The last month has been difficult for MSNBC host and PBS News Hour contributor Jonathan Capehart’s intellectual consistency, as he can’t decide whether the government shutdown is proof that Democrats are finally growing a spine or, as he claimed on Friday, whether “there’s a meanness and a cruelty” to the shutdown that is all Republicans’ fault.
Lumping in flight cancellations, the argument over expanded Obamacare subsidies, and SNAP benefits, Capehart theorized, “There are multiple pressure points here that precede the air traffic controllers. The exchanges, they opened up, the health care exchanges. Folks are finding out right now how much their health premiums are going to shoot through the roof at the beginning of the year. There's the SNAP benefits issue, which the administration — thankfully, apparently, just before we went on air, a federal judge said, no, you — Mr. President, we are not going to hear your case. The lower court ruling stands.”
The Supreme Court has since blocked that order while litigation continues. Nevertheless, Capehart continued, “And it just — to me, it seems like there is a — there's a meanness and a cruelty here when you put all of these things together, using the shutdown, using these things to pressure Democrats to come to the table and come up with a deal.”
Capehart concluded by declaring, “But, again, I would argue the president should call in all the leaders, lock them in a room and say, 'What are we going to do?' And I think that Thune — correct me if I'm wrong, Matt — that maybe that's something that Thune and Speaker Johnson don't want to have happen, because the president probably would make a deal with Schumer and Jeffries, particularly on health care.”
New York Times columnist David Brooks took the week off, so the conservative half of Brooks and Capehart sounded more like someone most conservatives would actually agree with. Pinch hitter and GOP strategist Matt Gorman countered:
I think both leaders on the Republican side are very leery of any preconditions to opening the government beforehand. I think we saw this back when I was at the NRCC in 2013 when Ted Cruz shut down the government over Obamacare. Obama had this thing, ‘we will not hold hostage reopening the government.’ And I think Republicans now on the other side of this have held that same standard, because there will inevitably be another CR, whether it's January, whether it's December, whether it's next year. And setting down this path of now we can negotiate what we need to do to just simply keep the government open is a very, very tough path to hoe.
Host Amna Nawaz followed up by wondering about a recent proposal from Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, “So if Democrats are offering now a one-year extension on those health care subsidies they have been asking for, you would not advise Republican leaders to take that deal? Is that what you're saying?”
Gorman flatly rejected the idea, “It's a total nonstarter because we're right back into this right before the midterm elections next year. And I think many Republicans see a lot of danger in having that sort of thing happen. And even Leader Jeffries said on the other end that was a nonstarter as well.”
While Capehart struggles to decide whether the shutdown is a good thing or not, Gorman’s presence shows what a proper liberal versus conservative weekly news recap could be if only PBS had a full-time conservative pundit.
Here is a transcript for the November 7 show:
PBS News Hour
11/7/2025
7:38 PM ET
JONATHAN CAPEHART: But it could be — it could be a pressure point, but I do think Republicans, there are multiple pressure points here that precede the air traffic controllers. The exchanges, they opened up, the health care exchanges. Folks are finding out right now how much their health premiums are going to shoot through the roof at the beginning of the year.
There's the SNAP benefits issue, which the administration — thankfully, apparently, just before we went on air, a federal judge said, no, you — Mr. President, we are not going to hear your case.
AMNA NAWAZ: Right.
CAPEHART: The lower court ruling stands. And it just — to me, it seems like there is a — there's a meanness and a cruelty here when you put all of these things together, using the shutdown, using these things to pressure Democrats to come to the table and come up with a deal.
But, again, I would argue the president should call in all the leaders, lock them in a room and say, “What are we going to do?” And I think that Thune — correct me if I'm wrong, Matt — that maybe that's something that Thune and Speaker Johnson don't want to have happen, because the president probably would make a deal with Schumer and Jeffries, particularly on health care.
NAWAZ: Matt, how do you look at that?
MATT GORMAN: I think both leaders on the Republican side are very leery of any preconditions to opening the government beforehand. I think we saw this back when I was at the NRCC in 2013 when Ted Cruz shut down the government over Obamacare. Obama had this thing, “we will not hold hostage reopening the government.” And I think Republicans now on the other side of this have held that same standard, because there will inevitably be another CR, whether it's January, whether it's December, whether it's next year.
And setting down this path of now we can negotiate what we need to do to just simply keep the government open is a very, very tough path to hoe.
NAWAZ: So if Democrats are offering now a one-year extension on those health care subsidies they have been asking for, you would not advise Republican leaders to take that deal? Is that what you're saying?
GORMAN: It's a total nonstarter because we're right back into this right before the midterm elections next year. And I think many Republicans see a lot of danger in having that sort of thing happen. And even Leader Jeffries said on the other end that was a nonstarter as well.
