According to Hot Air, senate democrats are threatening a government shutdown, a tactic that they abhorred when Republicans used it during the Obama era if certain provisions such as funding for the Wall is included in a must-pass appropriations bill. The bill would fund the rest of the government for the balance of the current fiscal year after April 28.

The question arises, what happens if the Democrats try it, presuming the Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer can keep enough of his caucus together to make a filibuster stick.

The Democrats are counting on poor polling on the Wall to buttress their case and frighten Republicans from adding funding.

On the other hand, government shutdowns are never popular with the American electorate, and thus such a gambit could come back to bite them. Republicans took a hit when they forced a government shutdown over Obamacare funding. On the other hand, the last government shutdown confrontation did not stop Republicans from sweeping into power in the Senate in 2014 and taking the presidency two years later. That result is partly because Obamacare had become an obvious disaster that harmed far more Americans that it helped.

The Democrats may not be counting on President Trump’s ability to rouse public opinion due to his mastery of the media, social and otherwise. If the Senate Democrats pull a government shutdown gambit, trump is capable to campaigning in red states where vulnerable senators are up for reelection in 2018.

He would claim that particular politicians are more loyal to Schumer than they are to Americans who are dependent on government services (not to mention border security.) More than one Democrat may decide that standing with Schumer will place their reelection chances in too much peril.

A government shutdown fight would put both sides of the Political Spectrum in peril because it would give the impression of a federal government in chaos with no one able to get anything done. Trump campaigned as an outsider and the stance, even though he is on the inside, may help him more than a little bit. So the Democrats will go against them at their peril.