Democrats can end the shutdown — just tie the Epstein files’ release to a spending bill
The government shutdown shows no signs of stopping. But eventually, Democrats are going to cave and agree to end the shutdown, because they have a much lower threshold for national pain than the Trump White House does.
Apart from the president’s willingness to target blue states and “Democrat agencies,” whatever those are, the wheels will eventually begin to come off of vital parts of the government like the FBI. Last time, that took about four weeks.
That means Democrats are going to have to let go of their Obamacare subsidy demands, and they’ll need a Plan B. Fortunately, there is such a plan, and it’s actually better than their Plan A.
What if, instead, they ask for something President Trump hates but Republicans can’t refuse? As the price of ending the shutdown, Democrats should demand that the House Epstein bill, currently subject to a discharge petition, be tacked onto the Senate continuing resolution.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) cannot refuse because, assuming he ever lets recently elected Democrat Adelita Grijalva take her seat, he will be force fed the Epstein files bill anyway. Making it part of an otherwise-clean continuing resolution allows him to save face and make a virtue of necessity.
A “continuing Epstein resolution” ought to pass the Senate easily — and all the worse for Republicans if it doesn’t. A handful of senators have already defied Republican leadership and voted to release the files. My guess is there are dozens more who would be happy to see them released.
How could Senate Majority Leader John Thune refuse? If he were to succeed in blocking the CR, Republicans would really own the shutdown — even more than they did back in 2019. Keeping the government nonfunctional just to protect Trump from public embarrassment is a messaging war they cannot win.
Would Trump sign a continuing resolution that required the government to release the unredacted Epstein files? I don’t know, and that’s the best part. Trump holding the entire United States government hostage because of Jeffrey Epstein, even for a little while, would be a political disaster. To escape that box, Republicans might even agree to override Trump’s veto.
I suspect, in the end, that Trump would sign the CR and then endlessly frustrate and delay the complete release of the Epstein files. That’s another huge win for Democrats, since it guarantees that Epstein becomes the equivalent of Hilary Clinton’s email server, a political albatross hanging around Trump’s neck that will dominate countless news cycles right through the end of his term.
What will the Democrats’ base think of this plan? After all, they’ve been demanding that congressional Democrats actually do something for months, a need that the current shutdown fight is, in part, designed to satisfy.
My guess is that they’ll love it. It’s a clever way for Democrats to notch an actual win even though they are the powerless underdog. This is “Bugs Bunny” politics, the equivalent of handing the Republicans an exploding cigar. Even people who want the Democrats to fight about health care will think the idea is hilarious.
Democrats have been doing an awful job of pushing back against Trump because they have adopted the politics of the powerless. There is a time for trying to change hearts and minds by standing on principle and going down to glorious defeat with a pure heart. This is not that time.
In this historical moment, Democrats need to be less principled and more effective. Although Democrats have no political power, Republicans are rife with internal contradictions. Democrats should start exploiting those contradictions and let Republicans push back against themselves. Offering to open the government in exchange for the release of the Epstein files is an excellent start.
Chris Truax is an appellate attorney who served as Southern California chair for John McCain’s primary campaign in 2008.