Voters Are Not People
Chuck Schumer promised to stand up to Trump. He drew a bright line in the ground, said the budget would go no further, and then 24 hours later, he caved. No victory, no delay, not even a backup plan beyond a bleated hope that voters will turn out in two years to reward Democrats for their impotence. In defending his empty capitulation Schumer said that `people' would blame the Democrats for any shutdown.
But who are `people?’
In the wake of his reversal Schumer is being excoriated by Democrats at all levels and of all stripes. When Neera Tanden and AOC agree that you have failed, then you have well and truly lost the party.
Democrats are not people.
After Schumer complained that the shutdown would harm government workers the head of the Federation of Government Employees stated publicly, again, that they were already being crushed by an effective shutdown so real action was better than nothing1. Schumer ignored them.
Government workers are not people.
Voters likewise demanded that the democrats take action and, as recent polls have shown, a majority would blame Trump or the Republicans as a whole for any collapse, while a strong majority blame Democrats for their passivity.
Voters are not people.
So who is?
The market recovered a little ground today even as Trump ignored judicial orders, sent people to foreign prisons on an accusation alone, called reporters 'illegal' and threatened to prosecute everyone who crosses him, including people with pardons. Meanwhile the head of Health and Human Services is responding to a growing outbreak with vitamin A and insane lies while and our Secretary of Defense remains obsessed with hiding the brown people. And, lest we forget, President Donald Trump still wants to take over our white neighbors, a point that Kristi Noem drove home recently when she visited the Haskell Free Library and danced back and forth across the line babbling "51st state" like a twit.
But the markets gained ground.
Now that the threat of a shutdown has passed they are free to speculate a little more. Crucial medical aid may be halted, diseases may be spreading, and the rule of law may be burning away. But the markets have gained some ground. Long-term investments in science, medicine, education, the environment have been halted, but that's a problem for another day, because the *markets* gained some ground.
Companies after all, are people. People who live on Wall Street.
That's who would blame Schumer for an orderly shutdown. That's who told him to cave. And unlike mere Democrats, Government workers, or Americans as a whole. Chuck Schumer always heeds their concerns.
Postscript: On Fake People (3/20): Chuck Schumer has said in interviews that he is guided by the voices of a fake Middle-Class couple that live in his head. This may be his rhetorical style but it just does not work, and under the circumstances it opens him up for an obvious retort. Ultimately though, if Schumer thinks he is serving these mythical people then they are in no way representative of real ones, and that only makes it worse since it suggests he is too self-centered to know or care if he is right.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/federal-employees-union-tells-congress-132950031.html
"With thousands of federal workers either fired, placed on administrative leave, or at immediate risk of losing their jobs, AFGE members have concluded that a widespread government shutdown has been underway since January 20 and will continue to spread whether senators vote yes or no on [the CR]," Kelly wrote. While a formal government shutdown would indeed deprive remaining workers of a paycheck, if Congress passes the CR then "AFGE knows that DOGE will dramatically expand its terminations of federal workers and double down on its campaign to make federal agencies fail."