Another government shutdown looms, and, thus, so do more angsty struggle sessions over what Democrats should do, and what effective opposition looks like. In this episode, we discuss:* How does mounting bad news for Donald Trump—bad jobs numbers, defeats in court, and revelations about his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein—affect the politics of a shutdown?* Who’s got the better bead on how Democrats should proceed, Matt, Brian, or <a target="_blank" href="https://substack.com/profile/113351-ezra-klein">Ezra Klein</a>? * Why there’s a hidden danger in Democrats’ inclination to demand extraneous concessions—like renewed funding for Obamacare.Then, how might the lessons of a [knocks on wood] successful shutdown fight help ameliorate ongoing fight between different factions of the Democratic Party, including progressives and abundists? Can they find common ground over their shared interest in making the Democratic Party more responsive and faster moving? Or are progressives too suspicious of strange bedfellows to ever support policy-making coalitions with Republicans and business interests?All that, plus the full Politix archive are available to paid subscribers—just upgrade your subscription and pipe full episodes directly to your favorite podcast app via your own private feed.Further reading:* <a target="_blank" href="https://www.offmessage.net/p/gut-check-time-for-democrats">Brian’s shutdown piece</a>.* Ezra’s <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/07/opinion/trump-senate-democrats-shutdown.html">shutdown piece</a>* <a target="_blank" href="https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2025-09-07/healthcare-can-be-saved-with-a-government-shutdown?srnd=undefined">Matt’s shutdown piece</a>.* <a target="_blank" href="https://www.offmessage.net/p/there-is-no-third-door">Brian’s response to both</a>. * <a target="_blank" href="https://www.slowboring.com/p/major-data-revisions-are-coming">How to understand recent data revisions</a>. * <a target="_blank" href="https://www.offmessage.net/p/how-to-forge-a-progressive-abundance">Brian’s abundance flowchart for an intra-Democratic truce</a>. Thank you for subscribing. <a href="https://www.politix.fm/p/better-than-ezra/comments?utm_medium=podcast&#38;utm_campaign=CTA_5">Leave a comment</a> or <a href="https://www.politix.fm/p/better-than-ezra?utm_source=substack&#38;utm_medium=podcast&#38;utm_content=share&#38;action=share&#38;token=eyJ1c2VyX2lkIjo4Mjc5MjkyNiwicG9zdF9pZCI6MTczMTk3ODY0LCJpYXQiOjE3NTc0OTkwNDIsImV4cCI6MTc2MDA5MTA0MiwiaXNzIjoicHViLTIxMTg5NjYiLCJzdWIiOiJwb3N0LXJlYWN0aW9uIn0.unXd1A71-h1kSYzioJyjjhmmSXbOnXkGX90G9CemnDU&#38;utm_campaign=CTA_5">share this episode</a>.

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