In politics, being right is not necessarily a cause for celebration. When the Democrats first elected to accept a shutdown rather than allow the Affordable Care Act subsidies to expire on December 31, I wondered what had changed since Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer signed on earlier in the year to a Republican continuing resolution, because he thought a shutdown would be too damaging to the American people. The answer, it appears, is that nothing changed.

What I find baffling is that no one seemed to take into consideration that Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits were going to go unpaid the longer the shutdown went on. How could Democrats not plan for that? The moment Republicans were willing to let their own constituents be hungry rather than give in to demands over the ACA, it seemed crystal clear that Democrats were going to lose the game of chicken.

There is something really wrong with the universe when Georgia Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene is talking about how outrageous it is that her own party is willing to let these ACA subsidies expire, when she is changing much of her persona and saying she should have dumped the toxic, hateful rhetoric earlier, before Donald Trump turned it on her. We are in upside down land, for sure.

The same week as her mea culpa, MGT spoke from the Democratic side of the House chamber to argue for the release of the Epstein files and was branded a traitor by the president she so faithfully followed during five terms in Congress. That seemed to lead to the Friday night video announcement that she will resign from Congress in the middle of her term! Her last day will be January 5, 2026.

Before anyone of either party celebrates too hard, listen to her video. She may have broken from Donald Trump on issues important to him, but she is still very much a MAGA Republican. It’s likely best that the public brace for what comes next from the Georgia Republican. There is a laying-the-groundwork feel to her recent move toward bipartisanship that should not be dismissed.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch of blatant political manipulation, a series of subsequent major news events all seem to have heavily muted the importance of the economic damage to the country and the political damage to both parties of the longest government shutdown in history. They include: The vote to release the Epstein files; the American president welcoming into the White House with open arms the Saudi prince who had a reporter murdered and dismembered; the president’s call for the Democratic politicians to be tried on the punishable-by-death charge of sedition for reminding active-duty military they need not follow an illegal order; and Mr. Trump’s misogynistic silencing of a female reporter by calling her “piggy” – then defending the name calling.

With every passing news cycle, this child of the 1980s can hear the strident piano melody line of the Bonnie Tyler tune “Holding Out for a Hero,” as many non-MAGA American citizens look daily for someone with a rescue plan. The new mayor of New York City, standing in the Oval Office Friday behind the man he calls a fascist, presents as if he thinks he just may be that hero. The friendly tone and demeanor on display between the two men is another false sense of security of which the public (and Mamdani) should beware.

In the art of political gamesmanship, someone always miscalculates. Collateral damage can turn initial celebration to panic. Mamdani won the office of New York Mayor, and a caustic member of Congress is leaving the institution early. These appear to be items Democrats can enthusiastically cheer. But many thought it a great and winning fight for Democrats to allow a government shutdown in exchange for a legislative fix to health care subsidies that never came. We’ll have to wait and see what’s truly cause for celebration.