Democrats made the right move on the shutdown and seem to be in control of the narrative.

[lees1975]

https://signalpress.blogspot.com/2025/10/democrats-made-right-move-on-shutdown.html

Filtering through opinion polls from news sources that are no longer really part of the free press to gather information about how people are reacting to the government shutdown produces a mixed bag of results, though reading the comments and reactions adds a little bit of perspective. With the understanding that a lot of people who are right wing conservatives have little to no understanding what this actually means, Democratic political leadership in Congress should be quite happy with what they are seeing. The "American people," the catch all phrase that everyone uses when they see a slight majority of support leaning their way, are forming an opinion about the government shutdown.

The Republicans, and Trump, are getting the blame and they are having to own the consequences of what is happening.

The reaction, really, should be a little more overwhelming than it is, but we're used to the political polarization in this country by now. What we are not used to seeing is GOP leadership overwhelmingly reacting in a way that gives their secrets away and tells us they are really frightened by what they are seeing, and really angry that they are in a position where they are going to have to cave in on what Democrats want in order to relieve the pressure and get the government operating again.

It's still a secret about how many Republicans are going to break ranks. They are still good about avoiding those kind of public commitments. But the Democrats have some real advantages going for them here. One is that Trump's unpopularity has reached a point where there is visible motivation of opposition. I don't really see the growing number of rallies and marches and protests as having much of an effect from that side of the political spectrum. They have no real objective and they are largely ignored by Republicans, or at least, up until a couple of weeks ago they were. The other is that there are 20 million Americans whose health insurance coverage is going to either disappear altogether, or skyrocket, if the Republicans get their way on the budget.

And so, Senator Schumer has somehow managed to find fortitude and enthusiasm that I have not ever really see him have, and that he rarely exhibited when prodded by Speaker Pelosi's presence in leadership. He, apparently does have a spine, and he may slowly be awakening to the idea that the old school politics of give and take, negotiate, compromise and play nice, are dead and gone and the only way to beat this demagogue at his game is to stand up and fight back.

Speaker Mike Johnson is clearly feeling the pressure, as his shrill responses and his sticking to the scripted words indicate. Honestly, I've never seen him so animated, and so nervous, and he's normally not one to parrot the catch phrases. He's rattled.