The Democrats may see a shutdown as a way to slow down the fascist blitzkrieg of the Constitution or a way to force Republicans to do something to take a stand that is either in opposition to Fearless Leader or will give them another weapon in their growing 2026 election arsenal.

Oh, it's certainly just the last one.

They can't realistically think that the bill that gets passed after the government shutdown will differ materially from the one that could be adopted today to avoid the shutdown. They just want to have the fight, for a very brief while. The Democratic base demands it, and they believe that creating an emergency-level degree of attention to their complaints will help them convince voters that these are serious problems.

But the public hates shutdowns, and shutdowns are more inconsistent with Democratic party goals than Republican party goals. So I would expect that any shutdown would be very, very brief. It will probably happen. The Democrats need to have a fight, and this is one of the few fights they can have. But it's not a fight they can win. And they know it.