Damn, Democrats should calm down

News that eight politically safe Democratic senators voted to end the shutdown Sunday predictably reverberated as the worst news ever for Democrats. Nonsense.

Now, because of Democrats, people will get fed. Workers will get paid. The airplanes will fly. And because of the Republicans, health insurance premiums are going to skyrocket. Democrats failed to stop the Republicans from gutting the ACA. Yup. And now, along with affordability, health care is a central issue for campaign 2026.

The story of the shutdown needed to end, but it also had to teach some lessons and frame some issues. Here’s what we learned:

Over the last 40 or so days, the political landscape has come into sharper focus. During the shutdown, Democrats swept the off-year elections and Trump lost support among all key voter groups, but especially among working families and Hispanics. During the course of the shutdown story, the Republicans consistently demonstrated a callous disregard for working families, forcing draconian cuts to food programs and cutting health care benefits for millions. The Trump Administration even went to court to fight giving food to the needy and disabled.

The parties have been defined by the shutdown and the results of the story playing out have accrued to the Democrats favor. While most will forget about the shutdown showdown tick tock, almost everyone will bring the issues forward into the next election cycle. The cost of living, the affordability issue, frames the two parties in sharp contrast. The fault lines, between the party of privilege and the party of the people will continue to spread across the whole range of the issues. While Democrats have effectively steered back to economic issues, Trump has called “affordability” a “con job.” Republicans up for election in 2026 will be caught in the middle. The shutdown showdown will fade, but the issues have been clarified. That will have the lasting effects necessary to tip the electoral scales. Calm down Democrats, you’re doing fine.