Favor the Bold

this was basically a defeatist capitulation in the name of harm reduction

The RIF provision is solid but doesn’t go as far as it should (no real teeth to enforce it or federal law re: employees, to protect federal employees, or constrain Vought).

Then your actual ask has to be something that doesn’t demoralize the base and make you look like weak losers, and that actually, as far as possible, gets the majority to reassert Article One, or at least trips up the WH. And we seem to have gotten neither that or the ACA subsidies.

If this was a kayfabe glonzo, then the real fight is (a) drawing voter attention to the majority’s program and hitting Trump/the GOP and (b) using what little leverage the minority has to reinforce (frankly, reestablish) the constitutional order.

chosen for hardball in the first place (unless you subscribe to the view that it was a purely cynical ploy for the elections/because healthcare polls well for Democrats; but even then, why start the fight in the first place?)

Or, Thune is forced to scrap the filibuster or create some form of carveout for this bill. Forcing the GOP to further own their majority-passed legislation.

Further, while I agree an ACA reversal was unlikely, I wouldn’t go so far as to say it was a nonstarter. That’s partly why the issue was

With all due respect, nowhere did I say or imply they can “magically make everything better.”

Wouldn’t denying the majority party support on unpopular bills/policies it can’t pass alone qualify as ‘what they can, where they can’?

which clearly includes Schumer. If tonight convinced me of anything it's that Senate brain isn't a psychological disposition, but an active infectious, parasitic agent.

My original comment referred to Congressional Democrats, I think it's clear which I meant.

The elections will be in 2026.

I don't understand your point. My earlier post was referring to the fact that Democrats won't be able to reassert the constitutional order until they control Congress, which will be in 2027, and restore healthcare subsidies until they control the whole gov, in 2029.

The next Congress opens on January 3, 2027.

honest question, do we just not fight back then? Congressional Democrats sit silently and let the constitution sit in abeyance until Jan 2027? The healthcare system collapses until Jan 2029?

If only one actor in the political system has an agenda they're willing to use the levers of power available to them to advance, & no one else is willing to shoulder the costs to stop them using the leverage they have, then that actor is sovereign—king in all but name—and his will is law.