Public disapproves of the Trump shutdown

The truth, needless to say, does not always win in politics. But “Mister Trump is king who doesn’t need anything more from Congress, and also a smol bean powerless in the face of the minority party in the Senate” is a message that would take a lot of finesse to pull off, and finesse is not their forte:

I don't think people properly appreciate just how badly Trump/Johnson have had to screw this up to achieve these results.

[image or embed]— Jonathan Bernstein (@jonathanbernstein.bsky.social) Oct 30, 2025 at 12:53 PM

It’s true that in the past the public has generally blamed shutdowns on Congress, which is presumably what Republicans were counting on to help muddy the waters, but those were not in context where the presidency was a personality cult and the House had prorogued itself in deference.

Another way you can tell this is not working for Republicans is that Trump is on a world tour with a fool to do his dirty work:

Surely the fact that JD Vance is the face of this means that they're winning and feel very confident in their position

[image or embed]— Ned Resnikoff (@resnikoff.bsky.social) Oct 30, 2025 at 12:48 PM

So far, Democrats have played this well — the fight is happening over two of their best issues, and either they will get concessions that materially help people or they will force Republicans to get rid of the filibuster (a major plus in the long run.) If Republicans have a Plan B beyond “hope a compliant media causes the public to think that night is day” I can’t see it.