Now Can We Stop Pretending That It Was Republicans Who Shut Down the Government?

N ow that the government shutdown is almost over, can we stop pretending that it was a Republican shutdown? For the past 40 days, we have been subjected to a gaslighting campaign from Democrats and their media allies on the pretense that the shutdown was Republicans’ doing. The campaign was largely successful with the voting public — and transparently timed for the run-up to Election Day — but it was always an obvious lie. Democrats were the ones making demands before they would agree to reopen the government; Republicans were demanding nothing and kept voting to reopen the government. Every adult who paid attention knew this.

Last night, the shutdown drama ended. It ended exactly the way you would expect if you understood it as a Democratic shutdown: Republicans made concessions (albeit modest ones), Democrats made no concessions, and, as a result, Republicans got enough Democrats to vote with them to reopen the government.

Leading Democrats told us over and over that the shutdown was an example of Republican cruelty and callousness — that the GOP just wanted to keep poor people from eating, to fire federal employees, and to have airplanes fall out of the sky, all while refusing to show up for a vote, partying, and building a fancy ballroom. If this were an accurate description of reality, then you would expect two things to be true. First, Democrats would be lining up in droves to vote for ending the shutdown. Second, Democratic politicians, activists, and media voices would be ecstatic at the prospect of that finally happening.

Instead, the opposite has been the case — which makes sense only if the opposite was true all along and this was really a Democratic shutdown. The majority of Democrats voted against ending the shutdown. The party’s leaders have denounced that vote, and activists are threatening to primary the people who cast those votes. There is no way to reconcile the furious response with the wholly false claim that it was Republicans, not Democrats, who shut down the government. It was always a lie, and they always knew it was a lie.

Then: It’s the Republican Shutdown!

Throughout the shutdown, leading Democrats and their flacks branded this the “Republican shutdown” or “Trump shutdown” and insisted that shutting down the government was bad, harmful, and the doing of Trump and the GOP. They did this even though the record was very clear that the shutdown was a tactic urged openly beforehand by Ezra Klein and other progressive journalists and activists.

Consider just a sample from Chuck Schumer’s X feed: October 13: “Donald Trump and Russell Vought are using Americans as pawns in their shutdown.” October 30: “In the middle of this Republican government shutdown, Donald Trump left the country . . .” November 5: “@RepJeffries and I are once again demanding Donald Trump and the Republicans sit down with us, end their shutdown, and fix their healthcare crisis.” November 6: “The American people have spoken. It’s time Republicans finally listen and bring their shutdown and their healthcare crisis to an end.” November 8: “Democrats offered a perfectly reasonable compromise to get out of this ridiculous shutdown.”

Kirsten Gillibrand, November 5: “Grocery prices are up, SNAP benefits are delayed, and President Trump is still refusing to end this shutdown.” November 7: “No one should be forced to ration their food or medication because Trump and Republicans refuse to end the government shutdown.” Bernie Sanders, October 4: “We must defeat the Republican shutdown.” October 8: “I’m LIVE with my Senate colleagues discussing the Republican shutdown.” Chris Murphy, September 30: “He is engineering a shutdown because he wants to be a king.” October 3: “Hey I’m doing a Reddit AMA . . . Ready to answer your questions about the Trump shutdown.” October 10: “The [stock market] downturn is ALL Trump. It’s his tariffs, his shutdown, his ICE raids, his health care cuts.” October 22: “A new poll shows Americans blame Trump and Republicans over Democrats for the shutdown 53%-37%. (Independents blame Trump by a nearly 3-to-1 margin, 58%-21%.). People aren’t dumb.” Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, September 30: “If Republicans want to blame their shutdown on me, they are more than welcome to come to my office and negotiate anytime.”

My inbox was full of press releases and news reports of this sort, many of them from official organs of the Democratic Party. Just a sampling:

• September 22, DNC War Room: “With the Trump Shutdown Looming, Republicans Leave DC as Millions of Americans Are Set To Lose Their Health Care”
• September 26, Congressional Hispanic Caucus: “Democratic Caucuses to Hold Press Conference on the Republican Shutdown’s Toxic Effect on Our Health Care”
• September 29, DNC War Room: “Vance Becomes the Poster Child for Shutting Down the Government and Increasing Health Care Costs for Millions of Americans . . . Vice President J.D. Vance has finally found his policy portfolio: shutting down the government . . . Headline after headline after headline reflect the same thing: Vance is the face of the Republican Shutdown.”
• October 1: Hakeem Jeffries hosts a “Stop the Republican Shutdown” livestream.
• October 1, DNC War Room: “Day 1 of Trump’s Shutdown: Job Market in Peril as Private Companies Cut 32,000 Jobs in September . . . Now, his White House is using the Trump Shutdown as an excuse to bar the release of the September jobs report.”
• October 1, DNC War Room: “Trump’s Shutdown Gives Republicans Another Excuse To Avoid Releasing The Epstein Files”
• October 2, DNC War Room: “Day 2 of Trump’s Shutdown: White House Continues $200 Million Ballroom Reconstruction as Americans Face Massive Health Care Price Hikes . . . It’s no wonder voters overwhelmingly agree that Trump and Republicans own this shutdown.”
• October 2, DNC War Room: “Trump’s Shutdown Worsens the Job Outlook for Latinos: Finding a job is becoming nearly impossible. . . . And now, as the Republican shutdown continues, threats of mass layoffs loom all the while Trump and Republicans refuse to extend health care tax credits.”
• October 2, DNC War Room: “ICYMI: Americans Blame Trump and Republicans for Government Shutdown . . . Donald Trump shut down the government to avoid shielding millions of Americans from skyrocketing health care premiums, even though he spent 10 times as much on massive tax cuts for billionaires — it’s no wonder voters believe Trump and Republicans are to blame. . . . This is Trump’s shutdown, and Americans know it.”
• October 15, in Axios: “‘Leader Jeffries is focused on battling Donald Trump, ending the Republican shutdown of the federal government and addressing the crushing GOP health care crisis,’ Jeffries spokesperson Justin Chermol told Axios.”
• October 17, DNC War Room: “Day 17 of Trump’s Shutdown: Trump, the Self-Described “Master Dealmaker,” Can’t Make a Deal on His Own Shutdown . . . It’s been over half a month since Donald Trump shut down the government, and he still hasn’t been able to make a deal to reopen it. Trump’s own Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent admitted that Trump’s government shutdown is costing the US economy $15 billion a day.”
• October 18, progressive group Our Revolution: “This No Kings Day rally comes amid a deepening national crisis – as Trump’s shutdown drags on.” (It’s a funny kind of “revolution” that’s against shutting down the government.)
• October 21, DNC War Room: “Trump’s Government Shutdown Is Hitting Black Families in the Pocketbook . . . It is Day 21 of Trump’s shutdown, and one thing is clear: Trump and Republicans are continuing to inflict financial hardship on families across the nation. . . . This shutdown isn’t just a political move — it’s a direct attack on the economic security of Black families, and Trump has done nothing but make life harder for our communities.”
• October 22, DNC War Room: “Day 22 of Trump’s Government Shutdown: Trump’s Priorities Are Anywhere but Ending His Shutdown . . . Trump would rather focus on increasing his personal fortune, building his luxurious ballroom, and commuting criminals’ prison sentences than reopening the government and protecting health care.”
• October 28, DNC War Room: “Trump’s Shutdown and Cost of Living Crisis Are Pulling the Rug Out From Under Working Families”
• November 6: Congressional Hispanic Caucus: “An entire month went by and Republicans refused to show up at the negotiating table. . . . Americans know this shutdown is a Republican shutdown. Democrats are doing our part – putting serious, common sense proposals on the table, ready to negotiate like adults. But we can’t negotiate with thin air. Republicans must come to the table.”
• November 4, DNC War Room: “Donald Trump took to Truth Social to announce that he won’t release emergency funds for SNAP benefits until his government shutdown ends. . . . The American people know that this is Trump’s shutdown, and they will know exactly who is to blame for this cruel and preventable hunger crisis across the country.”
• November 7, DNC War Room: “As Trump beats his own record for the longest government shutdown in history, working families are paying the price. Trump’s shutdown is impacting everything from air travel to food assistance for kids and families, despite the fact that he could fully fund SNAP if he wanted to.”

I assure you, dear reader, that this is only the tiniest fraction of this sort of thing. It deluged the public for six weeks, it was accepted with a straight face by mainstream political journalists, and it had its effect on the elections. But dishonest Democratic spin needs to be memory-holed once new spin is issued.

Now: Democrats Are Mad That the Shutdown Is Ending

Last night, eight Senate Democrats (including retiring Democratic Whip Dick Durbin and a few others who aren’t running for re-election) broke ranks to vote with all 53 Republicans to end the shutdown. The other 39 Democrats were opposed — including Schumer, Sanders, Murphy, and Gillibrand. If you’re keeping score at home, that’s still 100 percent of Republicans voting to end the shutdown, and 83 percent of Democrats against it.

If this “Trump shutdown” was so terrible, this should be cause for popular celebration, no? But as Jack Blanchard and Dasha Burns of Politico Playbook put it:

The Democratic base is seething. Liberal social media is on fire this morning, with activists, pressure groups and wannabe Democratic senators and presidents falling over one another to condemn the deal in ever-louder terms. Panelists on MSNBC were banging the drum against it last night, some calling for Schumer to face the heat. Instantly, it feels like a purity test — nobody hoping to get anywhere in Democratic circles right now is permitted to be anything other than outraged. . . .

“Pathetic,” said the current top potential 2028 candidate, California Gov. Gavin Newsom. “Senator Schumer is no longer effective and should be replaced,” said Rep. Ro Khanna, who may fancy himself for higher office. Rising stars and Senate hopefuls like Mallory McMorrow, James Talarico and Graham Platner all condemned the deal.

I guess it’s not the Trump shutdown anymore? Schumer even put out a video blasting the deal. Jeffries vowed to try to keep the shutdown going: “For seven weeks, Democrats in the House and Senate have waged a valiant fight. . . . We will fight the GOP bill in the House of Representatives.” House progressive leader Pramila Jayapal called to “hold the line . . . I’m a NO on anything that doesn’t extend ACA subsidies.” Sanders tore into the vote on the Senate floor and released a video calling it “a very bad vote” on “a very bad night.” Gillibrand put out a statement on why “I cannot support this deal.” Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez insisted that “people want us to hold the line for a reason” rather than end the shutdown. DNC Vice Chair Malcolm Kenyatta, with blithe disregard toward his own “War Room” messaging, declared, “Any ‘deal’ that ends with Dems just getting a pinky promise in return is a mistake.” New Jersey Governor-elect Mikie Sherill described it as “caving.” Sherrod Brown, running to return to the Senate, called it a “bad deal.”

Former Kamala Harris aide Symone D. Sanders Townsend of MSNBC asked, “If they don’t get anything, but a promise to vote later then how do Senate Democrats explain the last 40 days to the people who have suffered?” Youth Democrat influencer Harry Sisson called it “absolutely pathetic. I cannot believe we caved to this wannabe dictator and his goons. Thanks to the Democrats who voted no. We’ll remember who bent the knee.” Susan Glasser of the New Yorker: “Democrats had a strong week at the polls . . . and are ending it by agreeing to a deal that was on offer weeks ago without anything they were demanding. Cue the Dem civil war.” Jennifer Rubin wrote that “any D running for Senate must vow to oust Schumer as leader.” There was much more of the same on Bluesky.

You don’t act as if ending a shutdown is a cave, a defeat, and a disaster if you believed that the shutdown was causing terrible harm and you wanted it to end. It was all a lie; it’s now all revealed, and the only thing Democrats can do is bank on voters forgetting what they said for six weeks before last night.