I may be in a minority here ...

[Metaphorical]

but I think that the Democrats should frankly let the GOP shut it down.

We have come to the rescue of the GOP too many times. The ones who voted for Trump and his resident Nazis wanted this, wanted to prove that just how bad government was, and we've tried being responsible every time, even as we've been villified for it.

People are going to get hurt, quite probably people will die. Point is that the Trump-loving MAGA party will own this, completely and totally.

If the government shuts down, all of those Trump-loving MAGA will lose their disability checks, their social security, their government funding private contracts, their farm subsidies. The Blue states in general will be able to survive, even if with reduced income. The Red states will collapse.

This is unfortunate, especially for those Democrats and independents who live in those red states, but I think it will also have several follow-on effects. I think it's going to cause a lot of state constituencies to vote the GOP out regardless of any gerrymandering. It's going to cause a general strike that I suspect will likely topple other states. It also may very well force some serious discussion about whether the US continues in its current form.