Democrats have been struggling in how to deal with the dizzying flood of unilateral actions coming from Donald Trump these past 54 days, but tonight’s midnight deadline to keep the federal government operating will force them to take a stand.

The House Republicans under Speaker Mike Johnson passed a harsh spending bill with deep cuts that was unacceptable to Democrats and to many, if not most, Americans, so the choice for Chuck Schumer and his fellow 46 Senate Democrats is to agree to that objectionable measure or have a government shutdown.

In years past the fears of a shutdown lasting more than a weekend day or so has been which party the public will blame. The Republicans have the White House and both Houses of Congress, so they are in charge. But Trump, Johnson and the Senate Majority Leader John Thune and 51 of his GOP colleagues all agree (only Sen. Rand Paul isn’t onboard) on the House plan. Thune needs 60 votes, so Democrats have to either supply the balance or we enter shutdown at midnight.

Would it be a GOP-caused shutdown for failing to compromise to reach the 60-vote level or would the Dems catch the blowback for withholding their votes? We would put the onus on the Republicans.

But another calculation is what happens in a shutdown in the age of Trump and Elon Musk? Could their executive powers during a shutdown be enhanced in deciding what government functions should continue or not? And how long would such a shutdown last? Maybe Trump and Musk would use it to their advantage and keep it going to let them willfully fire more people. Or that a scenario that Democrats don’t have to worry about?

Back in December, Musk was also a major factor the last time the spending authority ran out and shutdown loomed. There was a carefully crafted agreement between Johnson and Schumer and the outgoing Joe Biden to keep everything in place until today, March 14.

But then Musk objected, followed by Trump. The deal collapsed as fearful Republicans backed away. It then had to be glued back together (missing some important pieces) to keep Uncle Sam in business through tonight.

But in December at least there was bipartisan agreement, on both the initial plan and the post-Musk version. That’s not what the country has this morning. The Republicans alone crafted the bill. Everyone is helped if the parties have to compromise with the opposition, it makes for better government and that applies no matter who has the majority.

The Senate’s 60-vote threshold is designed to push senators towards the middle, where the majority of the American people are. That’s not what happened with Trump’s cabinet as the 53 Republicans held fast and shoved through all of them, including some real stinkers like Pete Hegseth, Bobby Kennedy and Tulsi Gabbard. Blame former Democratic Majority Leader Harry Reid for dumping the 60-vote rule on nominations.

Over in the House, Mike Johnson held his usually fractious conference together on the spending plan with Trump acting as whip, keeping every Republican save one in line. Such one-party government is the opposite of moving towards the center.