No, not one Democratic Politician should help the GOP govern.

[UCmeNdc]

If they do the GOP will hand them back their heads on a plate. The GOP must take full responsibility for their own actions and decisions. If the Democratic politicians try to participate in any sort of a compromise, they will be blamed for any failure.

[50 Shades Of Blue]

1. DITTO!

[Eliot Rosewater]

2. Yep, and if they do they will be primaried...primary'd? LOL not a word, oh well

But, if one of ours does help the GOP, and that person still manages to win the party nomination and is the one running against any republican in the actual election, then we have no choice but to vote FOR the asshole.

The reason is we have a TWO party system.

[Phoenix61]

3. Ditto

[Wounded Bear]

4. If the GOP actually tried to govern, I wouldn't mind if Dems helped them...

but they don't. Dems govern, Repubs rule.

[radical noodle]

5. I totally agree

Yes, I wish they could work together the way they once did, but the GOP has become so tied up with power and cash that we can't ever trust them.

[Jim Lane]

6. What should the Democrats do about the debt ceiling?

At some point -- it may be this April, I'm not sure -- Trump will face the same problem Obama did. The government's expenses exceed its revenues, so the debt grows, but it bumps up against a statutory limit on the total debt. The sensible thing to do is for Congress to raise the debt ceiling.

Under Obama, the Republicans in Congress played games over the issue. That caused a partial government shutdown, which ultimately hurt the GOP's standing with the public.

Now we'll have the delicious spectacle of all these "deficit hawk" Republicans gritting their teeth and voting in favor of an increase in the debt ceiling. We can expect the Democrats to dig up the old Congressional Record pages and quote their own words back at them. I love the smell of schadenfreude in the morning.

After getting their jollies, though, what should the Democrats do? In the House they can all vote Nay and leave it to the Republican majority to endorse more deficit spending. In the Senate, though, they have the option of the filibuster. A Democratic Senator can vote Yea on the increase; can vote Nay on the increase but not join a filibuster; or can filibuster and force the GOP to find at least eight Democrats to vote for cloture (more than eight if any Republican Senators decide to grandstand for their RWNJ base and oppose the increase).

You could argue that not filibustering constitutes helping the GOP govern. Another alternative is to cut a deal for increasing the debt ceiling but also doing something else. For example, a bill to raise the debt ceiling and abolish the carried-interest loophole (a very progressive and common-sense way to reduce the deficit) might be criticized as helping the GOP govern but would be good public policy.

[Wounded Bear]

7. A bit divided on this, but not in favor of just blocking on principle...

I would definitely not filibuster. I don't mind doing a bit of maneuvering and negotiating around it, but my bottom line is don't mess with the good faith and credit, like it says in the Constitution.

[YoungDemCA]

8. The GOP wants to govern? That's certainly news to me!