There were only ever two ways the government shutdown was going to end. Option one was for Democrats to cave in and give Trump and the Republicans everything they wanted. Option two was for the Republicans to kill the filibuster and get everything they wanted. Anybody who thought Republicans would compromise some of their positions for the good of the country was foolish. Republicans do not compromise; they do not care about the good of the country. Republicans break things and blame others for the mess they leave behind. That’s all they know how to do.

Somewhat predictably, eight Democrats in the US Senate chose the former option and folded like cheap chairs. The statements drooling out of the mouths from these treacherous Democrats are beyond pathetic. Maine Senator Angus King said, “Standing up to Trump didn’t work.” New Hampshire Senator Jeanne Shaheen said, “Hopefully the Republicans may hear us.” I’m reminded of The Onion’s headline from Trump’s first term “GOP Lawmakers Watch Silently As Trump Strangles Each Of Their Loved Ones In Turn.” The current crop of Senate Democrats makes the Kardashians look like freedom fighters.

On the surface, this latest Democratic capitulation feels like the normal level of political malpractice from a party that seems genetically incapable of fighting fascism. “Democrats Cave In to Republican Demands” is the “dog bites man” story of our broken politics. It’s not even news anymore.

But at a more fundamental level, this catastrophe is born out of the Senate’s simple refusal to allow democracy to take place. It has been brought to us, at least in part, by the Democrats’ allegiance to the antidemocratic Senate filibuster.