[SR2Z]

Unless your theory is that the median voter is kind of an idiot who doesn't understand how the government works and goes based on vibes.

Such a person would ignore any issue short of, say, their paychecks or SSA benefits not arriving on time. After that, who knows who they would support?

Democrats have a lot less to lose than the GOP right now. The party is unpopular and locked out of power. There's only upside to shutting the government down, if you ignore the very serious impacts on normal people.

Trump is not capable of seeing this because he reflexively has to win every conflict he's involved in.

[atmavatar]

There was nothing to stop the Republican party from unilaterally averting the shutdown, and there's nothing stopping them from unilaterally ending it. They have the majority in both houses as well as the presidency, so they can pass anything they like.

The only road bump in place is the Senate filibuster rule - but that's a rule that can be (and has been) tossed aside when inconvenient. Recall that Republicans removed the filibuster from judicial appointments when they wanted to ram through multiple Supreme Court justices and hundreds of lower court judges.

The underlying problem is that the current Republican party wants this shutdown because it reinforces their half-century-long message that government is broken and gives them cover to remove federal workers.

It also doesn't help that the House is remaining closed to delay seating an incoming Democrat representative from an Arizona special election.

Expect this shutdown to continue for a while.

[ryandrake]

> Unless your theory is that the median voter is kind of an idiot who doesn't understand how the government works and goes based on vibes.

I think the median voter looks at what a politician says they are going to do, assumes they are going to do it, and votes based on that. Say what you will about the Trump administration, they are doing exactly what they were shouting from the rooftops that they would do. Grief people they don't like, sow chaos and division, start a devastating trade war on multiple fronts, and cause daily chaos and drama. They said it loud and clear for years before the election. They got elected. And, then they did it!

If I had anything good to say about these guys it's that they were 100% transparent about their plans and they followed up on them right out of the gate. Exactly zero people should be surprised at what they delivered. It's actually pretty impressive how faithfully they are delivering on all of their promises of destruction and chaos! In fact, polls of Republicans show consistent, strong and enthusiastic approval of the administrations actions, as they themselves fall deeper into poverty and hopelessness.

[mandeepj]

> they are doing exactly what they were shouting from the rooftops that they would do.

You mean lower prices on day 1?

Unfortunately some of us still remember those outlandish promises which we knew will remain just promises.

Doesn’t matter how much you push his promises under the rug, but we will not forget - how big of a fraud and scammer the current sitting president is.

Did they also shout - 51st state, crypto scams, private funding deals etc etc?

[wredcoll]

Yes, they shouted that they would commit fraud and accept bribes. Apparently people are fine with that and voted for it.

[mandeepj]

Nope! They definitely didn’t say that! Doesn’t matter how much people from your tribe try to normalize it, that wouldn’t happen.

[wredcoll]

What? Donald Trump regularly accepts bribes, he did it before during and after his presidency. He was elected anyways. People just don't care.

[mandeepj]

> Donald Trump regularly accepts bribes

Of course, he does! That’s why in the first place he ran for the office! He’s the most corrupt MF in the history of our planet. But, here’s your confusion - did he ever say he accepts or asks for bribes? No!! He wraps it all up in patriotism and his stupid followers suck it all up.

[walkabout]

> Unless your theory is that the median voter is kind of an idiot who doesn't understand how the government works and goes based on vibes.

Um.

Yes that’s basically true, to the best of science’s reckoning, anyway. Like, you pretty much nailed it.

Political scientists had figured that out with very solid evidence by around the middle of the 20th century (solid evidence in part because this is obviously alarming so they did a lot of double-checking) then spent several decades trying to figure out an angle by which they could say “but it’s, uh, fine somehow?” or maybe even “but actually that’s good” before finally giving up on that and admitting it’s kind of amazing democracy works at all, and the whole thing’s scary-fragile.