Not a fan, but props to him for not caving (so far).

It is pretty obvious, the narrative has been completely captured. All news only reports what these imbeciles say. No pushback, always giving them the deference.

This happened after 9/11 in a very pronounced way. No serious or widespread criticism was allowed in mainstream media. Although the government did apply some pressure it was mostly voluntary.

What do you do when all the pseudo rulling institutions capitulate to a tyrant willingly? What happen when the government becomes indistinguishable from the mob?

The answer is not much, because it has happened many times before already. People need to wake up.

We're so fucked.

They can (and do) do that anyway. I don't think that's the plan here. To the halfway reasonable people, Republicans control congress. This is on them. The minority party's job us to play hardball. To the people listening to whatever Republicans say without question, it doesn't matter. They can make up anything they want a blame democrats. This doesn't do anything for them.

It's a budget, he needs 50 votes and there's 53 senators with a R by their names...

If there's a shutdown it's cuz trump ordered it.

Schumer "negotiating" just makes it easier for idiots to blame it on Dems.

Mainstream media at large is acting like budget reconciliation isn't a thing...

The procedure overrides the Senate's filibuster rules, which may otherwise require a sixty-vote supermajority for passage. Bills described as reconciliation bills can pass the Senate by a simple majority of fifty-one votes or fifty votes plus the vice president's as the tie-breaker.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reconciliation_(United_States_Congress)

trump doesn't need a single D vote in the House or Senate to pass a budget, he just doesn't want to

No he doesn't. He needs to pay ICE agents. He needs the government to stay open.

Shutting the government down and keeping it shut down inhibits his ability to progress with fascism.

Shut the government down and what happens to the soldiers deployed to US streets?

No. Shut it the fuck down. Its idiotic to allow it to stay open.

They have the majority. Should have told them to make a deal with themselves if they actually give a shit.

But controlled opposition, doing controlled opposition things, to maintain the illusion of democracy.

Yes, I expected Democrats to spinelessly cave. Pleasantly surprised so far, though there's still time.

Welcome to life in America. Where intelligence and common sense aren't so common. People will literally kill you so they can happily vote against their own interests.

This is true of people in general. While comfortable enough, or able to rationalize the discomfort away, people tend to not want to change. It takes a large shove to get people to act. Having a huge and diverse country with lots of built-in disconnects doesn't help.

Better question: can't we just fire the government and just live free?

No. Someone may correct me if I'm wrong but they have an agreed debt ceiling and without an agreement raising it they're essentially out of money to fund federal stuff. I mean not really, but they are.

TBF it is their job attend legislative sessions. I agree with the spirit of your comment.

To answer your question... clearly the weren't trying that hard.

Yeah... that's how things work. What, should they just bring in guns and kill them all? No, their job is to get the best outcome they can get (in their opinion). You can let the Fascists do whatever they want or you can try to make it as painless as possible while they progress. I prefer the latter.

It's the citizenry's job to fight them. Legislators do what they can in congress to slow them down and we fight them where we can. Giving up all power in congress is stupid. It should be used as best as possible, which is not just giving up.

What do they need a coup for? They control the whole damn thing.