US Government Shutdown Watch: 2018 Edition. More Bricks in the Wall?

[MrGrumpy]

@Matt_W

That’s because they rely on people voting for them because of the policies they support. Republicans rely on people voting for them because Fox News tells them to.

Read the Sheldon Whitehouse piece @sharpe linked here. The problem here is they way the media frames the issues and their treatment of Republicans in general (see: Paul Ryan.)

@triggercut

But it’s an example that maps poorly to the current situation, one in which Trump has already said that he’ll be the one to take the “credit” for the shutdown, and one in which the senate unanimously passed a short term funding CR for that the President refused to sign over holding out for a policy piece that is very unpopular except with the wingnuts within his base.

Again, to me the key difference is what’s important here. Holding out for a new policy that is of mixed popularity seems like a holdout with the potential to blow up, politically. Holding out to preserve a status quo against an unpopular policy is – even if the Democracts are prone to caving – an easy ground to stand.

I’m hopeful that’s the case here and that for once the media doesn’t kowtow to Republican talking points as is their wont.