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Are we ready for the "nuclear option" of government shutdown? (with poll) [1]

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Date: 2025-09-07

Sunday’s New York Times’ Opinion page presents the ever-prescient Ezra Klein’s analysis of our current Constitutional crisis and the action it demands if we Democrats stand any hope of stopping and reversing the slide into authoritarianism. www.nytimes.com/… The headline and sub-head succinctly sum it up: “Stop Acting Like This Is Normal, Democrats Aren’t Powerless, and Do Not Have to Fund Autocracy.”

To summarize Klein’s argument, Democrats should use the upcoming vote, in roughly three weeks, to continue funding the Federal government as the decisive stand against Trumpism, and demonstrate the leadership to build an effective and popular opposition. The nation has now seen enough of what effect Trump is having on our economy and democracy that the truth can no longer be hidden behind lies and propaganda. Many of those working and middle class independent voters who made the difference for Trump in the 2024 election now see the writing on the wall as social media feeds are brimming with FAFO buyers’ remorse, and the elite denials of “he would’t really do that, he’s just being Trump,” go silent in the face of each week’s new shattered norm.

The last time the budget came up in March, the administration’s outrageous behavior was too new and effects yet unproven, that, against many Democrats’ wishes, our Congressional leadership of Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer chose to cooperate and avoid a government shutdown. We were not yet ready for battle, without a clear message or leaders to deliver it, and there was a good chance the tactic would backfire with all the consequences of the shutdown blamed on Democratic intransigence.

But now, after nearly eight months of unprecedented fascist anti-constitutional forces unleashed on American cities, economic numbers crashing from the “best economy in the world” that Biden handed off, future electoral manipulation in plain sight, and the insane levels of greed and duplicity covering up billions in graft and unspeakable crimes against children, anyone not completely drunk on the FoxNews’ KoolAid has seen enough to know that none of this gets better without a decisive show of force to stop it. The longer this march into authoritarianism progresses, the more difficult it will be to oppose and reverse it as our remaining options are compromised and disappear. The billionaire’s slow motion coup to avoid paying their fair share by snuffing out democracy, and its unholy alliance with Christian nationalist racism to seize the cultural high ground has succeeded beyond even the most dire doom-struck fears.

In the intervening months we’ve seen Blue State governors come out swinging and giving voice to spirited resistance, and some brilliant messaging like Gavin Newsom’s trolling the MAGA faithful’s slavish devotion to their corrupt idol. Court case after court case declares Trump’s actions unlawful, in many cases reversing spending cuts and layoffs, and even John Roberts and Mitch McConnell worry that things may have gone too far. We’ve seen our international allies barely contain their disdain, and our adversaries taking victory laps over their success at punking Trump’s “leadership,” with Ukraine and Gaza threatening daily to humiliate him even further. Consumer confidence has collapsed, prices keep going up, workers laid off, small businesses and farmers going bankrupt.

So are we yet ready to take a stand, fight a pitched battle, accept the inevitable casualties, endure an even higher level of bitter partisan divisiveness? Does the alternative of waiting until the mid-term elections over a year away seem rational? Do we continue to lay low and “keep our powder dry,” in anticipation of better opportunities for resistance yet to come? Would a government shutdown with our supine mass media just alienate fickle voters even more than they are?

There’s no time left to delay using this point of leverage, with serious doubt about when and if there will be another before America becomes something none of us thought possible. Or does provoking a showdown now empower the fascist opposition with “emergency powers” to lay waste even more quickly? How do we weigh the risks of doing this now, before the worst of Trumpism wrecks society against waiting until its too late to avoid annihilation?

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