On Shutdowns, Get the Wording Right and Other Thoughts

I was very happy to see that Ezra Klein joined the ranks of those who think that Democrats need to cope with a fight in the budgetary force test at the end of this month. I have various disagreements with Klein, some rooted in politics and others more attitudinal, capricious. But its influence within the democratic elite is unequaled. His words really count. They count enough to make me think that the Senate DEMS can actually change the time to make a difference here. Its essential point is irrefutable. None of the arguments to stand in March, which was at least questionable then, no longer holds. (It is this column when I speak in case you have not read it or read on this subject.)

There are a few follow -up points that I would like to do on this subject. One is the idea that the Democrats decide to “close the government”. In a sense, this is a semantic point. But some semantic points are extremely important, and it is one of them. You really need to do things well. If the Democrats do what an increasing number of external observers say they should and must indeed, they do not make the decision to close the government. In fact, they would really like to avoid this. Sometimes, when there is a closure affair, many Republicans really want to close the government in itself because they are hostile to most of the things the government does. None of this applies to Democrats. They prefer by far that Trump accepted their requests and the threat of a closure never materializes.

Do you want to continue reading?

Join TPM and get the newsletter from Backchannel members as well as unlimited access to all articles and features of TPM members.