\n Trump seems oblivious to political appearances or the risk that the shutdown could further damage him among most Americans who have soured on his second term. Creating an impression of gilded indifference, he hosted a \u201cGreat Gatsby\u201d-themed Halloween party<\/a> at his luxury Florida club and boasted about<\/a> the swish renovation of a bathroom at the White House.\n <\/p>\n \n In a combative interview on CBS\u2019 \u201c60 Minutes\u201d on Sunday, Trump showed no sign of looking for a way out that did not involve a total defeat for Democrats, whom he described as \u201ccrazed lunatics.\u201d He said the opposition party would eventually \u201chave to\u201d capitulate and vote to open the government.\n <\/p>\n \n The president has complicated GOP calculations by renewing demands<\/a> for reluctant Senate Republicans to shatter the chamber\u2019s filibuster rule<\/a> to reopen the government with a simple majority vote. GOP leaders fear this would embolden a future Democratic majority.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cThe Republicans have to get tougher. If we end the filibuster, we can do exactly what we want. We\u2019re not going to lose power,\u201d Trump said on \u201c60 Minutes.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n The nation\u2019s embittered politics, which set the stage for the Washington shutdown disaster, will take a fresh twist with a handful of key elections Tuesday<\/a>, which could help resolve the impasse. Or perhaps they\u2019ll just deepen the morass.\n <\/p>\n \n Voters will deliver the first major verdict on Trump\u2019s second term in gubernatorial races in Virginia and New Jersey, where Democrats lead in the polls. The New York mayor\u2019s race could enshrine democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani as an electric new talent in a party split between wariness of his politics and enthusiasm over his youth. A victory for Mamdani over the old guard of former Gov. Andrew Cuomo would also hand a new foil to Trump, who paints the 34-year-old as the far-left face of his rival party.\n <\/p>\n \n In California, meanwhile, voters will decide whether to redraw the congressional map to favor Democrats in a clutch of seats<\/a>, in response to Trump\u2019s similar moves in Texas and elsewhere<\/a> ahead of next year\u2019s midterm elections. Their endorsement would be a huge boost for California Gov. Gavin Newsom<\/a>, who is claiming a national leadership role ahead of a likely run for president in 2028.\n <\/p>\n \n The elections and the deepening pain over the shutdown, set off on October 1 by Senate Democrats in a bid to force Republicans to extend Obamacare subsidies<\/a>, will play out against the daily backdrop of chaos and extremes of the second Trump era. The Supreme Court on Wednesday will hear arguments<\/a> over Trump\u2019s \u201cLiberation Day\u201d tariffs that started a global trade war. The justices\u2019 eventual decision could set up a showdown with the executive branch or confirm Trump\u2019s claim of emergency powers in yet another vast expansion of presidential authority.\n <\/p>\n \n The same underlying question \u2014 of whether Trump is illegally acting on powers he\u2019s not granted by the Constitution \u2014 underpins an escalating crisis over the administration\u2019s strikes against what it claims are drug traffickers\u2019 boats in the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean. Critics accuse the administration of carrying out extrajudicial killings and breaking the law by acting without congressional consent. The White House has offered no proof or justification to the American people for its actions, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has banned subordinates from discussing the strikes with Congress<\/a> without prior approval.\n <\/p>\n \n On Capitol Hill, pressure on both parties to end the shutdown is becoming visceral.\n <\/p>\n \n The reality of rising health care premiums for those with Affordable Care Act policies struck home with the start of open enrollment Saturday<\/a>. Premiums were already set to rise significantly because of the costs of care and drugs. But the expiration of subsidies means prices are shooting out of the reach of many policyholders. This is why Democrats sought to use the only leverage they had in Washington \u2014 the ability to block most legislation in the Senate \u2014 to force a showdown to coerce Republicans into action.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cWe want to make sure that we can decisively address the Republican health care crisis, which is crushing people all across the country,\u201d House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told CNN\u2019s Jake Tapper on \u201cState of the Union\u201d on Sunday.\n <\/p>\n \n If the dispute was only about health care, Democrats might have claimed victory<\/a> by now.\n <\/p>\n \n But by closing the government, they precipitated the furloughing of millions of federal employees as others were forced to work without pay. This has led to the potential cutoff of food stamps<\/a> to more than 40 million people and is disrupting air travel as Thanksgiving looms<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n \n Democrats accuse Trump of withholding emergency funding they say could partially finance food stamps for this month, claims that have been validated by several federal judges.\n <\/p>\n \n But the extreme disruption and costs of the shutdown are scrambling normal political calculations and may mean no party earns a clear-cut win. \u201cIt\u2019s very unfortunate that Donald Trump and Republicans have decided to weaponize hunger and withhold SNAP benefits,\u201d Jeffries told Tapper.\n <\/p>\n \n Yet House Speaker Mike Johnson pointed out that the broader deprivation caused by the shutdown would not have occurred had Democrats agreed to GOP demands to reopen the government ahead of talks on Obamacare subsidies.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cI don\u2019t know how they can believe they\u2019re winning, if it were indeed a game to them,\u201d Johnson said on \u201cFox News Sunday.\u201d The Louisiana Republican said Trump was \u201cdesperate\u201d to reopen the government and had offered negotiations. The sticking point, however, is the Republican demand for the government to reopen so talks can happen \u2014 and the Democrat belief that such offers cannot be trusted.\n <\/p>\n \n Trump said on \u201c60 Minutes\u201d that he was ready to fix the Obamacare subsidies problem. \u201cWe should fix that. Fix it. And we can fix it with the Democrats,\u201d he said. \u201cAll they have to do is let the country open and we\u2019ll fix it.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n But the president, as has been the case across his two terms, did not lay out any detailed plan for making health care more affordable.\n <\/p>\n \n Some Democratic and Republican senators have been speaking informally about a device to fund the government in the short term. But Trump\u2019s demands to eradicate the filibuster suggest he\u2019s got no plans to back down. This hints at what is different in this shutdown. The president has proved that he\u2019s ready to impose pain on anyone to fulfill his political goals and that the normal logic of shutdown politics may not apply. While Democratic voters are demanding their party shows backbone against Trump, their leaders must work out a way to create an off-ramp that would allow them to claim victory.\n <\/p>\n \n Warning signs are also mounting for Trump and Republicans. New polls show that the Democrats\u2019 top demand \u2014 extending the enhanced Obamacare subsidies \u2014 is popular. And in a Washington Post-ABC News poll Thursday, voters blamed Trump and the GOP more than Democrats for the shutdown by 45%-33%. The president\u2019s approval rating is only 41% in the CNN Poll of Polls<\/a> average.\n <\/p>\n \n But public disdain for Democrats is complicating the party\u2019s effort to exploit Trump\u2019s troubles. Some 68% of people in the Post poll thought the party was out of touch with most Americans. And a CBS News poll found 56% disapproved of Trump\u2019s handling of the shutdown, while 55% said the same of how congressional Democrats and Republicans are responding to the situation.\n <\/p>\n \n One warning sign for Democrats is that they are being effectively forced by Trump\u2019s hardline tactics to balance the pain of citizens who risk losing health care against the suffering of those who could lose nutrition benefits.\n <\/p>\n \n Pennsylvania Democratic Sen. John Fetterman wants to reopen the government so health care and food assistance crises can be addressed. \u201cI fully, fully support these things, but this is the wrong tactic,\u201d Fetterman said on \u201cState of the Union.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cAnd right now, by doing this, our government shut down, we\u2019re getting neither of those things, and they guarantee neither you\u2019re going to get your SNAP benefits, and you\u2019re not going to get those kind of tax credits that we all need,\u201d Fetterman continued. \u201cReopen this thing, and we can find a way forward.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n One intriguing question this week would be whether a Democratic sweep in New Jersey, Virginia, New York and the California redistricting initiative would reshape Republican shutdown tactics. Republicans might panic only a year ahead of the midterm elections.\n <\/p>\n \n But Johnson, who will lose his job as speaker if Democrats win back the House next year, insisted on Sunday that the impasse could end because the opposition party would no longer need to use it as an issue as voters make their decisions. \u201cWe do have a sense that something may change next week,\u201d he told the Republican Jewish Coalition leadership summit during a virtual appearance Saturday.\n <\/p>\n \n But a rank-and-file Republican warned Sunday his party must make health care more affordable once the government is reopened. \u201cThe midterms are going to be a whole lot harder if Republicans just sit there and say, \u2018We\u2019re just going to let it (the enhanced subsidies) lapse. We\u2019re not going to do anything,\u2019\u201d Rep. Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey told CNN\u2019s Manu Raju on \u201cInside Politics Sunday.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n The cost of living has shaped campaigning ahead of Tuesday\u2019s elections, along with Trump\u2019s perceived excesses. \u201cVirginia voters can and will send a message amid the recklessness and the heartlessness out of Washington,\u201d Democratic gubernatorial candidate Abigail Spanberger said Saturday.\n <\/p>\n \n Democrats in New Jersey branded GOP nominee Jack Ciattarelli as a tool of Trump. But outgoing Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy is also unpopular, and Ciattarelli called for change<\/a> in a state that has sometimes chosen GOP governors.\n <\/p>\n![\"House](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/c-gettyimages-2240767573.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"House](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/c-gettyimages-2243997831.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Attendees](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/c-gettyimages-2244042846.jpg\")
<\/p>\n