Shutdown Fight Exposes Democrats’ Key Weakness: Erika D. Smith

Ignored by their Republican colleagues and mocked by President Donald Trump as “ridiculous,” Democrats in Congress seem poised to force the federal government into a shutdown.

It’s a political risk, but Democrats are giving a simple reason: Republicans, through the evisceration of health care and other federal programs, are about to make poor Americans poorer in order to make rich Americans richer. Therefore, Democrats must take a stand on behalf of the working class. As House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries put it this week, “cancel the cuts, lower the costs, save health care.”

But largely missing from all the tough ...