And in a just reality, that’s what would happen. But Trump has already violated constitutional law (the Russian sanctions), attacked the FBI, and was the one who *destroyed DACA in the first place*, and has reaped absolutely no consequences.

Not popular enough to shut down the government over:

“The democrats major problem is that they have no faith in their base.”

The problem is their base rewards that, and the Democratic base doesn’t. They can’t use the same blue print because they’re appealing to two completely different sets of people.

Except that messaging is simplistic (which is always a problem with the Dems; they try to govern responsibility, which means complexity and change); does rolling back tax cuts mean changing the tax code? Does it mean middle class get a bigger tax cut? No; then why should they care?

I mean honestly, even if they did shut down the government, the BEST case scenario even then is just to get a bill on the floor to debate. But even if the bill does miraculously pass both the House and the Senate, Trump would still need to sign it; and he’s said over and over he won’t, and he welcomes a shut down…

So Americans say the rich pay too little, and yet continue to vote for the party that gives money to the rich; and voters KNOW the party does this, and yet don’t seem to mind. They may say in polls they care, but clearly not enough to stop voting for Republicans.

Please cite your sources.

I think the Dems are stuck in a no-win scenario; I think if they shut down the government, they ALSO disillusion a significant portion of their base. There are a lot of blue collar and federal workers who still vote Dem, and a government shutdown signals to them that the Dems are abandoning their very real concerns…

I mean heck, it wasn’t just staying home in November 2016; it was staying home during all the midterms before that. The Republicans have been gaining more and more seats while Democratic voters were complacent and just didn’t show up.

Yep. Pretty much sick of this place. I stay mostly for “The Root” and the non-political stories on Jezebel are usually okay (plus a lot of comments here and on The Root are amazing.) But holy fuck are their political articles mistimed and badly researched; they seem to frequently miss the boat on many breaking…

... What in the world does that MEAN? I’m probably dense, but this reads like a fortune cookie to me. What are you even saying here? 

It’s like when I try to get a lot of my friends to watch a John Oliver segment. Even when it’s funny, and about something really important (like retirement savings or *fucking bridges*), a lot of them still zone out and decide that kinda stuff is boring. And he’s not even doing a deep dive on stuff.

“There has never been and will never be a political party or a politician in America to reach any post of actual importance, authority or prevalence that isn’t beholden to the rich.”

No, it actually isn’t, because Americans love to imagine themselves as Future Rich.

I think it’s less wanting to offend anyone, and more “If you’re explaining, you’re losing.”

“the Dems know that any failures in government are going to be blamed on the GOP and the president...” 

Know what’s really weird? Hearing my dad (a police officer, supposedly a profession with solid benefits) talk about how he and my mom had to choose between having dental or vision, and how he still has to work full time even after retirement because his pension isn’t enough...

You’d probably be surprised by the amount of diversity here. I live in a northern suburb, and we have plenty of Indian restaurants owned by immigrants (or the generation of immigrants.) There’s a sizable Hmong and Somali population here; I think something like 20% of the population is black, and 10% is Hispanic. (I’m…

Yeah, that’s always been a head-scratcher for me too. There are absolutely things to critique about Swift, Katy Perry, Miley Cyrus and other white feminist-leaning pop stars*, but why in the world is anyone holding them up as feminist icons? Swift has never been to college; Perry has probably never heard the term…