Axios: Dems Quailing in Trump Fight Over Schumer Shutdown

Oh, the irony. 

Democrats plan to rally this weekend for their “No Kings” protests, part of their shutdown messaging strategy. That flopped in June this year already, coming after Donald Trump’s destruction of Iran’s nuclear program. The timing on this round, while Trump returns from ending yet another war (for the moment) and rescuing 20 hostages from Hamas, will be similarly problematic to a no kings theme.

Even worse, the Schumer Shutdown has made Trump even more of a king, thanks to the lack of budgetary restraint on the executive branch. And now Axios reports that Democrats have decided that it’s good to have a king, rather than fight one:

Democrats in Congress say President Trump’s methods for paying military service members and funding food stamps for vulnerable communities are clearly illegal. But they’re not keen to fight him on it.

Why it matters: It’s a rare instance where Trump is going mostly unchallenged as he ignores Congress’ constitutional role in controlling federal spending.

It’s not all that rare in the Schumer Shutdown. They have yet to challenge Russ Vought’s reductions in force (RIFs) too, although such a challenge would have a tough time establishing standing. It will take a few weeks for anyone actually to lose their jobs, and at that point, a legal challenge could be launched. Thus far, though, Senate Democrats have barely peeped up about the RIFs, perhaps hoping that ignoring them will deny Trump the leverage that outrage from Democrat constituencies will eventually produce.

The spending, on the other hand, will happen immediately. Congress does have standing in this instance. Schumer probably can’t get a majority in the Senate to go along with a challenge, but he and his caucus could at least try to get a court to intervene — and as we have seen, federal district court judges seem to like playing King themselves when it comes to Trump. 

So why are Democrats sitting on their hands? They’re beginning to grasp the leverage they’ve handed Trump:

Several House Democrats in battleground district said privately that it would be a massive political headache for them if party members challenged the payments.

• “The legality is questionable, but politically I hope Democrats don’t do it,” said one lawmaker who spoke on the condition of anonymity to provide candid thoughts about the political dynamics around the shutdown.
• Said another vulnerable House Democrat: “I’d say that it’s a good thing we’re helping poor people who are facing food prices and it’s good that we’re paying the troops.”

Trump and Vought must be a little disappointed in the failure of their briar-patch strategy. They wanted Democrats to fight them on funding the troops, law enforcement, and poverty programs. They would have had an absolute field day with that messaging bonanza. However, the problem now becomes that the Democrats have set a precedent for kingly redistribution by failing to challenge it, just as they will storm the rhetorical barricades this weekend to protest Trump’s supposed authoritarianism, which they also refuse to challenge other than through lip service.

Profiles in Courage, it ain’t. 

 Meanwhile, retiring Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) plans to expose the costs of the Schumer Shutdown. Her new bill would also back up Vought’s RIFs and expand them exponentially:

“Schumer’s Shutdown shenanigans have already wasted $4.4 billion paying 750,000 ‘non-essential’ federal employees not to work for more than two weeks,” Ernst told Fox News Digital. 

“My Non-Essential Workers Transparency Act will expose the lost productivity and true cost of Democrats’ political stunt,” she said. “It will also help expose which parts of the bloated bureaucracy are truly ‘non-essential’ and should be put on the chopping block to increase efficiency in Washington for taxpayers.”

Ernst’s bill would require federal agencies to submit reports to the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs within 30 days of a shutdown’s end, detailing each agency’s total number of employees when the shutdown began, total salary spending during the previous fiscal year, the number of furloughed workers, how much those employees would have earned during the shutdown, and the number and pay of those who continued working.

Perhaps we can expect the Schumer Shutdown to limp through this weekend’s fundraising for radical Democrats, but it may not work out well if it does. My friend Ben Dreyfuss, who is hardly a conservative, deftly exposed the conceit behind the “No Kings” nonsense last night on Twitter/X:

Strongly considering going to the No Kings protest and being like “yeah! Fuck him! Fuck King George! Fuck King Charles! Fuck all the kings!” Until someone explains it’s about Trump and then be like “but he’s a president?” And act totally stupid and force them to explain it to me

— Ben Dreyfuss (@bendreyfuss) October 14, 2025

“I feel like this anti-Trump rally has misleading branding and though I am sympathetic to your substantive criticisms, i thought I was coming to an anti-monarchy protest against the kings of Europe.”

— Ben Dreyfuss (@bendreyfuss) October 14, 2025

Given the violence we’ve seen from the Left, I hope Ben does not put this plan into effect. However, if he does, he should bring a video crew … and a bodyguard. The results would be hilarious. 

Update: Changed “they” to “the Democrats” to clarify my point about precedents. 

Editor’s Note: The Schumer Shutdown is here. Rather than put the American people first, Chuck Schumer and the radical Democrats forced a government shutdown for healthcare for illegals. They own this.

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