Banana republic lately?

Here's what's cooking in the Democrat cauldron:

Democrats in Congress are growing louder with threats to force a shutdown in March to put the brakes on President Trump’s and Elon Musk’s efforts to overhaul the federal government by freezing spending and dismantling agencies.

A growing number of Democratic lawmakers think the March 14 deadline for funding the government gives them the best leverage to pressure Trump and Musk to back off their plans to pick apart the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and other agencies.

But they are divided over how hard to push the threat of a shutdown, fearing Democrats might get blamed for a funding lapse that would furlough hundreds of thousands of federal workers and interrupt government services across the country.

Democrats say they traditionally try to do everything to avoid shutdowns but now warn one may be inevitable if Trump doesn’t rein in Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

“I never support a shutdown, but I can see where it could happen in this situation. It’s an extreme situation,” Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (Ill.) said. 

So let's get this straight: They want to shut down the government, to protest Trump for ... shutting down the government.

And we thought Joe Biden's exit meant no more third world idiocies.

Aside from the stupidity of the tactics, they put themselves squarely in the position of defending the massive waste and fraud that Elon Musk's DOGE team has encountered under just the USAID banner, and now a host of other agencies -- Education, Defense, Health and Human Services, the arts -- prompting some serious consideration for the shutdown of USAID which is more waste and fraud than actual aid.

That's right, they are defending fraud and anyone nosing around to find that fraud. They want the fraud to go on and everyone can see it.

We know why they're doing that -- they're the exclusive recipients of the gravy train. A Polish official reportedly said that at least half of the USAID package to Ukraine was laundered back to Democrats.

U.S law requires that USAID funds cannot be disbursed unless the President certifies they won't be used for corrupt purposes. It is the President's authority to manage foreign policy-not the House Democrats. Now we know that most of them have redirected taxpayer money into their… https://t.co/sG6jTWPs9x

— V Francis (@realtymeeting) February 11, 2025

The DOGE project is popular with the public, too.

According to Newsweek:

According to the latest Trafalgar Group and Insider Advantage poll, conducted between February 7-9, 49 percent approve of the job Musk is doing at DOGE, while 44 percent disapprove

The poll also shows positive results for Trump. Some 54 percent approve of the job the president is doing, while 45 percent disapprove. The poll surveyed 1,321 voters with a margin of error of 2.98 percent.

It's popular not only because nobody likes waste and fraud, or those six figure salaries being made by all the USAID recipients in their receiving NGOs, as Americans suffer under Bidenflation.

Other than these Democrats making bank from it.

Is that really the hill they want to die on? That their rice bowls need to be filled with USAID or there won't be any government at all. What a hill to die on.

It gets worse for them, though, when the prospect of their getting their wish for a full government shutdown comes into focus.

Suppose the government really did shut down as they wanted. Maybe they can locate enough RINOs to join them on the promise of more goodies through some NGO or other and get their shutdown passed.

What would happen then?

Other than in a few areas held hostage, nothing.

There wouldn't be any difference with out without the gargantuan government they champion. That's the way it was with past government shutdowns, and probably moreso with this one as the government has grown to gigantic proportions under Joe Biden. Nothing. Same as with Twitter when Musk laid off 80% of its employees and ... nobody noticed any difference.

A shutdown, in fact, might be good for President Trump's DOGE project, serving as a test run of what the government would look like without all of its x, y, or z agencies. If there's no difference between shutdowns and non-shutdowns, then it's an easy decision to shut them down for good, as will have the added benefit of already been tested for repercussions as if it were a pilot or beta project. They're giving him ideas.

Musk is probably licking his chops at the prospect.

Make his day.

Careful for what you wish for. You have no weapons. The shutdown of government idea is so bad it might just finish Democrats off as a political force for good.

Their party will go the way of the dodo. That works for us.

Image: Grok AI-generated image