Interesting POV

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1. Exactly! Blaming democrats when republicans hold the trifecta is ludicrous!

I'll add another angle -- republicans effectively control the media, and this was a rare achievement for democrats to favorably control the narrative for a while.

But the normal course of propaganda these days is for the right wing to test out a bunch of crap talking points on far right wing outlets and social networks. When they hit upon one catchphrase or anecdote or talking point that gets a ton of likes, the rest of the media picks up on it and suddenly it's everywhere.

So it was really just a matter of time before they hit upon some propaganda angle that would shift blame for shutdown pain onto democrats. I think it was ultimately wise for democrats to quit while we were ahead. It's only among the inside-the-beltway crowd and partisan activists (like us on du) who care about the idea that democrats "caved". Most people don't pay attention to such congressional tactics.

Now, if they paid attention to the shutdown at all, they blame republicans for the whole mess, they credit democrats for ending it, and we can move on to another tactic or situation that republicans haven't had time to work on a response to yet.

In fact, the new Epstein disclosures are perfect. The shutdown ending helps prevent the media from burying the scandal.