Today, I had 15 minutes, So I set out to tackle the one question that’s breaking the brains of Democrats right now: why did those eight Senate Democrats make THIS deal to end the government shut down?

I wanted to answer three basic questions.

1. What happened here (i.e., why did they do this)?

2. Could they have actually done better? (and I know that one seems obvious but I want to put some shape to that with one suggestion).

3. Where are we going from here? And I really want to get to this third part because it’s in our DNA as Democrats to get really dejected and down on ourselves…and I don’t think we should, because getting consumed by anger and depression and recriminations plays into the hands of the Trump MAGA authoritarians.

00:00 Introduction and Unusual Format03:37 Perception Battle and Polling Insights08:00 Concerns and Reactions to the Deal12:11 Possible Alternatives and Final Thoughts14:45 Closing Remarks and Future Plans