1. Here's the thing that bugs the living shit out of me about 8 Democratic senators negotiating a budget deal with Republicans to end the government shutdown that has gone on for over 40 days: we, the base, had the backs of Democrats and even that wasn't enough to stiffen their spines for the long haul. It makes our party look like cowardly assholes, and it's a betrayal of an energy and movement that has been growing, from the massive No Kings protests to the overwhelming vote for Democratic candidates and causes all around the country (not just in the Northeast). Motherfuckers, we were ready to go, with money, with recruitment to races that weren't even in play, with enthusiasm and excitement and a base that was being repopulated with Gen Z voters. There's plenty of time before the midterms to get that momentum going again, but this is one hell of a mess to get through.
2. From the outset, Democrats should have asked for so much more than an extension on ACA health care subsidies and restoring funding to Medicaid and Medicare that the Big Barfy Bill cut. But they decided to narrow it down to those items, and we went along with it. And then Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who should be falling on his sword and resigning, negotiated that down to a one-year extension of the subsidies. And then the Hateable Eight negotiated that down to "we'll go fuck ourselves with our Obamacare subsidy request if you don't hit us too hard." Sure, they got a guarantee that federal workers fired during the shutdown would be rehired and a pinky-swear on a vote on the subsidies after the government reopens. But that's pretty fucking close to nothing. It's like getting promised an orgy and you show up lubed and tumescent, only to be told that not only is there no one else there, but you can only masturbate to an old, crispy Sears catalog.
3. I know you've heard lots of scenarios about why this happened, from bougie frustration at being inconvenienced at the airport to genuine concern for the hungry to general cowardice to getting lobbied by airlines. Lemme take it in a different direction.
If I were a Democratic senator forced at gunpoint to spin this in a way that doesn't make us look like total feckless bitches, I'd say the following: "The American people need to understand that the president of the United States is a fucking psychopath surrounded by fucking psychopaths with a Supreme Court majority of fucking psychopaths and fucking psychopaths running the Legislative Branch. The only difference between the House and Senate is that the House psychos are more open about how deranged they are and the Senate psychos are better spoken. Except for Tuberville. He's just a piece of shit psycho.
"I don't use the word 'psychopath' lightly. But they all take pleasure in causing other people to suffer and in killing without remorse. The president has innocent people murdered when he bombs boats. He allows ICE to pepper spray children and babies so that an immigrant parent with a traffic violation can be treated like a terrorist, tearing families apart. And he has no problem letting Americans starve to death or become desperate for food as a negotiating strategy. He doesn't care at all if you and your children can't eat. In fact, he has gone to court to make sure you can't eat. That's the behavior of a fucking psychopath. And Republicans in the Senate are not just enabling the psychopath president. They are cheering him on, saying they like his serial murders and assaults on children. And they have wanted to make sure that millions of Americans don't get health care since this whole thing began. Fucking psychos.
"I know some people like to use the idea that you can't negotiate with terrorists to justify standing firm. But the thing is that you can. Terrorists want something. They have goals and are willing to bargain. Terrorists have more self-respect than Republicans. And even most terrorists wouldn't do something that kills thousands, if not tens of thousands of their own supporters. But Republicans have no problem causing their voters pain along with everyone else. There is no one rational on their side.
"So how the fuck do you negotiate with elected officials who are willing to massacre the very people who put them in power? The psychopaths were going to happily put Americans through hell on food insecurity just so they could continue to put Americans through hell on health insurance because that's what psychopaths do. And the bonus bullshit is that we could do all the work of getting what we want and then the psycho president just vetoes it and we're all fucked again. Or it could have been all approved and voted into law and then Trump might just ignore the law and freeze the spending because of 'security' or an 'emergency' that is completely fictional and the cockmites at the Supreme Court will just let him. It all fucking sucks and we fucking suck for giving in. But at least we got a completely unenforceable promise of a vote on ACA subsidies and we saved SNAP and a few jobs. Now I'm gonna go home and cry.
"But before I do, lemme talk to you shitheels in red states. You need to give your representatives and senators as much shit as possible for doing this to the country. Or just admit you're the gimps of the GOP."
4. Of course, what Democrats should have done is give much the same speech and say, "And that's why we have to fight. No deal." We'd have gone to the fucking barricades for that kind of ballsiness.
