By Ray Cardello for October 31, 2025, Season 33 / Post 9

I have found this recent government shutdown to be the most frustrating period in all my years of following politics. This current shutdown is not a situation that can be negotiated, for what the Democrats want is not open to discussion by the Republicans. The Democrats believe they have the leverage in this tug-of-war, and they can get many of the ludicrous spending packages cut by DOGE reinstated. This is not going to happen, period.

The Democrats are working the media to get their distorted message across to the American people. Still, the Republicans have learned how to work around the media to get their side of the story out, and it is working. We know this because Republicans’ approval ratings in Congress have risen during the shutdown. One of the Democrats’ hot points is reviving Medicaid coverage for “Americans.” The Americans they are referring to are actually illegal aliens, whom the Biden administration gave special consideration. I have enough bills from my year-long battle with cancer, and though I am full of empathy, I have no money to pay for the medical coverage for foreigners. The Democrats are looking at reinstating $1.4 trillion in bogus spending to end the shutdown. This will not, and cannot happen. We do not have the money, nor do any of these programs deserve to be revived.

To disguise the fact that this is a Democrat shutdown of the government, some of the key players on the Left are making daily comments that make them look as foolish as we already believed they were. Eric Swalwell, like Tim Walz, should never be called a key player, but they both get media play whenever they open their mouths. Swalwell should be out of Congress, if not in jail, for sleeping with a Chinese spy and getting her out of the country and back to China before the FBI could arrest her. He is still free, and his lips are still smacking. His latest rant is having any Democrat who runs for a federal office sign a pledge to tear down the Trump Ballroom on day one of their term. He wants a full investigation into the people who donated to build the addition to the White House—typical Left move: waste taxpayer dollars investigating a project fully paid for with private funds.

Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer, the two Democratic leaders in Congress, are trying in vain to support the shutdown to the media daily. Their comments are hollow, and in Schumer’s case, packed with expletives, which do not help his case and cheapen his stature. These two leaders have been played by the Left. They are being pulled to the Left by Bernie and Cortez, and being forced to support Momdani for New York Mayor; they have sold out to the Socialist wing of the Party. This is further proof of the total demise of the Democrat Party.

Finally, we have the two frontrunners for the Democratic candidate in 2028; Gavin Newsom and Kamala Harris. Neither has opened the memo they received from the American public; the voters do not want them. Kamala lost the popular vote for the first time by a Democrat in 24 years. This in itself is a mandate. She failed in 107 days, and given a full campaign cycle, will show even more people that she is an incompetent politician who never should have been on a national ticket. Newsom has singlehandedly destroyed California and has witnessed the largest population decline in state history.

It is fun to watch the Democratic collapse, but it is also very frustrating. This country should be able to produce better candidates —heck, better people —on both sides of the aisle. Not only should we not have lifetime members of Congress, but there is no way we should ever have members of Congress who are openly supporters of Socialism, and that is the future of the Democrat Party.