'Hostage Taking': Trump Is Hurting Americans to Force Dems to Cave on Shutdown

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

69% : That very same day, Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance met with congressional leadership -- House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.), Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) -- ostensibly to negotiate an offramp.
64% : "Trump will just use it again and again and again and again.
52% : At the core of the dispute are Republicans' plans to allow Covid-era enhanced subsidies for insurance plans purchased under the Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare") to expire at the end of the year -- a move which would jack up health care prices nationally and kick millions off of their health insurance.
49% : Undocumented migrants are also ineligible for Medicare and Medicaid, despite Republicans claiming migrants were draining the health care programs while the party was trying to pass the "Big Beautiful Bill" earlier this year.
48% : In March, Senate Democrats capitulated to Republicans and voted to pass a continuing resolution packed with MAGA funding priorities -- and paved the way for a devastating reconciliation bill (the "Big Beautiful Bill," according to the president) that included deep cuts to Medicaid and other critical social safety net programs.
45% : " Shutdowns are a pain, and have long-lasting consequences, but even during a shutdown mandatory spending programs like Medicare and Social Security remain active.
42% : What ensued was an unproductive troll session in which the president displayed "TRUMP 2028" hats on the desk of the Oval Office in, as Kim described it, a performative display of "political domination and gamesmanship" by the president.
41% : During the last Trump administration, they tried to repeal the Affordable Care Act, now they're just trying to take big bites out of it."
35% : Trump said as much on Tuesday during a televised appearance from the White House, telling reporters that "a lot of good can come down from shutdowns.
28% : The White House is doing the same, while Trump seems borderline giddy over how he can use the shutdown to lay people off and cut government programs -- never mind the Americans who will suffer as a result.
20% : Warren added that Democrats goals are two-pronged: securing a rollback of cuts to Medicaid passed in July's reconciliation bill, and preventing further decimation of the ACA.
3% : Trump's U.N. Escalator Meltdown and the Politics of Embarrassment In 2011, on the eve of a potential government shutdown under former President Barack Obama, Donald Trump -- then a famed reality TV host and tabloid staple -- told The Today Show that a government shutdown amounted to a "tremendously negative mark on the president of the United States."

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