Democrats Promised to Livestream the Shutdown. It Was a Disaster.

I completely missed this yesterday which is a real shame. Apparently, Democrats decided to dramatize their government shutdown by livestreaming every minute of it. At least that was the plan. But if they were expecting a massive surge of interest from their TikTok addicted base, they were sadly mistaken. In fact, they couldn’t even keep it going overnight. The livestream went offline for three hours.

I binged more than 14 hours of the occasionally awkward, repetitive — if mostly on message — programming on YouTube (there was also an X stream). But even if it was a physically exhausting and mentally taxing process, it was a revealing window into the Democrats’ larger plight: a struggle to get their message through in an attention economy that prizes watchability and entertainment, making it almost impossible for them to break through the din of President Donald Trump’s neverending newscycle…

In launching the livestream, which featured the feel of a throwback telethon with none of the charisma or surprise, Jeffries and his allies seemed to tacitly acknowledge that they needed to be fighting, and sounding and looking as if they were. (“Y’all, I ain’t scared,” Jeffries said at one point. “I’m from Brooklyn.”) But few Dems seemed willing to fight on camera. The livestream featured just four frontline Democrats of 26 in competitive districts — and few of the party’s brightest stars like AOC or Jasmine Crockett — a possible tell that they see some risk here. (Rep. Sarah McBride, the 35-year-old from Delaware, did join briefly at the beginning.) Notably, Democrats could not field live programming for three hours in the middle of the night, from 2:30 a.m. to 5:30 a.m., despite an internal email desperately seeking participants. (A spokesperson for Jeffries declined to comment on the three hours of recorded re-run content). And it showed that while Democrats are clearly listening to a lot of people online urging them to fight, a lot of people online may not be listening to them.

Republican Ben Peterson followed the progress throughout the day, noticing that the number of people watching kept dropping.

Just 400 people are watching and they’re currently trying different types of candy 🤦‍♂️

“I want to thank so many of you who are tuning in today”

Also: Chat is disabled https://t.co/NXtrqgE5cZ pic.twitter.com/04r5BjPVyJ

— Ben Petersen (@bennpetersen) September 30, 2025

NOW: Democrats’ viewership has again dropped by half

The Democrats are re-airing an old (daytime) press conference to 100 viewers pic.twitter.com/GyONDBGZqv

— Ben Petersen (@bennpetersen) October 1, 2025

Good morning. Welcome back. It’s 5 am in the east and there are a measly 36 people watching Democrats’ “live” stream, which is replaying recorded content

How many of those 36 are recording bots or reporters assigned to watch this by their editors… is a good question pic.twitter.com/OaAi1qclq0

— Ben Petersen (@bennpetersen) October 1, 2025

White House communications director Steven Cheung was blunt about how things were going for Dems.

Meanwhile, @WhiteHouse is schlonging Democrats on the viewer count. https://t.co/brHBgIklAH pic.twitter.com/ISVT5JmC8w

— Steven Cheung (@StevenCheung47) October 1, 2025

Politico’s story closes with some lowlights from watching the livestream.

6:47 p.m.: A national Democratic operative texts me of Jeffries: “If he had been doing this and building this for years, it would be smart(er). The problem is they don’t know what they’re doing when they try to attract attention.”…

9:55 p.m.: “What is next?” Don Lemon, the former CNN host turned independent creator, asks Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.). “How can the people watching — what can they do?”

Just 122 people are watching…

10:12 p.m.: A national Democratic digital strategist who’s following the livestreaming texts me: “Are the metrics embarrassing? Yes. But the bar is in Hell, at least they’re trying.”

So it was an embarrassing failure but at least they are trying. I think that’s going to be a good summary of the whole shutdown in a few days when Democrats finally decide to stop digging this hole for themselves. Meanwhile, the Republican response was a lot simpler.

This is diabolical. The official White House account is running a live stream that is just a loop of Dems saying how bad a shutdown will be.

https://t.co/jDGyGJJzoo

— Drew Doss (@drew4worldruler) October 1, 2025

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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