New Jersey progressive leader Lisa McCormick is warning the Democratic Party against surrender

As the federal shutdown enters a perilous new phase, progressive Democrat Lisa McCormick is warning her party against surrender in the face of what she describes as an unprecedented assault on the American social compact.

The immediate catalyst was a statement from President Donald Trump, who suggested from the Oval Office that a shutdown provides a unique opportunity to enact severe and irreversible cuts to government benefits and programs.

“We can do things during the shutdown that are irreversible, that are bad for them and irreversible by them,” Trump told reporters, pointing to his budget director, Russell Vought, as someone who could “trim the budget to a level that you couldn’t do any other way.”

This is not a reason for Democrats to surrender, according to McCormick, but the very reason they must stand firm.

“Americans want Congress to protect health care — even if it means shutting down the government,” McCormick said. “Democrats must not capitulate now that we have entered this dangerous stage.”

She drew a historical parallel to another president who, in her view, misread his electoral mandate.

“Twenty years ago, President George W. Bush made the fundamental mistake of misreading his mandate and overreaching on ideas that the American public never signed up for. It killed his second term,” McCormick said. “President Donald Trump is doing the same thing, on steroids. He is trying to cash in unearned phantom currency on something voters hadn’t asked for and didn't want.”

The confrontation centers on a Democratic demand to permanently extend enhanced subsidies for the Affordable Care Act, which are set to expire and would raise costs for 15 million families.

Trump has falsely claimed the fight is about providing health care to immigrants in the country illegally, a charge Democrats uniformly deny.

McCormick is warning that giving in to a bully would only make matters worse, and she said things are already very bad.

“Without congressional authorization, the White House is dismantling entire components of the federal government. Trump’s handpicked prosecutor indicted former FBI Director Jim Comey for a crime even though law enforcement professionals believe there was insufficient evidence to support the charge,” McCormick said. “The Republican tyrant is now priming military leaders to assault American cities with Democratic mayors.”

The political theater has been amplified by the absence of House Republicans, who are on a recess until Oct. 7, a move Rep. Suzan DelBene said proves they “are happy to be gone and lead us into a shutdown.”

McCormick noted that Congressman Tom Kean Jr. is in hiding, depsite the prospect that he has already forfeited his seat to whatever challenger emerges from the crowded Democratic primary.

Meanwhile, Trump’s rhetoric has taken a dark turn, telling military leaders at a meeting convened by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that the nation is “under invasion from within” by forces “no different than a foreign enemy.”

Trump suggested using “dangerous cities,” many with Democratic mayors, as “training grounds for our military National Guard.”

In response to this escalating pressure, McCormick argues that the Democratic Party’s very purpose is on the line.

Her stance is rooted in a broader, more radical economic vision that challenges what she calls “America’s oligarchic elite.”

McCormick has called for a revival of a Depression-era “Share Our Wealth” plan, proposing a $100 million cap on personal fortunes and the dismantling of tax exemptions for the ultra-wealthy.

“This is a war against the dynastic fortunes that have turned Washington into their private fiefdom,” McCormick said. “It is a war against the myth that hard work alone can break the chains of generational poverty.”

She saved particular criticism for New Jersey’s own Senator Cory Booker, whom she accused of being part of a Democratic leadership structure that enables Republican agendas.

“His contrived outrage is a performance designed for the cameras, not a principle to be acted upon,” McCormick said. "Cory Booker has not stood up to Trump. He has pretended to fight for us, but even if he was not on our side, it would be foolish to re-elect someone who lost 100 percent of the legislative battles, lost the Supreme Court, and instead raised nearly $100 million, much of that from four dozen billionaires."

As the shutdown continues and the threats from the White House grow more severe, the question for Washington is one of endurance.

McCormick’s message is that this is not merely a budgetary dispute, but a fundamental struggle over the character of the nation—a struggle she believes Democrats cannot afford to lose by yielding to what she sees as tactical bullying.

“Cruelty is the point,” she said, echoing a fellow Democrat. “And we cannot negotiate with cruelty.”