Is Human Suffering a Political Tool in Shutdowns?

After notching huge victories in last week’s off-year elections, Senate Democrats were overcome by a failure of nerve, and agreed to reopen the government without restoring anyone’s health insurance or securing any legal mechanism to rein in Donald Trump’s lawlessness

In this episode, Matt and Brian discuss:

* What the fuck?

* Why did the standoff end the way it did?

* How could the eight capitulators plus Chuck Schumer have engineered a better outcome, whether it brought the shutdown to an end or not?

Then, for paid subscribers, how will the recriminations play out inside the party? Could it feed a constructive conversation about what a better opposition party might look like? Will they put up any resistance at all when the next deadline looms at the end of January? Are memories long enough that the cave might have an impact on the 2026 midterms? Will Trump interpret this as a mandate to use the infliction of pain to bend Democrats? Or will we all move on when the House votes to release the Epstein files?

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Further reading:

* Brian has 16 thoughts on the surrender.

* Matt only has 13.

* Chris Murphy’s interview with Punchbowl.