General Discussion

We are the minority party right now. Yes, negotiating as strongly as possible for what we want is expected, but there comes a time when you have to accept the reality of it all and live to fight another day. I think Democrats made the best stand that they could.
I know most people here see this from a single perspective, but that isn't reality in real life. We were taking just as much (if not more) damage as the Republicans over this shutdown, and it was getting very painful for the public.
Look at it this way: Trump has already spent 1/4 of his term, gone. He only has 1 more year left of control in congress when odds say we will likely take it over. That is when we stop the bleeding. 2 years after that, we will most likely take the Presidency again.
I know this is far from an ideal outcome, but we have to face reality sooner or later. We lost control a year ago, and we have to accept that and make corrections moving forward. It'll happen, we just need to get loud about our policy and sell it. "We hate Trump" is not a policy that matters to the 1/3 of voters we need.
Above all, this is not a time to start bashing our leaders. They are handcuffed right now, and we need to support them through this.