Nearly three weeks into the current federal-government shutdown , Democrats have made it clear that their principal — and, perhaps, their sole — demand for cooperating to end it is a commitment to move some sort of bipartisan extension of the Obamacare premium subsidies , due to expire at the end of the year. They may be willing to accept half a loaf, like an ironclad commitment for a vote on a specific measure, or a Trump commitment to back some kind of remedy for an impending health-insurance-price spike that worries Republicans, too.

At this point, however, Republicans continue to confidently predict unconditional surrender by Democrats. That’s the mantra regularly repeated by shutdown managers Mike Johnson and John Thune in Congress and by White House spokespeople as wel

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