Trump: go nuclear and end the shutdown?

Good idea or just a troll to push the Democrats along?

As people like to say about Trump; never take him literally, but always take him seriously. I am not sure here whether or not he should be taken literally or just taken seriously. Does he really want the GOP to nuke the filibuster at this point or is this just a threat to make Democrats take pause that they may lose all leverage in Congress until at least after the midterms.

Now every single modern day shutdown starting with Clinton in the 1990s has been resolved with the use of a continuing resolution. Not a single time has the majority folded to the minority and agreed to any sort of long term solution prior to reopening the government. There may have been a side deal or two that was positioned along with these CRs, but no minority filibuster causing a government shutdown has been technically "won" by the minority, at least not in the past 35 years. So the concept that it is going to be different this time does not rely on history. If anything, we are more politically spit and our politicians are less likely to negotiate than in any time in our nation's history. Long gone are the days when Ronald Reagan and Tip O'Neil and others would sit down with some scotch, cigars, and hammer out some deals.

What I will tell you is that Mike Johnson, John Thune and the rest of the GOP in Congress would likely be on board with the concept of passing the continuing resolution on a simple majority vote long before they would agree to cave into the demand of the Democrats. I see no clear manner of a Democratic victory here. Just different versions of them losing on the immediate issue. The question is whether or not they want to negotiate some form of post CR agreement to negotiate in good faith about certain things that are in the forefront or whether or not they want to come away empty handed due to the fact that the GOP nuked the filibuster for budgets. The latter option would be a long term problem for the minority, regardless of which party it is. But based on how partisan and headstrong our country has become, being in the Senate minority might be something that Democrats might need to get used to. They currently own almost every blue and purple seat in the Senate and are still four seats away from a majority. They are playing defense almost every cycle.

Lastly, I believe that eventually Democrats will get what they are asking for on the topics that they are willing to actually make public. As much as I hate the concept of extending Covid ACA subsidies (given how long Covid has been over), some version of that will likely eventually pass, as that sort of increase in insurance costs could harm the GOP in the midterms. My hope would be that they still reduce them and eventually phase them out (as they are temporary). As much as I want to expose ACA for what it is, this will need to be done gently and over time. To that point, if the GOP agrees to some form of extension for those covid subsidies, I wonder out loud how the Democrats then push further without exposing the idea that they really do want to give healthcare to undocumented Americans who should not legally qualify. They continue to speak out of both sides of their mouths on this issue. But at the end of the day, I believe that is where they will need to give in to secure a deal where they can pretend to have won on something.