This is what a party looks like that sees its potential loss of power and has no idea what to do about it.
Republicans control the entire federal government. Republicans decided not to work with Democrats to secure the votes needed in the Senate to keep the government open.
Republicans in the House of Representatives and the Senate are angry because they got into this mess by unilaterally deciding to end Obamacare subsidies. Republicans led by Donald Trump, Mike Johnson and John Thune loved the idea of paying for tax cuts for the richest Americans by cutting health care for tens of millions of people.
The Republicans made that policy choice, so when the Democrats decided to use their power to force a change, Trump’s party responded by trying to force the Democrats to vote for a continuing resolution they deemed unacceptable, and when that failed, the Republicans shut down the government.
Because Democrats are more united and have a better message, Republicans have become angry.
That anger boiled over during a press conference Friday.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune refused to overturn the filibuster to reopen the government, claiming that if he did, Democrats would return to power, there would be abortion on demand and two new senators from Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico.
However, it was Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN) who went far beyond Thune’s typical Republican fear-mongering about the Democrats, and offered his own theory on why the Democrats won’t do what the Republicans want: “This is about one thing and one thing only to score political points with the terrorist wing of their party, which will continue to hold true as leader Scalise just commented on a Hate America rally in DC next week.”
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