Exactly well said Brian.Those 8 democrats are weak and just slapped America and the American people in the face. The Republicans will not give them shit because all they do is lie over and over. They all looked pathetic and like weak traitors while they were trying to justify what they did on news outlets like Fox and Morning Joe. We need more people in charge like AOC, Jasmine and Maxwell. Chuck and the rest like them needs to go. And people like Fetterman love trump and shouldn’t even be called a democrat.
What they secured with their deal includes: 1) forcing Senators and House members to go on the record of where they stand; 2) reducing hardship for the American people (including 42 million people on foodstamps); and 3) moving the more important next shutdown into the campaign season for House members AFTER their vote, which is the first opportunity for anything meaningful to occur- voting them out. Schumer played his hand as best he could, but it was never a winning hand, including because it actually advanced Trump's desire to have the government no longer serve the people in any meaningful way.
Could it also be said that Republicans caved to 5 Democrats, given the concessions that were gained as described above? Democrats are dealing with a mentally disordered Trump and his cultish Republicans. He enjoys the cruelty-leverage for his Un American ideas. He has no agenda. Republicans have hated ACA for years. They offer no alternative plan.
So, now we need to stop licking our wounds and continue the fight. Grousing only points the blame at Democrats. Republicans: “See, even Dems admit they’re losers.” Get back up. As long as Trump is head of the govt., there will be an uneven playing field. We must see the big picture, not individual partisan losses.
Yes those are all good points and BTC referenced the positive. But by taking this version of a "deal" they legitimized the tactic of withholding funds for food and firing thousands as leverage. I agree this shutdown needed to end sooner than later and any victory would have been small compared to all the carnage this administration has already inflicted. But it sounds like Republicans were willing to include temporary extensions for the aca. Something some house Republicans are interested in as well. Even if it didn't ultimately pass it would have shown the American people that the democrats are playing hard ball. The Republicans still would own the Healthcare fiasco and the rest of it. We had leverage in the form of voters coalescing around the republican shutdown. They are in control of the governement and allowed things to get this bad. Instead we will kick this can and the next time have zero credibility or leverage. Do we think the threat of eliminating the filibuster scared schumer into this? I kind-of do.
This def was something Schumer put in motion. He convinced these 8 bc they are not up for re-election next year. Plus, how many of them were getting money from the airlines?
We definitely need new blood for the Democrats. These old established democrats do not know how to fight.
So extremely disappointed in, and pissed at, the spineless 7 who caved. Fetterman is not worth mentioning. We can take care of them when their terms are up. They are total cowards. Disgustingly so. And each coward needs to go.
Me too they really don’t have nothing to lose except a couple I think because there retiring so they don’t give a damn and Fetterman said from the beginning it was the democrats fault his own party he is straight up a trump lover
More or less no one in PA voted for Fetterman. They voted against his Republican competition. Fetterman, you might recall, had a stroke during the campaign. Under normal and reasonable circumstances, no one would vote for someone like that.
The point is he is still a traitor all of them are don’t know what happened behind closed doors all I know they folded after 40 days and I’m sick of these democrats who can’t have a backbone and don’t stand up to these nuts
Of course he's a traitor. Pennsylvanians didn't have a chance to find someone better.
It's not a backbone Dems don't have. It's enough of a number of votes. McConnell is out parading himself around claiming Donnie is a horrible person who is unfit for office. Donnie wouldn't be there but for McConnell, who controlled enough Senate votes to refuse to convict Donnie in impeachment, twice, and to install terrible SCOTUS justices. He had the numbers. We couldn't stop him.
I have seen allusions to that possibility, too, but I have not seen any itemization of who might have paid them, and why. For the moment, as natural as it is to consider such a possibility, I have to consider it a conspiracy theory. I have also read that there more than eight who were willing to vote to end the shutdown, but only eight were needed, so the others voted against. One observation is that none of the eight has re-election around the corner. As if the voting public would forget by the time these eight have to run for re-election. (As if their competition wouldn't remind the voters.) But one of the Senators who was mentioned as theoretically willing to vote to end it was Ossoff, who's campaigning desperately for next year. So the theories are not consistent.
Mr Cohen, under the conditions of the shutdown, which was the longest in American history, government didn't "function" (as much as it ever functions now), no one got their ACA extension, many were furloughed, there was no food assistance, and various other people suffered various other disadvantages. You and I work. We have income or savings. We eat every day. That wasn't true for some people during the shutdown.
I appreciate the passion and the intention to fight Republicans, but we are outnumbered, and we're losing the fight. We're losing the fight in one way for ourselves, and we're losing it more critically for people whose fundamental life-sustaining means don't get met. During that shutdown, Republicans lost a noteworthy collection of elections. That didn't get their attention. They don't care. As you pointed out, even their master deflects the damage, so he doesn't have to change his behavior.
I don't know if those eight Senators, or any others who might have agreed to re-open the government, could have had a way to canvass their constituents, to see what they wanted, and how they were holding up, and how much longer they could manage.
But one way to look at it is that a guarantee of medical access was sacrificed for a guarantee of a job, and an income, and food. People don't often need medical access. We all need to eat every day. I think it could be argued that Dem Senators held out long enough, and made their point. Last week's elections make clear that voters got the point. Republicans are never going to respond to that. They genuinely don't care. They'll be scratching their heads a year from now when they get voted out of office. In the meantime, I read one e-mail explanation from Tim Kaine, saying roughly what I said, and Dem Senators can now spend their time explaining themselves, and canvassing. If they find out they guessed wrong, and the public could have held out longer, and would have been willing to do that, they'll get another chance in January. But the public isn't you and I. We can manage. The public is people who don't work, or work without being paid, and are at pains to eat. The medical access tragedy is a collection of problems, and it will take a new government -- one that cares -- to try to understand the problems, and address them.
I understand that this shutdown was extremely painful for millions. Now, our healthcare costs will soar because the heinous 8 capitulated to Trump. The Dems weren't holding the American's hostage, the GOP were. Sure, the Dems could give up and seed all power to the GOP, what could go wrong?. Why should the GOP negotiate in the future with a weaker entity? The GOP have shown that they have no empathy, so they will just keep stomping all over US citizens and the Democratic party will just say 'please stop' and then roll over. All hail king trump...
How often do you access medical services? How often do you eat?
You are exactly right: Republicans were holding America and Americans hostage. They could. They had the numbers. As Brian Cohen and others commonly point out, they hurt their own base more than they hurt everyone else. They very simply don't care. You're right, you're right, you're right: they have no empathy (they expressly view it as a weakness and a failing), and it pleases them to stomp over everyone.
It's cede, not seed.
Republicans won't have to negotiate anything in the future. They are vigorously committing suicide right now.
Democrat's only asked for ONE THING, Affordable healthcare thru the ACA. They caved. Welcome to an authoritarian dictatorship without accountability, that doesn't care about 350 million American's. We revisit all this BS at the end of January 26 but with the ACA gone..
Dems only asked for one thing, because there was only one thing they weren't given. I've said before, and I'll say again, we're outnumbered. We did what we could have done, which was shut down the government. That didn't have major implications for me personally. Maybe it didn't for you. It did for many people. And what those eight Senators had to decide for tens of millions of people was whether it was more important to extend the ACA, or more important to continue SNAP. I'm old enough to have received Medicare for the past 10 years. For myself, I don't care about the ACA. I know many other people do. But every one of us cares about food access, and tens of millions of people don't eat without SNAP. I would venture to say that most of those people don't have active medical problems for which they need attention on a frequent basis, or at all.
It was a calculation we pay Senators a lot of money to do. They held out a long time. Many Dem candidates and initiatives got elected last week. Reps are too intoxicated, and too stupid, to see where this is going for them. That's their problem. Dem Sens did what they felt they could do, and they made an impressive point. Reps will of course work harder now, to prevent Dems from voting. But to the extent they don't succeed, or even alienate their own base more, it's all going to come crashing down on them next year, as it did last week. And they won't just be watching it. They'll be packing their stuff, and going home. Because Dem Sens shut down the government for 40 days, and gave everyone a clearer view as to who their friends are.
👁️ I see this differently. I am not putting the Dems “Yes” in the same bucket as the election wins. The wins were a glorious reality check on what America WANTS. Going hungry; rising healthcare, or no healthcare; federal workers going without pay; near miss collisions with aircraft are cruel and insane!
This CLEARLY shows who REALLY cares about the American people. It is NOT the current facist regime. So, if some people see what the Dems did as spineless, I see it as strength in the midst of a raging storm. DEMS want what is GOOD for the people. Trump will burn things to the ground to get his own way. They DONT CARE if people go hungry, or can’t pay their mortgages. All they
care about is WINNING. This will AGAIN show America WHO has their back, when after all this… NOTHING is done to improve healthcare. In the end, LOVE conquers. The “loyalists” in Congress have all just screwed themselves BY doing what they have just done. Their EGREGIOUS actions will never be forgotten. It is already history. America will prevail. Goodness and fairness will prevail.
Trump the Guilty operates like the mob boss and threatens everyone and everything to get his way especially to re write history. The spineless traitors to the oaths they took saw what has happened to Cheney and Kinzinger. It costs big money to defend yourself from baseless lawsuits whether you win or lose. That, can be punishment enough. Look what is happening to Comey and his daugther.
The Epstein files? I too doubt that they will ever see the light of day. A whole bunch of very powerful people are involved and the main witness, Maxwell has been silenced.
I agree but when the ACA subsidies go for a vote Americans will see for themselves that it is the republicans who vote against them…..that will be a concrete fact going into midterms
Where is Amy Schumer? She needs to explain to her uncle. That he needs to go lay down on some beach in Florida and take a nap 💤 We need some young bucks in the leadership of The Democratic Party. AOC comes to mind. Besides she is nice on the eyes 👀. I can hear her saying: Go lay down Chuck, Go lay down. That’s a good boy.
I am at a lose for what lies ahead. With this, they should have just never shut down the government, because as you so rightly pointed out, now the MAGA GOP will know they have to do nothing but wait for the spineless dems to give up and give in.
I feat this will lead to 2026 another year that liberals feel it isn't worth even showing up to the polls.
We've got GREAT blood!! If you watch and listen we've got a whole crew of people who've been fighting since BEFORE day one...It's not just AOC, ,Jasmine Crockett, Cory Booker, Senator Whitehouse, Governors Priztger, Newsome, ( sorry for misspellings) and Kotek. Too many are working hard..Senator Merkley is, from our state of Oregon and all I ask is what are any of us doing besides griping??? It's NOT just voting and marching!! it's pitching in too!! Join your local GRASSROOTS groups..we are here in Oregon meeting and calling to get our folks involved..IT TAKES ALL OF US!!!
We KNEW the job was going to be tough.... IF you whine and give up now...you are only proving what the Republicans THINK about us!!
Exactly well said Brian.Those 8 democrats are weak and just slapped America and the American people in the face. The Republicans will not give them shit because all they do is lie over and over. They all looked pathetic and like weak traitors while they were trying to justify what they did on news outlets like Fox and Morning Joe. We need more people in charge like AOC, Jasmine and Maxwell. Chuck and the rest like them needs to go. And people like Fetterman love trump and shouldn’t even be called a democrat.
What they secured with their deal includes: 1) forcing Senators and House members to go on the record of where they stand; 2) reducing hardship for the American people (including 42 million people on foodstamps); and 3) moving the more important next shutdown into the campaign season for House members AFTER their vote, which is the first opportunity for anything meaningful to occur- voting them out. Schumer played his hand as best he could, but it was never a winning hand, including because it actually advanced Trump's desire to have the government no longer serve the people in any meaningful way.
Could it also be said that Republicans caved to 5 Democrats, given the concessions that were gained as described above? Democrats are dealing with a mentally disordered Trump and his cultish Republicans. He enjoys the cruelty-leverage for his Un American ideas. He has no agenda. Republicans have hated ACA for years. They offer no alternative plan.
So, now we need to stop licking our wounds and continue the fight. Grousing only points the blame at Democrats. Republicans: “See, even Dems admit they’re losers.” Get back up. As long as Trump is head of the govt., there will be an uneven playing field. We must see the big picture, not individual partisan losses.
*8 Dems 🤦🏼♀️
Your perspective is… interesting. Why do you think none of the other Dems signed on? Including Schumer?
Yes those are all good points and BTC referenced the positive. But by taking this version of a "deal" they legitimized the tactic of withholding funds for food and firing thousands as leverage. I agree this shutdown needed to end sooner than later and any victory would have been small compared to all the carnage this administration has already inflicted. But it sounds like Republicans were willing to include temporary extensions for the aca. Something some house Republicans are interested in as well. Even if it didn't ultimately pass it would have shown the American people that the democrats are playing hard ball. The Republicans still would own the Healthcare fiasco and the rest of it. We had leverage in the form of voters coalescing around the republican shutdown. They are in control of the governement and allowed things to get this bad. Instead we will kick this can and the next time have zero credibility or leverage. Do we think the threat of eliminating the filibuster scared schumer into this? I kind-of do.
They may have food and no health care. However, more may need food stamps if faced with catastrophic medical costs and or sky-high insurance premiums.
This def was something Schumer put in motion. He convinced these 8 bc they are not up for re-election next year. Plus, how many of them were getting money from the airlines?
We definitely need new blood for the Democrats. These old established democrats do not know how to fight.
Or worse, they do and choose not to
Do not be like The Eight Losers!
So extremely disappointed in, and pissed at, the spineless 7 who caved. Fetterman is not worth mentioning. We can take care of them when their terms are up. They are total cowards. Disgustingly so. And each coward needs to go.
Fettermen is basically a republican stooge
I’m afraid that American democracy is irrevocably lost. That a criminal was elected to the presidency the first time round was a gobsmacker.
That he was given so much publicity after he was forced out of the White House during all of his trials was ridiculous.
To vote him back in after telling you everything he would do is utter lunacy.
America has now been totally and utterly fuc*ed because of Schumer and the senate.
I wonder if they were paid to vote yes
Me too they really don’t have nothing to lose except a couple I think because there retiring so they don’t give a damn and Fetterman said from the beginning it was the democrats fault his own party he is straight up a trump lover
More or less no one in PA voted for Fetterman. They voted against his Republican competition. Fetterman, you might recall, had a stroke during the campaign. Under normal and reasonable circumstances, no one would vote for someone like that.
The point is he is still a traitor all of them are don’t know what happened behind closed doors all I know they folded after 40 days and I’m sick of these democrats who can’t have a backbone and don’t stand up to these nuts
Of course he's a traitor. Pennsylvanians didn't have a chance to find someone better.
It's not a backbone Dems don't have. It's enough of a number of votes. McConnell is out parading himself around claiming Donnie is a horrible person who is unfit for office. Donnie wouldn't be there but for McConnell, who controlled enough Senate votes to refuse to convict Donnie in impeachment, twice, and to install terrible SCOTUS justices. He had the numbers. We couldn't stop him.
I have seen allusions to that possibility, too, but I have not seen any itemization of who might have paid them, and why. For the moment, as natural as it is to consider such a possibility, I have to consider it a conspiracy theory. I have also read that there more than eight who were willing to vote to end the shutdown, but only eight were needed, so the others voted against. One observation is that none of the eight has re-election around the corner. As if the voting public would forget by the time these eight have to run for re-election. (As if their competition wouldn't remind the voters.) But one of the Senators who was mentioned as theoretically willing to vote to end it was Ossoff, who's campaigning desperately for next year. So the theories are not consistent.
Thank you for putting into words what I could not articulate because I am too angry to think clearly. I am so very tired of it all.
Mr Cohen, under the conditions of the shutdown, which was the longest in American history, government didn't "function" (as much as it ever functions now), no one got their ACA extension, many were furloughed, there was no food assistance, and various other people suffered various other disadvantages. You and I work. We have income or savings. We eat every day. That wasn't true for some people during the shutdown.
I appreciate the passion and the intention to fight Republicans, but we are outnumbered, and we're losing the fight. We're losing the fight in one way for ourselves, and we're losing it more critically for people whose fundamental life-sustaining means don't get met. During that shutdown, Republicans lost a noteworthy collection of elections. That didn't get their attention. They don't care. As you pointed out, even their master deflects the damage, so he doesn't have to change his behavior.
I don't know if those eight Senators, or any others who might have agreed to re-open the government, could have had a way to canvass their constituents, to see what they wanted, and how they were holding up, and how much longer they could manage.
But one way to look at it is that a guarantee of medical access was sacrificed for a guarantee of a job, and an income, and food. People don't often need medical access. We all need to eat every day. I think it could be argued that Dem Senators held out long enough, and made their point. Last week's elections make clear that voters got the point. Republicans are never going to respond to that. They genuinely don't care. They'll be scratching their heads a year from now when they get voted out of office. In the meantime, I read one e-mail explanation from Tim Kaine, saying roughly what I said, and Dem Senators can now spend their time explaining themselves, and canvassing. If they find out they guessed wrong, and the public could have held out longer, and would have been willing to do that, they'll get another chance in January. But the public isn't you and I. We can manage. The public is people who don't work, or work without being paid, and are at pains to eat. The medical access tragedy is a collection of problems, and it will take a new government -- one that cares -- to try to understand the problems, and address them.
I understand that this shutdown was extremely painful for millions. Now, our healthcare costs will soar because the heinous 8 capitulated to Trump. The Dems weren't holding the American's hostage, the GOP were. Sure, the Dems could give up and seed all power to the GOP, what could go wrong?. Why should the GOP negotiate in the future with a weaker entity? The GOP have shown that they have no empathy, so they will just keep stomping all over US citizens and the Democratic party will just say 'please stop' and then roll over. All hail king trump...
How often do you access medical services? How often do you eat?
You are exactly right: Republicans were holding America and Americans hostage. They could. They had the numbers. As Brian Cohen and others commonly point out, they hurt their own base more than they hurt everyone else. They very simply don't care. You're right, you're right, you're right: they have no empathy (they expressly view it as a weakness and a failing), and it pleases them to stomp over everyone.
It's cede, not seed.
Republicans won't have to negotiate anything in the future. They are vigorously committing suicide right now.
Democrat's only asked for ONE THING, Affordable healthcare thru the ACA. They caved. Welcome to an authoritarian dictatorship without accountability, that doesn't care about 350 million American's. We revisit all this BS at the end of January 26 but with the ACA gone..
Dems only asked for one thing, because there was only one thing they weren't given. I've said before, and I'll say again, we're outnumbered. We did what we could have done, which was shut down the government. That didn't have major implications for me personally. Maybe it didn't for you. It did for many people. And what those eight Senators had to decide for tens of millions of people was whether it was more important to extend the ACA, or more important to continue SNAP. I'm old enough to have received Medicare for the past 10 years. For myself, I don't care about the ACA. I know many other people do. But every one of us cares about food access, and tens of millions of people don't eat without SNAP. I would venture to say that most of those people don't have active medical problems for which they need attention on a frequent basis, or at all.
It was a calculation we pay Senators a lot of money to do. They held out a long time. Many Dem candidates and initiatives got elected last week. Reps are too intoxicated, and too stupid, to see where this is going for them. That's their problem. Dem Sens did what they felt they could do, and they made an impressive point. Reps will of course work harder now, to prevent Dems from voting. But to the extent they don't succeed, or even alienate their own base more, it's all going to come crashing down on them next year, as it did last week. And they won't just be watching it. They'll be packing their stuff, and going home. Because Dem Sens shut down the government for 40 days, and gave everyone a clearer view as to who their friends are.
👁️ I see this differently. I am not putting the Dems “Yes” in the same bucket as the election wins. The wins were a glorious reality check on what America WANTS. Going hungry; rising healthcare, or no healthcare; federal workers going without pay; near miss collisions with aircraft are cruel and insane!
This CLEARLY shows who REALLY cares about the American people. It is NOT the current facist regime. So, if some people see what the Dems did as spineless, I see it as strength in the midst of a raging storm. DEMS want what is GOOD for the people. Trump will burn things to the ground to get his own way. They DONT CARE if people go hungry, or can’t pay their mortgages. All they
care about is WINNING. This will AGAIN show America WHO has their back, when after all this… NOTHING is done to improve healthcare. In the end, LOVE conquers. The “loyalists” in Congress have all just screwed themselves BY doing what they have just done. Their EGREGIOUS actions will never be forgotten. It is already history. America will prevail. Goodness and fairness will prevail.
Thank you for some positivity!!! It's difficult, but we've got to STAY ALIVE...and work towards DEMOCRATIC ENDS!! Keep the faith...no negativity!!
Well said, BTC. I feel skeptical, though, that the Epstein files will ever be released. 🙁
What files?
Trump the Guilty operates like the mob boss and threatens everyone and everything to get his way especially to re write history. The spineless traitors to the oaths they took saw what has happened to Cheney and Kinzinger. It costs big money to defend yourself from baseless lawsuits whether you win or lose. That, can be punishment enough. Look what is happening to Comey and his daugther.
The Epstein files? I too doubt that they will ever see the light of day. A whole bunch of very powerful people are involved and the main witness, Maxwell has been silenced.
They might've already been destroyed...has anyone else thought this??
I agree but when the ACA subsidies go for a vote Americans will see for themselves that it is the republicans who vote against them…..that will be a concrete fact going into midterms
Where is Amy Schumer? She needs to explain to her uncle. That he needs to go lay down on some beach in Florida and take a nap 💤 We need some young bucks in the leadership of The Democratic Party. AOC comes to mind. Besides she is nice on the eyes 👀. I can hear her saying: Go lay down Chuck, Go lay down. That’s a good boy.
I'm so glad I'm an Indie and that my senators, Kelly and Gallegos, didn't shame us.
I am at a lose for what lies ahead. With this, they should have just never shut down the government, because as you so rightly pointed out, now the MAGA GOP will know they have to do nothing but wait for the spineless dems to give up and give in.
I feat this will lead to 2026 another year that liberals feel it isn't worth even showing up to the polls.
🩵🩵🩵 They showed up last week, and will DEFINITELY show up again.
WE SURE WILL!!!
You are so right. The Democrats need new blood. This was totally ridiculous. I am still in shock that they caved😠
We've got GREAT blood!! If you watch and listen we've got a whole crew of people who've been fighting since BEFORE day one...It's not just AOC, ,Jasmine Crockett, Cory Booker, Senator Whitehouse, Governors Priztger, Newsome, ( sorry for misspellings) and Kotek. Too many are working hard..Senator Merkley is, from our state of Oregon and all I ask is what are any of us doing besides griping??? It's NOT just voting and marching!! it's pitching in too!! Join your local GRASSROOTS groups..we are here in Oregon meeting and calling to get our folks involved..IT TAKES ALL OF US!!!
We KNEW the job was going to be tough.... IF you whine and give up now...you are only proving what the Republicans THINK about us!!
What a shame dems and 1 independent caved, now they will fill more pain then before.
Shame??? Shame is NOT standing up for this CAUSE!!! This is Germany 1933,,,and we are in the midst of it!!