Latest / DEEP INSIGHT / Democratic and GOP strategists on the political fallout of the government shutdown

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Democratic and GOP strategists on the political fallout of the government shutdown · DEEP INSIGHT

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  Speaker 1: And for more on the politics of the shutdown. We're
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  Speaker 1: joined now by Democratic strategist Fez Shakir and Republican strategist
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  Speaker 1: Doug Hi.
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  Speaker 2: Great to see you both, Good to be with you.
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  Speaker 1: So there is a real disconnect between the pain that
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  Speaker 1: federal workers are experiencing and the lack of urgency among
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  Speaker 1: lawmakers on Capitol Hill. How do you make sense of
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  Speaker 1: that gap?
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  Speaker 2: I think it's pretty simple, and it's that history doesn't
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  Speaker 2: repeat itself. But at Rhymes, we go back to the
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  Speaker 2: twenty thirteen shutdown. Republicans said we have to fight Obamacare.
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  Speaker 2: We didn't have a strategy to land a punch to
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  Speaker 2: win the round, to knock down our opponent, and it
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  Speaker 2: blew up in our faces. Democrats right now, what are
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  Speaker 2: they saying, we have to fight Donald Trump. It's not
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  Speaker 2: clear that they have a strategy to win the round,
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  Speaker 2: to land a punch to beat Trump. And so we
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  Speaker 2: have this impasse where you have two parties that are
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  Speaker 2: essentially communicating to their base. Everybody who is in that
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  Speaker 2: package you played earlier is caught in the middle of
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  Speaker 2: these politics, and both sides not only think they can win,
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  Speaker 2: they think they are winning. Now that may be an
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  Speaker 2: impossible thing politically for both sides to win something. But
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  Speaker 2: if there are no electoral impacts come November, they're going
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  Speaker 2: to maintain this position, and this is going to go
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  Speaker 2: on a lot longer.
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  Speaker 1: How do you see it?
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  Speaker 3: Faced Well, the President has been sitting on the sidelines quietly,
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  Speaker 3: and I think at this point Democrats had hoped that
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  Speaker 3: he'd be engaged. He had that one meeting that your remember,
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  Speaker 3: he brought Schumer and Jeffries in through some hats at
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  Speaker 3: them apparently, and did some tombrero memes after that meeting,
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  Speaker 3: and since then has really not engaged. At one point,
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  Speaker 3: I remember a few days ago, President Trump said we're
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  Speaker 3: having negotiations with Democrats, and he quickly had to walk
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  Speaker 3: that back. And the irony of this whole thing is
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  Speaker 3: the Democrats have been offering a solution that works for
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  Speaker 3: him politically. You don't want healthcare premiums to go up
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  Speaker 3: for twenty million people, do you miss? The president, We're
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  Speaker 3: giving you a way out, so politically you can see
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  Speaker 3: that there's a solution at the table for him that
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  Speaker 3: works as a win win actually, and yet he's not
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  Speaker 3: engaged on it. And I think he could. If the
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  Speaker 3: President does get engaged. I think you could end this
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  Speaker 3: pretty quickly.
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  Speaker 1: You mentioned twenty thirteen, we should say you were working
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  Speaker 1: then for them. House Majority Leader Eric Canter. What are
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  Speaker 1: the biggest differences between now and then?
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  Speaker 2: In twenty thirteen? We were working our tails off. I
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  Speaker 2: remember the first Saturday of the shutdown. I got a
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  Speaker 2: text message from a friend at home in North Carolina
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  Speaker 2: who asked me if I was enjoying my vacation, and
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  Speaker 2: I replied with some language I won't fully repeat here,
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  Speaker 2: but I told them it was about nine thirty in
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  Speaker 2: the morning on Saturday. I was at my desk, and
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  Speaker 2: every day we were having press conferences and we were
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  Speaker 2: passing bills. Let's keep the Department of Education open. Let's
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  Speaker 2: keep the Department of Energy open. Mike Johnson has a
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  Speaker 2: very different Congress, a very different conference, and he's doing
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  Speaker 2: things in a different way, and I think he ultimately
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  Speaker 2: feels every time I see him doing a press conference,
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  Speaker 2: and he's all over the place, by the way, more
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  Speaker 2: than we typically see him. His message is a very
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  Speaker 2: simple and defensible one. Let's not hold the government hostage.
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  Speaker 2: We've already passed this. Let's just move forward. We shouldn't
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  Speaker 2: do anything other than doing what we've already done and
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  Speaker 2: the balls in the Senate's court. The interesting thing here
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  Speaker 2: is legislatively, the Senate throughout all of this has probably
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  Speaker 2: been more productive in the past two weeks than it
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  Speaker 2: has been in the past year.
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  Speaker 1: Well, they've been present in Washington in the way that
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  Speaker 1: the House has it, and the politics pads for Democrats
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  Speaker 1: has changed dramatically considering what happened this past spring when
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  Speaker 1: they caught so much blowback for avoiding a shutdown, Well.
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  Speaker 3: They they got the right issue. I mean, you think
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  Speaker 3: of the number one thing that most Americans are dealing
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  Speaker 3: with right now is unaffordability cost of living. We're seeing
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  Speaker 3: a play out in the New York City may oral
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  Speaker 3: which will propel it. Things are on mom dadia of
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  Speaker 3: winning that election. And one of the reasons that that's
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  Speaker 3: going on is because you know that they got the
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  Speaker 3: issue of healthcare costs are going to go up through
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  Speaker 3: the roof unnecessarily right that you could have resolved this
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  Speaker 3: in one big, beautiful bill, they did not. Now Here,
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  Speaker 3: we are sitting on potentially a very good, simple solution.
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  Speaker 3: I'm sure Doug and I actually sat down. We could
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  Speaker 3: easily resolve it right that the solution is there. You
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  Speaker 3: just say we're going to reopen the government. You don't
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  Speaker 3: necessarily have to attach the ACA subsidies to the reopening
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  Speaker 3: of the government, but you agree that there's going to
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  Speaker 3: be a vote held right simultaneously after it, right, so
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  Speaker 3: that you'll reopen the government, you have a vote on
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  Speaker 3: ACA subsidies. I guarantee something like that is a simple
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  Speaker 3: enough solution that all sides could come together on.
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  Speaker 1: There's a new New York Times analysis that looks at
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  Speaker 1: the way the administration is using the shutdown to push
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  Speaker 1: through long desired firings of federal workers and to really
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  Speaker 1: squeeze policy and agenda items and democratic led districts. According
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  Speaker 1: to this analysis, more than twenty seven billion dollars in
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  Speaker 1: halted federal grants have been in democratic areas, compared to
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  Speaker 1: just seven hundred and thirty nine roughly million dollars in
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  Speaker 1: Republican districts. What's your read of this stuff?
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  Speaker 2: You know, Obama did some of this in twenty thirteen,
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  Speaker 2: but it was sort of like a coke zero version
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  Speaker 2: of what Donald Trump is going to do and has done.
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  Speaker 2: And what surprises me about this is that Democrats haven't
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  Speaker 2: learned some of our lessons. When you have the message
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  Speaker 2: of fight before you have a strategy for what that is.
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  Speaker 2: In a shutdown, you give a president more power. Barack
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  Speaker 2: Obama had more power, George Bush during shutdowns. Whoever, the
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  Speaker 2: president gets more power of what they're able to do.
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  Speaker 2: So by having a message of fight, Democrats are giving
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  Speaker 2: Donald Trump a lot more power to do things that
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  Speaker 2: they don't want him to do. That should be a
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  Speaker 2: problem for them.
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  Speaker 1: What about that from the Democratic side.
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  Speaker 3: I mean, this guy's already as power that he didn't have.
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  Speaker 3: He's been acting illegally in all kinds of ways, biring
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  Speaker 3: federal workers well before this point. So I don't think
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  Speaker 3: the biggest concern. Under normal circumstances, you'll be concerned, Oh,
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  Speaker 3: you know what, we don't want to give the president
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  Speaker 3: an undue power. This is not a president you're worried about.
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  Speaker 3: So this is the one that you're more concerned around.
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  Speaker 3: How do I message to people who voted for you?
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  Speaker 3: I mean, you've looked at these districts. I think eighty
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  Speaker 3: percent of the ACA premium increases will hit places that
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  Speaker 3: voted for Dantro states that he won, and you're talking
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  Speaker 3: to those people and saying this president is not focused
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  Speaker 3: on you in your needs, and we have a very
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  Speaker 3: simple solution on the table. I think the Democratic position
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  Speaker 3: on this bears well over time. By the way, at
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  Speaker 3: the end of the year, that's when the tax subsidies expire.
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  Speaker 3: If you're looking at the calendar of Congress, there's only
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  Speaker 3: about thirty legislative days left between now and then. So
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  Speaker 3: when are you going to solve for this, Mike Johnson,
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  Speaker 3: When are you going to solve for this? There's only
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  Speaker 3: a small period of time, and I think the Democratic
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  Speaker 3: argument just gets stronger and stronger, especially as people get
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  Speaker 3: these notices that their premiums are about to go through
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  Speaker 3: the roof.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, there's a question I've been putting to Democratic lawmakers
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  Speaker 1: who come on the program. I'll ask you this question,
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  Speaker 1: is there anything that Democrats can learn from the way
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  Speaker 1: that Trump administration has been playing hardball on some of
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  Speaker 1: these issues and apply it to how they might govern
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  Speaker 1: if they ever reclaim the White House or congressional leadership.
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  Speaker 3: Listen, I mean using executive power. He has put the
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  Speaker 3: bully in the bully pulpit, and I don't agree with
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  Speaker 3: his values, but when you say he takes steak in intel,
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  Speaker 3: he takes some steak in rare mineral companies. He goes
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  Speaker 3: after university presidents, He bullies media companies. Know well, I
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  Speaker 3: don't agree with the values, but imagine if you had
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  Speaker 3: a better values orientation and you put the bully back
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  Speaker 3: in bully pulpit and said, we have certain outcomes we
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  Speaker 3: need to improve for working class people's lives. And I
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  Speaker 3: see the role of a president to assert it aggressively
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  Speaker 3: and to urge you, not acting unlawfully, but to urge
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  Speaker 3: you with my values and with my public argument that
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  Speaker 3: I'm going to change your behavior. A lot could be done,
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  Speaker 3: and certainly Trump has showed the way for hopefully a
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  Speaker 3: next Democratic president to say, you know, you've laid the
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  Speaker 3: table for us to act in ways that improve the
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  Speaker 3: lives of regular working class people in ways that we
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  Speaker 3: wouldn't have done before.
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  Speaker 1: There is no off ramp insight for this friending, the shutdown.
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  Speaker 1: They're not even talking the different parties. How long do
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  Speaker 1: you think this is going to go?
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  Speaker 2: It'll go past Halloween for me. I think maybe one
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  Speaker 2: of the pressure points maybe when we get to Veterans Day,
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  Speaker 2: especially if veterans pay or pay for a military becomes
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  Speaker 2: an issue, but neither side sees a reason to back down.
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  Speaker 2: Right now, they both feel not only right in their cause,
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  Speaker 2: but righteous in their cause, which means there's no incentive
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  Speaker 2: at this point for them to move together at all.
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  Speaker 3: Irby, I was telling you, said, well, could you learn
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  Speaker 3: from Trump. You took stake in Intel, right, you could
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  Speaker 3: take it. Takes stake in the United Health Group. Here's
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  Speaker 3: a company that's depriving people of healthcare. Lots of people
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  Speaker 3: going to die in this year unnecessarily. That to my mind,
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  Speaker 3: fix a United Health Group, fix a broken healthcare system.
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  Speaker 3: This is the path for Democrats to regain their footing
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  Speaker 3: on how you fight for regular working class people and
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  Speaker 3: carve into some of the support that Donald Trump has
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  Speaker 3: previously held, because I think a lot of people are
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  Speaker 3: feeling left down. This isn't what I voted for. He
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  Speaker 3: has not focused on cost of living needs that I
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  Speaker 3: care most about.
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  Speaker 1: Fashion here, Doug Hi, it's good see you both.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you a conversation