The Democrats’ shutdown debate is about something much bigger

Democrats are currently in the midst of whether to shut down the government as a response to President Donald Trump’s lawlessness — see this recent Ezra Klein column for an overview of the arguments for and against. What struck me, reading Klein’s assessment, is how centrally the internal Democratic debate revolves around the question of “normalcy.”

Not whether the second Trump presidency is normal: At this point, only the most blinkered deny that Trump is attempting to transform the United States into an authoritarian country. Rather, the debate is over the extent to which the rules of “normal” politics work in these abnormal times.

By “normal” politics, I mean a basic vision of the postwar American democratic system and the role of parties within it. Normal politics begins with an assu