Worst Political Decision in Memory

Please God. No:

The Republicans needed 8 or more Democratic Senators to agree to this “deal”. Here are the names of the Dem “Gang of 10” who worked out this “deal”: Jeanne Shaheen - NH, Maggie Hassan - NH, Tim Kaine - VA, Dick Durbin - IL, John Fetterman - PA, Catherine Cortez Maesto - NV, Gary Peters - MI, Angus King - ME, Jon Ossoff - GA.

Here’s more from the article in USA Today:

WTF?!

Unless there is some secret of which neither we or the media are aware, in my view based on my experience, this is a colossal political blunder. Look, getting SNAP back for a year is really important. and yeah, the Republicans control all three branches of gov’t, Trump is an idiot and his Admin will continue to do bad stuff that people don’t like. Great for us if we can pin this on him before the midterms. But I think that is doubtful.

You see, our superpower in the recent elections wasn’t policy. It was… turnout. And turnout by voting groups that either don’t normally vote in as large numbers (young people - especially young women) and that enthusiastically switched back to Dems from Repubs (Latinos)

But here’s the problem. Voters turned out to vote for immediate, tangible change in their economic and life circumstances. With this “deal”, they will not see any of that.

• Some of the gov’t is funded for fiscal year 2026 (thru 09/26). But not all. The rest is only temporarily funded thru Jan 2026 - less than three months away. We are going to go through this fight again in less than 3 months?!

• The “deal” contains promises of bringing back furloughed workers (only through September 2026) and get them back pay. Not nothing. But the Government Employee Fair Treatment Act of 2019 already guarantees that all federal employees will receive back pay for the period of a lapse in appropriations - so, nothing gained there. And furloughs can happen again after in 11 months (or anytime if Trump decides that’s what he wants to do). As far as I can tell, there a really no guarantees this will stick.

• The Dems held firm primarily based on protecting people from insane price increase in healthcare insurance (mainly through the Affordable Care Act). This “deal” does NOT stop the increase from happening! Unbelievably, it only gets the promise from Republicans of a vote in the Senate in December. Even if it passes, the House would have to pass it as well in its approved Senate form. That’s a helluva gamble on which to risk the goodwill and enthusiasm of your newfound coalition. In my view, if no ACA deal is passed into law, nothing else the Dems do will repair the damage this “deal” will do to their brand and odds of electoral success. I hope I am proved wrong.

• There is nothing in the “deal” to prevent future rescission of the agreed upon “terms” (I know using these words in “ “ is slightly - and perhaps majorly - annoying, but I really want to drive home my view that this is a bad thing - writer’s prerogative). In June of 2025, Republicans passed a law rescinding over $9 billion in funding (almost * billion in foreign aid and over $1 billion for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting that was previously agreed in a budget deal with Democrats. Who says they won’t do this again?

• Appeasement never works. In this case, yes, there are some good things And Dems actually do care about good policy and making people’s lives better. SNAP funding and undoing furloughs and securing back pay (which, again, btfw, is the law so what are they really getting here?) are concrete and will have positive impact. But this is a sign from Schumer, et. al of weakness, and all the Republicans care about is leverage and power.

• Finally, in the end, the Republicans will only do what Trump wants them to do. Yeah, there might be some grumbling and even one or two defections, but in the end, that is what they will do. UNLESS, we weaken Trump to the point others see the writing on the wall (ex: believe it or not, Marjorie Taylor Greene, of all psychos; she has ambition and she saw how much this shutdown, soaring ACA premiums, no SNAP and no holiday travel were hurting Trump and MAGA). We were well on the way to doing that; then the Gang of 10 - with Schumer’s covert approval - caved.

One other key point. Other than Ossoff, none of the Gang of 10 Senators is up for reelection in 2026. This is too convenient to be a coincidence. This was a move by Schumer and Dem leadership to provide shade for those running in 2026. It was essentially an incumbent protection decision. They are putting their own survival ahead of the righteous fight.

Yeah - I feel strongly about this, but I am also conflicted. We want to help people, and this deal does in some key ways. I truly and sincerely hope I am wrong, and if so, I will gladly eat crow. But whatever political spidey senses I still have are tingling so strongly I need to go take some nerve painkillers (figuratively, folks).

Again, this is one helluva gamble.