Washington Post warns Democrats may have walked into Trump ‘trap’ over government shutdown

The Washington Post editorial board wrote Wednesday that the Democratic Party may have been led into a “trap” by its far-left wing for refusing to avert a government shutdown.

In its latest editorial, the board argued that the Congressional Progressive Caucus and other progressives forced Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., to abandon a deal that could have kept the government open, leaving Democrats at the mercy of President Donald Trump.

The board wrote that although the Democratic base may be tempted to play hardball politics like the right has, it should see that “the Freedom Caucus’s tactics have failed to achieve Republicans’ goals every time” there’s been a shutdown. 

“There is no reason to think this shutdown will end any differently for its left-wing counterpart. The most likely outcome is that Democrats will come to regret having just walked into a trap,” the board wrote.

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“Left-wing Democrats, like the Freedom Caucus before them, enter this shutdown in a position of weakness. President Donald Trump and his budget director, Russell Vought, now have extraordinary authority to choose which agencies to close, what spending to prioritize and even which government workers to lay off,” the board stated.

A partial shutdown of the federal government began at midnight on Wednesday after Republican and Democratic lawmakers failed to agree on a continuing resolution to keep the government funded.

Democrats have insisted that any agreement to prevent a government shutdown must extend tax credits for the Affordable Care Act (ACA) beyond the end of this year, a provision Republicans have rejected.

The Post wrote that although Democratic lawmakers may believe they have leverage, the shutdown would not end well for them even if Republicans agreed to their health care demands. 

“Even if Republicans decide to eventually come to the table for a compromise on health care this time around, the details could splinter the left, especially if they include conservative priorities. (Any deal that Trump cuts with Democrats on ACA subsidies would prompt some rank-and-file Republicans to vote against the compromise),” the board argued. 

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It added that “chances are slim that the two parties could come to terms that Democratic activists would view as a decisive victory,” but noted that the party’s base doesn’t care. 

“Yet the party’s base wants them to fight anyway, even if it means holding the government hostage.”

The Post noted that this same confrontational mentality has never helped Republicans when their more right-wing members pushed shutdowns in the past. 

“In doing so, progressives embraced the same disastrous mentality that led the House Freedom Caucus to believe it could come out ahead in previous government funding standoffs: They wrongly assumed their political leverage would withstand the ensuing fallout,” the board wrote.

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It provided two examples, including in 2019, when a 35-day shutdown didn’t force Democrats into funding Trump’s border wall, and in 2013, when a GOP-led effort to defund Obamacare flopped.