Tuesday night was a monster night for Democrats, and there are plenty of them who now believe they should dig in further.
However, the little birds are starting to whisper that they want this to be over.
I have now seen numerous reports that some Senate Democrats are looking for an offramp to get back to business.
There were some who thought that the Dems would crack right after the No Kings rallies took place, but they apparently had bigger things in mind.
Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) noted that he thought Democrats would hold out until the election in the hopes of having a big win.
He stated, "They will say later today, ‘keep the government shut.’ Why? Because it's Election Day, and they want to turn out their radicals.”
If that was the strategy, it worked, because Democrats won all the big elections, including New York City and both major gubernatorial elections.
Senator Adam Schiff (D-CA) seems to think this is all helping Democrats, so he wants them to stand firm.
He stated, “The president, on his social media tonight, acknowledged that the shutdown is part of the reason Republicans are losing, and it makes sense. They’re controlling everything.
“They control the White House, the House, and the Senate. They’ve been unwilling to negotiate with Democrats. And so, I think we need to hold firm, demand changes that make health care affordable for people.”
Trump’s statements are now literally posterboard material for Democrats, so maybe someone wants to get in his ear about that.
While Schiff is looking for political gain, there are actually some Democrats who have had enough of this nonsense.
The most vocal of all these is Senator John Fetterman (D-PA), who has been blistering leadership for more than a week to sign the CR and get back to work, but he is not alone.
Senator Gary Peters (D-MI) appears ready to break, but he is not giving up much, stating, "It’s still a work in progress.” On the Republican side, Senator Katie Britt (R-AL) suggested, "The reason we're in this position is that we have not passed appropriations bills. So beginning to break the logjam through doing that, we think would be incredibly effective."
It would be nice if our senators sat down and figured this out rather than worrying about who is winning on the scoreboard, but that clearly seems to be the priority for Democrat leadership. And as long as that is the case, this shutdown will continue to drag on. With air travel now being impacted, I don’t care who blinks because this needs to get settled ASAP.
