It’s the economy, stupid.
That golden rule, coined 33 years ago to get a flawed Arkansas governor elected president, is on the minds of Maryland Democrats today.
An authoritarian occupies the White House, silencing late-night comics and dispatching masked ICE agents to snatch anyone suspected of being, you know, illegal.
Troops have been on the streets of major cities in the name of law and order. Our allies are so freaked out that Canada and Mexico whisper about the neighbor out in his pajamas, shouting at the moon.
When the federal government shuts down — and it will — Maryland Democrats in Congress will have to explain why.
As consultant James Carville told Bill Clinton all those years ago, pocketbook pain is the key to explaining it. Stupid.
“Yes,” U.S. Rep. Glenn Ivey of Prince George’s County said. “For the folks who have a wolf at the door, who struggle to keep food on the table and a roof over their head, I respect that.”
There’s a debate among Democrats, a political party stranded in the powerless cold.
Are they on the patriot road, making this a fight to stop President Donald Trump’s unconstitutional power grab, or are they in the driveway selling affordability?
Today, it has to be more than the economy.
“Both things,” said U.S. Rep. Johnny Olszewski Jr. of Baltimore County, “can be and are true.”
I asked all nine Maryland Democrats in Congress how they’ll explain their recent votes against a Republican continuing resolution that would keep the federal government open past Sept. 30, when the money runs out.
Seven responded with an answer. They talked first about affordability. With good reason.
They want cutbacks to Medicaid and food stamps reversed. They want tax credits for health coverage extended before 500,000 Marylanders who receive coverage under Obamacare get whacked with $800-plus premium hikes.
Grocery prices get more ridiculous weekly. Stinging power bills aren’t Trump’s doing, but he sure is scotching Maryland’s shift to wind and solar solutions.
Thousands have been laid off as federal job cuts ripple through the state economy.
Constituents are telling members of Congress, so they say, that a shutdown is worth it if it saves jobs and crucial projects, like rebuilding the Key Bridge.
“I’ve heard from so many constituents they they support a shutdown,” said U.S. Rep. Sarah Elfreth, who represents Howard County and parts of Anne Arundel and Carroll counties.
So, all together now — it’s the economy. Stupid.
It has to be more.
Democrats will talk tyranny to fired-up protesters at No Kings rallies, but working stiffs won’t pay attention until you talk money.
In Maryland, a shutdown doesn’t just stop benefit checks. Paychecks dry up, too.
A quarter-million federal employees call this state home, and they and their agencies drop billions into the economy yearly. Pausing that would tip Maryland into a recession, starting in the D.C. suburbs of Montgomery and Prince George’s counties.
That’s a third of the state’s population. The pain will spread.
Gov. Wes Moore and his staff are urging the state’s senators and representatives in Washington to find bipartisan solutions, even as they blame Republicans and ready the piles of money needed for a rush on unemployment benefits, food pantries and emergency loans.
“At a time when the Trump administration is firing federal workers, gutting Medicaid and raising prices on everything from electricity to groceries, a government shutdown will cause even more pain for Maryland families,” said David Turner, a spokesperson for Moore.
Pocketbook politics is a simpler pitch than the larger crisis, and it makes pinning the shutdown on Republicans easier. Driving the country into a fiscal ditch is an effective argument for change at the wheel.
Heck, it might even help Democrats rid themselves of their Eastern Shore thorn, Republican U.S. Rep. Andy Harris.
“This is a self-inflicted Republican crisis,” said U.S. Rep. April McClain Delaney, whose district covers Western Maryland and part of Montgomery County.
The House narrowly passed its continuing resolution Friday with just one Democratic vote. It would keep federal spending level through Nov. 21 and fund extra security for federal officials in these angry days since conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s assassination.
It failed in the Senate. Unless Democrats blink, the 60-vote margin to pass the bill is out of reach. An explanation will be required.
Maryland representatives and senators, if you press a bit, discuss what’s happening beyond the budget.
Trump purged ideas on equality from schools and colleges, including the service academies, and enriched himself with a cryptocurrency side hustle as he promoted that kind of investment from the White House lawn.
He stamped his name on extrajudicial killings of drug smugglers on the high seas, and erased whole agencies created by Congress.
He’s using the Justice Department to go after political enemies and firing prosecutors who refuse to be quislings.
The courts are unwilling or unable to stop him, so Democrats have only the shutdown to throw in his way until 2026.
“I’m not interested in shutting the government down,” said U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin of Montgomery County. “I’m interested in keeping them from gutting the government.”
Even if Republicans cared about people who need government programs or run them, Trump owns their votes. By asking to talk directly with the president, Democrats will pin a shutdown on him.
“Donald Trump is calling all the shots for the Republicans,” U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen said.
The Senate is in recess until Monday, one day before the deadline.
Democrats will talk about how Trump abandoned his voters in favor of his billionaires. They’ll talk affordability.
“The health care crisis Republicans have created will devastate Maryland families unless we change course,” U.S. Sen. Angela Alsobrooks said through a spokesperson.
All the while, the Constitution is burning. They have to say that, too.
“I’m not going to write a blank check for a lawless president,” Van Hollen said.
Carville’s doctrine remains true, but Democrats must make voters see that, this time, what’s happening is more than the economy.
Anything less would be stupid.
This column has been updated to correctly state the number of Maryland Democrats in Congress.
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