Senator Bernie Sanders didn’t merely defend the Democrats’ shutdown posture — he embraced it. When CNN’s Kaitlan Collins asked whether he would be willing to vote no every time a Republican brought up a funding bill, Sanders shot back, “Damn right,” and vowed to hold the line until millions of Americans aren’t “thrown off” their health care.
This isn’t theoretical brinkmanship anymore; the government actually shut down at midnight on October 1, leaving hundreds of thousands of federal employees furloughed or working without pay and ripping a hole in the everyday functioning Americans rely on. Ordinary citizens — postal workers, veterans’ services, moms on WIC — are being collateral damage in a political game where Washington elites posture like martyrs.
What’s infuriating is the rank hypocrisy: Sanders lectured the country about avoiding shutdowns in the past, yet now he revels in pushing the country to the edge unless GOP lawmakers bow to his party’s demands. Democrats are trying to use essential government services as leverage to extract policy wins, and that cynical tactic shows that for too many in the party, politics is more important than people.
Make no mistake — this isn’t a high-minded fight over principle. It’s a raw, transactional play for power that the left sells to voters with emotional rhetoric about compassion while leaving taxpayers and federal workers to pick up the tab. The very senators bragging about protecting coverage are refusing bipartisan compromises that could reopen the government and help Americans now.
Conservative commentators and independent voices aren’t letting this go unnoticed; Dave Rubin has been circulating the clip and sparking conversation about how far the left is willing to push before common-sense Americans say enough. The clip is a reminder that Washington’s self-appointed guardians of morality often resort to coercion, and the center-right must keep pushing back with facts and principle.
We need to be blunt with our neighbors: using a government shutdown as a bargaining chip is unpatriotic and cruel. Conservatives should demand the government reopen without concessions that reward lawlessness, insist on transparency about who benefits from policy changes, and keep fighting for fiscal responsibility and lawful immigration. The American people deserve leaders who protect their paychecks and their safety, not politicians who gamble with both for a photo op.
