The US government shutdown may help Democrats, but not democracy

IT’S easy to understand why Democrats want to use the government shutdown that began on Oct 1 to focus on the choices by President Donald Trump and the Republican Congress that will deny health insurance to millions of Americans.

It’s hard, however, to plausibly argue that those healthcare cuts are the most urgent threat facing the nation at a time when Trump is explicitly demanding that the Justice Department prosecute those he considers enemies, pressuring ABC to remove a late night TV host he dislikes, dispatching National Guard forces into blue cities, and preparing the military to fight “the enemy from within”.

Congressional Democrats, by centring their demands on restoring funding for Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act, are deploying their strongest legislative weapon – the ability to shut down the government – behind what polls show is their strongest issue: healthcare. That may, in fact, be the approach that maximises the party’s chances of winning back at least the House of Representatives in the 2026 midterms.