The Party of Ezra

Ezra Klein has become something of a spiritual advisor for Capitol Hill Democrats, many of whom have him on speed dial. So when he calls for a shutdown in the pages of the Times, and attendant multimedia channels, lawmakers actually listen—and agonize.

In his Times manifesto, Klein wrote that shutting down the government this month would, at the very least, “make people listen,” even if Democrats don’t “have the leaders they need” to convince voters that Trump is “corrupting the government” and must be stopped. Photo: Lloyd Bishop/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal/Getty Images

Leigh Ann Caldwell

September 10, 2025

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On Sunday, Ezra Klein dropped the needle on a 2,500-word essay (and accompanying podcast… and 18-minute video monologue…) entitled “Stop Acting Like This Is Normal,” that sent Capitol Hill into a tailspin. For the past several weeks, Senate Democrats had been quietly discussing how to handle the upcoming showdown over government funding, which is set to run out on September 30. Chuck Schumer had yet to publicly articulate a strategy for how to exercise his party’s meager leverage. But Klein, seizing on his stature as a true influencer in Democratic media circles, reframed the debate in practically existential terms—essentially demanding that Democrats shut down the government rather than be complicit in Trump’s “authoritarian takeover.”