FINALLY: Democrats POUNCE at Trump's strategy IMPLODES

I'm joined now by Senator Brian Shots. Thanks so much for joining me. >> Thanks for having me, Brian. >> So, we have seen a lot of failed votes. in the Senate to reopen the government. right now. And that's because Senate. Democrats are holding the line and not. allowing Republicans to reopen the. government and have this continuing. resolution without uh without. sacrificing the little leverage that we. do have in terms of getting these ACA. subsidies, affordable care act subsidies. preserved so that people's healthcare. doesn't double, triple, quadruple. heading into 2026. Um, can you give a a.

lay of the land in terms of whether your. your Republican colleagues are. recognizing that this is not a smart. moral or political stance for them to be. taking and that the vast majority of. Americans are are actually against their. position here. I mean, they're they're. representing the 22% of Americans who. don't think that these ACA subsidies. should be uh uh continued. Yeah, I don't think they quite. understood how serious this problem was.

And I a bunch of people kind of I. mentioned that online and people were. like, "Come on, they knew exactly what. they were doing." And I'm like, "Don't. give them that much credit. They were. just doing a Trump thing. Trump demanded. that they pass the big beautiful bill. He called it a big beautiful bill. It. was branded as repealing Obamacare, which is sort of an article of faith. among Republicans." And um but now. they're seeing these premiums increase. and you know part of it was like we're. screaming hey man you know you're going. to double the premiums for 22 million. Americans many of whom most of whom are.

Republicans. Um and they just thought we. were kind of like using a talking point. But now the letters are going out to. tell people your rates are up. And so it. is starting to sink in. Two things. First that this is a real crisis. It's. not something we just like went into a. lab with some strategists and pollsters. to try to figure out what to fight. about. This is the thing that is the. most urgent pri crisis in terms of the. cost of living for people in the United. States of America. I mean the price of. vegetables is up 39%. The price of.

coffee is up 29% 20%. The the price of. electricity is now um rising at double. the rate of inflation and now this. And. so this is a place where we can take a. stand and make a difference. That's. number one. Number two is I think they. just thought that we weren't all that. serious about it and they thought that. it was going to be a replay of March. Um. but it's not March. Um the um sort of. parade of horribles that they were. contemplating, they basically went. through with everything prior to the.

shutdown anyway. So this idea, hey, if. you don't watch out, we're going to like. cut things from democratic states. And. all of us are looking at each other. going, yeah, you're doing that right. now, right? you know, and I also think. the threat to, you know, to lay off. hundreds of thousands of federal. workers, um, who are disproportionately. veterans, um, the threat to not give. them back pay, all of that has. backfired, um, sort of in Republican. world, but also with the general public. where, you know, there's a beltway. argument about a clean CR versus a.

7-week versus a four-week and all that. stuff. But the truth is, people are. smarter than all of that. Sure, they're. not paying super granular attention to. every detail, but they know one thing. Donald Trump is in charge of Washington, and when things are up, it's very. likely his fault. Well, you know, there. are going to be people who see this and. just say from from a raw political. perspective. So, let's put let's put the. moral the human argument completely to. the side and just say from a from a more.

from a from a raw political perspective, the the the hill that Republicans are. looking to die on is to continue into. 2026 an election year, which is a. referendum on the party in power trying. to allow health care costs to double, triple, quadruple, or just be a or or. people lose their health care entirely. And so if they are so hellbent on on. exacting this kind of pain on people, their own constituents included, in fact. disproportionately their own. constituents, the last five years we've. seen the states that have adopted ACA.

enrollment, ACA enrollment are much. redder than than blue states, but why. not just let them? >> I mean, that's kind you listen, I'm not. that cynical. Um I'm just not. But I've. certainly made that argument like if we. were a little more cynical, we just let. you stew in this and say you just did a. super unpopular uh thing. I wish you the. very best. But you know um like us or. not think we're you know not strong. enough or whatever. We actually really. care about tens of a million tens of.

millions of Americans being thrown off. their health care. We really care about. Medicaid being destroyed and rural. hospitals getting crushed. like we're. very worried about what's about to. happen to Americans and we're trying to. fix it. The other thing I'd say is that, you know, in the runup to the midterms. when we actually did save the Affordable. Care Act, um the same argument was made, why don't we just let them do it because. that'll make us stronger in the. midterms. And the truth was we saved the. Affordable Care Act and then we still.

ran on them trying to repeal the. Affordable Care Act and had a very good. midterm. So I think we can do the right. thing and the smart political thing. Um. and in this case they are very much. aligned. >> And so talk to me about what your. Republican colleagues uh what you've. heard from your Republican colleagues. right now. Is there some sense of. uncertainty at at the the the path that. they're on right now? Have you have you. heard anything any rumblings from the. Republican side in terms of you know not. just the the political ramifications. here? here. I mean, the the polling. ramifications here and the the.

consequences on their own states, their. own districts. >> Um, the answer is sure, rumblings, but. this all is going to go through Donald. John Trump. Um, Mike Johnson in. particular is not going to make a move. without him. And um, you know, we saw. him on TV. We saw him shut down the. house for three weeks unexpectedly. And so my view is, you know, we can. negotiate with rank and file. Republicans, but that's not quite a.

waste of time, but that's not the way to. get to a resolution um of this. challenge. So, you know, they they are. basically totally survile to him. Even. the people who like to do negotiations. that are experienced legislators that. are not MAGA in their core, they've. basically given up on um being. independent. And so it's not like we're. going to get a cohort of people to work. with Democrats to like get this done. unless Donald Trump views this as a. sufficient liability. And I think that's.

where, you know, your podcast and the. the work of activists out there really. comes um to be critical because until. they realize that this is um not a. Democrats versus Republicans issue, until they realize that it is their. constituents that they are harming, I. think they're not going to back down. It. is starting to sink in how serious we. are about this and how real this problem. is, but I don't think they're there yet. >> Can you say with any degree of. confidence that Democrats are going to.

be I mean I know that there have been a. few defections in terms of Democratic. senators offering up uh their vote to. Republicans for this clean CR. Maybe. with maybe I mean what I would suggest. is a naive uh belief that the same. people who took these subsidies away are. then somehow going to voluntarily end up. at the negotiating table. But that. notwithstanding, is there any sense of. of how united the Democratic uh caucus. is in terms of not capitulating to the. Republicans here? >> Well, as deputy whip, I take the.

counting part super seriously. So, every. day is a new whip. Every day is a new. assessment of, you know, where. everyone's head is at. But I will say we. feel pretty unified uh right now. Now, I. do think that, you know, part of what we. have to do, and you know, Brian, you and. I talked about this after we lost the. election, that we have to like kind of. have grown-up conversations with. activists about, okay, what are we. trying to achieve here, right? And what. is a realistic path to try to achieve. something? And I think if there if the. standard is that we don't reopen the.

government until all the fascism stops, right? then we're just literally never. going to reopen the government because. Donald Trump is going to, you know, try. to indict Leticia James and and and try. to jail, you know, James Comey and and. JB Pritsker and all the rest of it. So, uh, we we have to be we have to be. ratcheting up some wins here, but we. also have to be in a position where. people don't expect people should not. expect nothing from us. And I think the. frustration for March was that we gave. away something for nothing. But on the.

other hand, we have to understand that. this is an incremental process. That. inserting ourselves into the legislative. process to get a W is a really important. first step. But we're not going to solve. all the world's pro problems through. however this shutdown ends. We're going. to try to solve some very significant. problems. I think the most significant. among them that we are no longer. irrelevant to Republicans in the. legislative process. And as a check. against this, you know, wannabe. authoritarian, that's a super important.

step. But I also want to just tell. everybody like however this ends, even. if it ends in the most optimistic. scenario, it will not fix everything. And it will not even fix a third of what. needs to get fixed, but it will be a. step in the right direction. >> Right? I mean, look, a step in the right. direction is even a way is even. underelling the fact that 24 million. Americans will have continued access to. affordable care, uh, affordable health. care. And and if we didn't have that. that small win, and I mean, yes, it is a. small win in the grand scheme of things,

but like if we didn't have that, that. that is life and death for millions upon. millions of Americans right now. So, um, with that said, uh, want to ask one more. question if if we have a quick beat, and. that is just your your, uh, initial. reaction to the news that just broke. that, uh, Donald Trump has indicted. Leticia James for something that even. his previously appointed US attorney in. the Eastern District of Virginia did not. think there was any, uh, any. justification to indict her for. >> Yeah, it's malicious prosecution. It's. very similar to what just happened with.

James Comey. They couldn't find a career. prosecutor to bring the case. I think. this one might even be a even more thin. in the sense that it's mortgage fraud. Yeah. >> And um um just a very like goofy charge. So I I I have no doubt that she'll be um. exonerated. I wouldn't be surprised if. it got kicked way before a trial. Um so. I think there's two ways to look at. this, right? One is that Donald Trump is. doing authoritarian things. The other is.

that Donald Trump has not yet succeeded. to become an authoritarian ruler. And I. think that in the interest um for pe. there are a bunch of people who want the. rest of the the United States to be. sufficiently alarmed. And so we talk. about the United States of America like. we've already crossed some Rubicon and. we're already at the bottom of the hill. and authoritarianism is here. And I. don't think that's the right way to look. at this. I think we have to view Trump. as a very serious threat to the American.

experiment, a very serious threat to our. freedoms. But when we push back and use. the judicial system, we have been. winning. I think Gavin Newsome in. California has demonstrated that both in. the judicial process and in this. redistricting process that we are not. without tools. I think what the people. in Portland are doing in terms of. peaceful prison uh uh uh demonstrations. is very clever and smart. I think JB. Pritsker is a good example. I think. frankly when Brendan Carr tried to, you. know, basically gut the First Amendment.

that Ted Cruz stepping up was an. enormously important thing. So we're not. without tools here. And so two things. are true at the same time. One is Donald. Trump would absolutely become an. authoritarian permanent ruler if he. could. The other is that we're pretty. long way from that as long as we all are. disciplined and smart and together and. fight like hell. >> Good place to leave off. Uh, Senator, thank you so much for the time. I. appreciate it. >> Thank you.