Yes, the disjuncture between scholars freaking out about backsliding while national Dems (and the press) act like politics-as-usual is maddening.

Well I'm with you on that. They may be getting threatened, but they are still acting cowardly. As you suggest many others are suffering far more than they are.

Well I wouldn't go that far. Remember January 6, plus all the sham investigations Trump is launching. Also we have no idea how much they might be getting threatened behind the scenes.

You've done great work for all of us but this is a bad take. Yes, we do in fact think Senate leaders should have enough control over their caucus to prevent 8 members - including the whip! - from defecting. Schumer is either an ineffective leader or he was in on the deal.

Abuse victim logic.

The harm caused by the shutdown was real, affecting millions, and no one should downplay that. But America is not in a situation of harm or no harm. Rapidly backsliding into authoritarianism, America is in a terrible situation where appeasement trades short-term relief for more long-term harm.

Some of the most powerful and well-paid people in the world don't understand a lesson that every schoolchild knows: if you surrender to bullies, they will only bully you more

2) the increased disruptions to flights, either directly (e.g., making it harder for Senators to travel) or indirectly (e.g., pressure from airline industry lobbyists).

I think that is certainly true to an extent. However, the timing of the cave suggests another worse possibility: the Senate Dems were always planning to cave and were just holding out til last Tuesday, so it didn't depress turnout.

One idea - they knew caving in September would hurt turnout on November, so they waited to cave until after we voted.

Yes, the Senate Dems are playing right into the standard left-wing accusation of being a fake opposition party.

Right. I accept that the Democrats have limited power. What I think is unacceptable is that they are behaving much of the time like a controlled opposition, refusing to do their constitutional duty, and demoralizing their own supporters.

Holy shit that is bad