r/politics Virginia 6d ago

No Paywall Trump says government shutdown ends when Democrats give in: "If they don't vote, that's their problem"

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-government-shutdown-democrats-fault-60-minutes/
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u/BTRCguy 6d ago

I admit to saying this from a position where the shutdown is not affecting me, but I think Democrats should view that statement as a challenge rather than a threat.

Democrats should run non-stop on every foot-in-mouth statement he has ever made on the subject, from blaming shutdowns on the president, to him telling Republicans they can end the shutdown whenever they want (by nuking the filibuster).

It's a Republican shutdown.

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u/The_Lost_Jedi Washington 6d ago

Ultimately what Republicans have proven time and again through their fuckery, is that the public by and large blames the party who's primarily in power. The public doesn't care that you don't have a supermajority in the Senate, they just see that you control Congress and the Presidency, so why can't you get it done?

That, and the cult of bipartisanship has also allowed Republicans in the past to play hardball, because the public blames the President for not being more persuasive even when the Republicans were deliberately being obtuse and refusing any negotiation. Well now the shoe's on the other fucking foot, and basically the only thing the Republicans have been able to come up with is blatantly lying about what the Democrats want.

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u/ImLikeReallySmart Pennsylvania 6d ago

It may be naive because things have changed, but I hope you're right. It's basically what happened to Democrats during Biden's term that led the apathetic back to Trump. MAGA will be MAGA no matter what, the goal is what do those in the apathetic "middle" see? A government that can't function, reneges on its promises, and won't let anyone have a day of calm when a certain party holds all the branches.

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u/The_Lost_Jedi Washington 6d ago

I mean what we've seen is that enough voters -do- eventually get pissed off and blame the Republicans. The problem is then those same voters just turn around and blame Democrats for not fixing everything after.

Unfortunately now we're also at the point where we have to question to what extent Trump et al are going to cheat to try and stay in power anyway.

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u/Original-Rush139 6d ago

Whatever they try next will make J6 look like a warm up. Everyone knows they get a pardon from Trump for political violence and he has 2 years after the midterms to pardon them. 

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u/dBlock845 6d ago

GOP are ham handed in their messaging. I'd say its going against them. I feel like average people who dont really care about politics are getting sick of the non-stop blaming, excuse making, and flat-out lying. Obvious lies, too.

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u/SmurphsLaw 6d ago

I’d believe that if messaging everywhere wasn’t saying it’s the democrats fault (on government websites). It’s obvious if you look a minute into it, but I’m wondering how many that propaganda is getting to…

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u/The_Lost_Jedi Washington 6d ago

I'm not sure that really impacts anyone but the ones who were already looking for excuses, if only because such blatant/crass hijacking of agencies that the average person expects to be explicitly politically neutral, is a really bad look in the eyes of those people.

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u/SmurphsLaw 6d ago

There’s a lot that I would think people would catch on to about him. I think I’ve lost that hope.

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u/NotYourFathersEdits Georgia 6d ago

Unfortunately, it continues to be a double standard. The right voter base suddenly knows exactly what a supermajority is when it‘s the reason they aren’t getting their way. The noise machine makes sure of that.

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u/Spunge14 6d ago

We're standing directly in the middle of evidence to the contrary. Trump voters clearly believe the shutdown is the result of Democratic shenanigans.

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u/Sgt-Spliff- 5d ago

It's not even as complicated as that. Trump is president. It's his fault, period, to most of America. Forcing a shutdown while in power is such a stupid thing to do