Shutting down the government is about more than health care for congressional Democrats. It's about the very future of their party.
Why it matters: To combat Trump and regain the trust of their voters, the party establishment is seizing on a growing strain of Democratic populism like never before.
- "It's not the radical or the most agitated element of the base that feel that way" anymore, said one House Democrat, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to offer candid thoughts about the political dynamics of the shutdown.
- "Now, it's the mainstream of the Democratic party that's saying, 'We've given [Trump] every opportunity and he's shown no willingness to do this, so now we have to take more radical measures.'"
Axios has reported throughout the year how Hill Democrats have been besieged by an increasingly angry base demanding that they "fight harder" and "do something" about Trump.
- In February, shortly after President Trump's inauguration, it was voters blowing up Democrats' phone lines with demands to "fight back" against DOGE.
- In March, it was angry crowds gathered at town halls to chew Democrats out for purportedly not doing enough to resist Trump, which some lawmakers compared to the rise of the Tea Party.
- By July, Democratic lawmakers were expressing concerns about their base demanding they put themselves in harm's way to draw attention to the administration's use of physical force.
It's working. "I think it is important for us to have this fight," Rep. Becca Balint (D-Vt.) told Axios of the shutdown.
- "They want us throwing some punches, and ... there's only one way to deal with a bully. This isn't 20 years ago."
Between the lines: Democratic elected officials now find themselves as angry as their voters. The shutdown fight is, in some ways, as personal for them as it is political.
- The last nine months have been an unending parade of indignity for Democrats in which not only their party but Congress itself has been effectively sidelined by the White House.
- "The level of frustration ... has been turned up from December," a senior House Democrat told Axios.
- "Everything since then — rescissions, pocket rescissions — it just creates this tension where, enough is enough."
Zoom in: Democrats are refusing to budge in their demand for Republicans to come to the table and hammer out a deal that, at the very least, renews expiring Affordable Care Act tax credits in exchange for reopening the government.
- Some Democrats openly acknowledge that, while health care is extremely important to them, it's not the only thing at stake.
- "People want this to be a sort of reckoning, where people finally said, 'no,'" Rep. Greg Landsman (D-Ohio) told Axios.
- "We're going to start with these ACA subsidies because it's the most urgent," he said. "But ... you're creating a really important moment where sh*t didn't fly."
The bottom line: "I marvel at the naivete of any Democrat who thinks we should give them Dem votes so they can just turn around and ignore us, crash the health care system, and dismantle what's left of our democracy," Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) told Axios.
- "The filibuster is toast anyway," he added, referring to the Senate's 60-vote threshold that has allowed Democrats to block a federal spending bill.
- "So let them proceed with GOP votes and let the country see with perfect clarity who owns all the damage and destruction they're fomenting."
