Please be careful what we put out there about the end of the shutdown.
People are now blogging that Schumer is responsible for them losing healthcare.
He is not. Trump is.
And we did not gain “ nothing”.
People are angry. But let’s not direct it at the wrong people.

I think we need to be very careful here. It was unrealistic to think
democrats could force Trump to capitulate on healthcare. We are out of power.
We were never going to accomplish that. He, they, don’t care.
Now people are blaming Schumer for losing their healthcare.
Please be careful.

Tim, thank you for your sane approach to the end of the shutdown. It was never winnable…that was a false premise.
It did the work of ” consciousness raising”.
The suffering was too real and too great to prolong anymore.
Take healthcare to the polls and make GOP own it.
I’m a lifelong Progressive.

BTW, Jacob, I’m a lifelong Progressive…I do understand how you feel and see this shutdown issue.
I see both perspectives. It’s why
I am a Democrat. We don’t go in lockstep. We are a bid tent with lots of well thought out opinions.
I hear you.

Ending the filibuster during the Trump presidency would be a legislative disaster. He was proposing a whole array of voter suppression laws which he could have pushed thru on 51 votes.
A shutdown never gets anything for the party out of power.
The point was made and 400,000 people were out of work.

That is not on Senator Kaine.
That’s on Trump and the GOP

Why fold now? 400,000 people without a paycheck and no future guarantees. 42 million with food insecurity. Are we the party of compassion?

I see both positions.
But I think stopping the shutdown is the right decision. It was not a winnable situation, given how little the other side cares about suffering.
The point was made and hauled thru the electorate effectively.
Now let the GOP own it at the polls. They broke it, let them buy it.

I respectfully disagree.
This was not winnable. The GOP was not going to give an inch. And they have the power and the cruelty not to budge. They don’t care. Too many people were hurting.
The fight needs to be taken to the elections.
Make them own what they’ve done.
You can’t fix stupid.

I’m sure you are deluged with vitriol about your vote on the shutdown.
I am not one of them. I am a lifelong Progressive. I believe that the GOP cruelty is bottomless, and I think we need to end the game of chicken and help those most intimately affected.

We have your back. Millions of us.
We take great joy from Tuesday’s elections, but we do understand the path forward has many challenges.
Stay well, stay positive. You are a pillar for us.

Nicole is an amazing interviewer. Check out her episode with Joan Baez.

I don’t think I’ve ever been more frightened than reading the transcript of that “ interview”.
We are in Jonestown.