Why Congressional Democrats Are Failing Their Moment

Pantsuit Politics

Lemonada Media

News, Politics, Society & Culture, News Commentary

4.5 • 4.9K Ratings

🗓️ 9 September 2025

⏱️ 59 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Should Democrats shut down the government to stop Trump's authoritarian overreach? Sarah and Beth break down Ezra Klein's New York Times op-ed calling on Democrats to use the September 30th funding deadline to confront Trump's illegal pocket rescissions, growing corruption, and dismantling of congressional oversight, while examining whether traditional bipartisan governance enables authoritarianism. Why has Congress abandoned its constitutional duty to control government spending? They explore how the broken appropriations process—where the last complete budget was passed in 1997—has created a system of continuing resolutions that empowers the executive branch, as Trump's team openly admits they want Congress to "just keep doing what you're doing" while they consolidate power and enrich themselves. When is it okay to sing along at public events, and when should you stay quiet? Outside of Politics, they tackle the etiquette dilemmas of candlelight concerts, Broadway shows, movie sing-alongs, and graduation ceremonies, exploring how our "you owe me perfection and I owe you nothing" culture has broken down basic public courtesy and shared behavioral standards. Ready to go deeper? Visit our website for complete show notes, exclusive premium content, merchandise, chats and more. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Lemonada.
0:02.7	This is Sarah Stewart-Holland.
0:16.7	This is Beth Silvers.
0:17.8	You're listening to Pantsuit Politics, funding for the United States government to continue its operations expires on September 30th. As we're recording this episode on September 8th, 22 days from that deadline, the White House and members of Congress in both parties have competing plans about what comes next. And on Sunday, New York Times opinion columnist
0:38.6	Ezra Klein, who's one of the most influential voices in Democratic politics, made clear his
0:43.0	view that Democrats need to use the funding fight to say something to the American people about
0:49.0	the way that Donald Trump is running the country. So we'll discuss that today. And then we'll
0:53.3	lighten things all the way up
0:54.6	outside of politics by talking about public events and when we're singing along and when we're
0:59.1	just listening. We know the news is very heavy right now. Our goal at Pansu Politics is to have
1:04.5	honest conversations that help you carry that load long term. A lot of news and politics shows are
1:10.4	built for burnout. We want to be built
1:12.0	for you to stay engaged as a citizen no matter what's going on. And we think more people need
1:17.0	that different approach to the news right now. So we hope that you'll share our show with the people
1:20.9	in your real life and online. If you're on Substack, sharing our show notes post to your
1:25.4	substack notes really helps more people find us.
1:27.9	Maggie has been posting clips of our show on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube shorts.
1:32.2	You can share those.
1:33.0	And just texting a friend.
1:34.4	The link to the podcast is a great way to get the conversation going.
1:37.3	We appreciate your support as always, and we hope that we're supporting you as you take
1:41.0	in the barrage of headlines every week.
	...

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