"I don't think Democrats have done a particularly good job of winning the shutdown. But the Republican Party has taken every opportunity to step on their own dicks in ways that might actually backfire. Democrats are starting with a surprising advantage. In one of the first polls after the shutdown started, WaPo showed that far more people blamed Republicans than Democrats, a much higher number than G Elliot Morris showed in his poll before the shutdown (possibly because WaPo included Trump in their question)."
"Even as voters are looking for compromise, right wingers spent much of the last two days posting dickish gotchas for their social media trolls, starting with the series of racist posts featuring someone in a sombrero. These aren't even funny trolls, and to the extent that they lead to questions where Mike Johnson or JD Vance defend them by claiming that Dems should just ignore them, they make right wingers look like they're not serious about reopening government."
"Both the White House and their Rapid Response site similarly posted a very brief gotcha from an appearance Jeanne Shaheen made on Fox and Friends. Jeanne Shaheen is probably the key person in any negotiations to peel off enough Democrats to reopen government. Five minutes into the interview, Lawrence Jones played a debate clip from 2019, claiming the entire Democratic party wants to give undocumented people health insurance."
Democrats have not excelled at messaging about the shutdown, but Republican self-inflicted errors have weakened their position. Early polls showed considerably more voters blaming Republicans than Democrats, with a WaPo poll indicating higher Republican blame possibly because it included Trump in its question. Right-wing social media activity has included racist, attention-seeking posts and petty gotchas that make Republicans appear unserious about reopening government. Both parties' rapid-response teams circulated short clips to score points. Senator Jeanne Shaheen emphasized that over 70% of ACA subsidy recipients live in states Trump won and that her focus is preventing premium spikes and coverage losses for millions.
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