Democrats should cut their shutdown losses; however, their radical Left won’t let them. Democrats’ Senate leadership is stuck: Less extreme (and less numerous) senators are politically threatened by the shutdown, but more extreme (and more numerous) senators are politically immune to the shutdown.  Driving this wedge between these two groups is an increasingly leftist Democrat base that is amped up for action—any action—against Trump …even a losing one that splits the party.

After repeatedly blocking a short-term funding bill the House had passed and President Trump would sign, Democrats’ federal government shutdown is beginning its first full week.  As time drags on, their position becomes more hopeless.

Democrats’ position was always weak.  It is dubious how much leverage the threat to shut down the whole government gave them with an opponent who wants to shut down parts of the government.  Also, Democrats have a paucity of power, controlling neither the House nor the Senate or the presidency—or the Supreme Court, should any dispute in the shutdown fight make it that far.

Democrats compounded their lack of leverage and paucity of power with the enormity of their demands.  They want to continue Obamacare pandemic subsidies and sweep away over $800 billion in Medicaid reforms.  While there should be room for negotiation on the less costly Obamacare subsidies (according to a KFF analysis: “In 2024, 56% of ACA Marketplace enrollees live in Congressional Districts represented by Republicans and 76% of enrollees are in states won by President Trump in the 2024 election”), there is none on the astronomical cost of repealing the Medicaid reforms. 

Using a step stool to reach for the moon is not a winning strategy.  And that’s under conventional shutdown scenarios.  This shutdown is not one of those.

Trump aggressively uses his executive branch power.  This is one of the reasons Democrats are already enraged at Trump.  Shutting the government gives him yet another rationale and venue for exercising his executive power, something he has already promised to do with mass firings of government employees and freezing federal funds and projects to Blue states.  Democrats should have seen this game of hardball coming.

Senate Republicans too have recently exercised their majority power by limiting filibusters (the so-called “nuclear option” to confirm over 40 stalled nominations) against certain administration nominations.  Since it is a filibuster that Democrats are using to shut down the government, Senate Republicans’ move is highly relevant here.  Making it further so is the fact that many Democrats called for eliminating the filibuster when they hold the majority again. 

So, Republicans have already recently curtailed the filibuster, have even more reason to do so if Democrats say that they intend to anyway, and could easily do so if the shutdown becomes too painful.  Again, Democrats should have seen all this.

Still, despite all these factors, Democrats put themselves in this losing proposition.  Already three Democrats (King, I-ME; Fetterman, D-PA; and Cortez-Masto, D-NV) have quit their ranks.  More will do so—especially those up for reelection in November 2026—as the shutdown hurts their states.  

Eventually Democrats will have to explain to their rabid base that they came out of their shutdown showdown with little or nothing to show for it.  This will further enrage their extreme Left, who will turn even more on their less extreme brethren, denying them contributions and votes in future elections. 

Yet Senate Democrats’ leadership felt this no-win shutdown strategy was better than the pain of opposing their extremist Left.  Perhaps it is for Senate Democrat Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), fearing a primary challenge from lefty star Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), who earlier this year ripped Schumer for backing a government funding bill and averting a shutdown.  Perhaps it is for Senate Democrat Whip Dick Durbin (and second in the leadership), who isn’t running for reelection and won’t have to face the longer-term consequences of this maladroit maneuver.

It certainly won’t hurt extremists, like Senator Warren (D-MA) and Senator Sanders (I-VT), who come from deep blue states. But the Democrats from swing states—Georgia’s Senator Ossoff— on whom any hopes for a Senate Democratic majority depend, these are sacrificial lambs to this suicidal strategy. 

So, Democrats blithely pursue a course they cannot win, fracture themselves in the process, and will eventually enrage their extremists when they finally admit defeat.  The next time Democrats consider an extremist strategy; they might also want to spend a little time thinking about an exit strategy too.

J.T. Young is the author of the recent book, Unprecedented Assault: How Big Government Unleashed America’s Socialist Left from RealClear Publishing and has over three decades’ experience working in Congress, the Department of Treasury, the Office of Management, and Budget, and representing a Fortune 20 company.

Editor’s Note: The Schumer Shutdown is here. Rather than put the American people first, Chuck Schumer and the radical Democrats forced a government shutdown for healthcare for illegals. They own this.

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