apparent vindication of that strategy, and then cave on healthcare anyway.

the democratic party is currently being yanked around by 8 of its' weakest links. that's the way to perceive this

The six + Durbin + her means shows over?

There's probably never a case where Kaine/Hassan/Shaheen/King are right and Warren/Wyden/Van Hollen/Schumer/Jeffries are wrong

Honestly explains a lot of Kaine’s vote. As much as the rage on Bsky is, his actual constituents are blowing up his phone.

Everyone will remember that the last deal came with a "promise" for a vote on something that the Senate Ds making the deal cared about (DC funding) which Johnson threw in the trash. Dunno why theyd expect a promise on a healthcare subsidies vote to be any different.

there is no enforcement mechanism other than the courts, so there is no enforcement mechanism for any deal, which is the problem

Doing this after the Tuesday performance is like if Allies turned around after the Battle of the Bulge

This is part of the tragedy of a surrender now. It invites more pain and suffering by emboldening the regime. Why should they listen to a weak opposition?

if the Democrats are willing to accept this deal, in particular, i don't think a single Senator should make it through their primary. this just makes health inequity worse and lets Trump send out checks with his name on them!

They want to let Trump claim he's giving people checks for their healthcare, for a policy that won't even work. Its stupid and self defeating from both a policy and a politics level.

this is also my read on the electorate

for instance I think it's likely that, as much as it is bullshit transphobia cooked up by bigots, the majority of people in this country don't want trans kids to play sports

but are they going to condition their vote on it? no, they don't care that much

The spinning stars behind George Washington’s head are meant to evoke the spinning sonnenrads frequently used similarly in neo-Nazi video edits—and it is being received accordingly by many on the far right.

the story of this shutdown is that Trump and the Republicans have played the politics significantly worse than Chuck Schumer and folks that's a genuine accomplishment

INCOMING TRADE OFFER

YOU RECEIVE: relief from a catastrophic healthcare and food stamps cliff that would almost guarantee your continued electoral slaughter along with your army of secret police extracting a pogrom of ethnic terror

WE RECEIVE: uuuh healthcare and food stamps we get those too

What somewhat concerns me is politics for the next 30 years becoming just a cycle of people being thrown out of office because prices aren't back to 2019 levels yet.

make them answer for why they care more about checking a child’s underwear than whether you can afford your electric bill!

the median voter learns, but in the way a newborn does. don't like orange man, but happy with orange man, maybe orange man why happy? give back orange man! hmmm. ok, orange man not why happy.

patriots in control

This is the kind of post you can only write when you have spent far too much time marinating in the Nazi broth of Twitter.

the other thing about this is that there is no reason to pit these candidates against each other? each are good fits for their respective electorates and each shows the value of vigorous campaigns focused on the stated material problems of voters.

Remember when a bunch of savvy Beltway pundits tried to depict Glenn Youngkin as this happy-go-lucky positive suburban dad Republican alternative to Trump and Trumpism? How is this any different from Trump rallies where they said "Send her back?"

really, the lesson from Carter and Biden is not "don't move left", it's "what the fuck are you going to do to kill inflation and maintain price stability?"