Not All Fights Are Worth Fighting Erick Erickson
18th October 2025
The president is still riding on global goodwill for the release of hostages from Hamas. On stage in Egypt, the president of Pakistan praised President Donald Trump for bringing peace to what could have become a nuclear war between Pakistan and India. The Israeli people love him more than they do their own leaders. But here at home, Democrats have kept voting to keep the government shut down.
Democrats, however, have been careful with their battle. Trump has moved defense funding around to make sure the military gets paid this week. He will not be able to keep doing it, but for now, our soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines will get paid. Democrats are publicly protesting that this is unconstitutional. None of them are, so far, willing to fight the president on it. Democrats are refusing to vote for the same continuing resolution authored by and submitted by Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer just last year. The resolution is the same, and Democrats are now killing what they themselves wrote last year.
Therein lies the problem for the Democrats. They want credit for fighting Trump and shutting down the government, but they don’t want any blame for shutting down the government. On Wednesday, the 15th day of the government shutdown, neither the New York Times, the Washington Post, nor the Wall Street Journal had a front-page story about the shutdown. If the press could praise the Democrats, they undoubtedly would. But at this point, few Americans are feeling the effects of the shutdown. Social security checks are going out, the military is getting paid, passports are being issued and life goes on.