WASHINGTON — The government shutdown that never should have happened is over. Voters should be furious with most Democrats, and Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky, for engaging in a 43-day stunt that hurt the American public for no reason other than "beating" President Donald Trump.

The worst part: It was never going to work. Republicans control the White House, Senate and House of Representatives; the math was against Democrats from the get-go. They never had a chance, and still they shortchanged their own constituents with the longest shutdown in history.

So while Democrats wanted to extend the enhanced health care tax credit introduced during the COVID pandemic and scheduled to expire at the end of the year, they simply didn't have the numbers, and they were not going to get them.

There are heroes in the Democratic caucus, and they deserve recognition.

Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman became the face of the resistance. From the start, the first-term Democrat opposed this bound-to-fail crusade.

"After 40 days as a consistent voice against shutting our government down, I voted YES for the 15th time to REOPEN," Fetterman wrote on X. "I'm sorry to our military, SNAP recipients, gov workers, and Capitol Police who haven't been paid in weeks. It should've never come to this. This was a failure."

Progressives are so angry at Fetterman, he told CNN, some have let him know that "they want me to die."

To her credit, Nevada Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto also got it right from the start. "I have consistently voted against shutting down the government because I know the pain it is causing working families, from TSA agents to government contractors," Cortez Masto explained in a statement that reflected plain common sense.

Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., had been a no vote until the 15th and final vote, but at least she came around.

Why did the shutdown even happen? The inside-the-beltway take is that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer looked weak when he backed a deal to avert a shutdown in March. Progressives turned on Schumer and began encouraging rising star Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-NY, to consider running against the 74-year-old when his fifth term is up in 2028.

Some will never forgive Schumer for doing the right thing. "The working people want the Democratic Party to fight for them. And now, they just caved and surrendered," "The View" host Sunny Hostin maintained.

And: "I think Chuck Schumer, his days are over."

Do Democrats actually think they would be better off if the shutdown had continued for another month or longer and more of their own voters paid the price?

California Gov. Gavin Newsom, D-French Laundry, trashed the deal on X as, "Pathetic." His press team added, "This isn't a deal. It's a surrender. Don't bend the knee!"

As the economy gets back to work, I predict that the public will be glad that the deal was struck and the drama is over.

Sen. Angus King of Maine, an Independent who caucuses with Democrats, sagely told MSNBC. "Standing up to Donald Trump didn't work. It actually gave him more power."

Ditto Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Wash., one of six House Democrats to vote for the deal. She argued, "the fight to stop runaway health insurance premiums won't be won by holding hungry Americans hostage."

As Trump signed the legislation that ended the shutdown Wednesday night, he told Americans, "You should not forget this."

Americans who had to go without paychecks, air traffic controllers who had to absorb the added stress of the shutdown and SNAP recipients who rely on the program to feed their families were left behind. They should not forget.

One party gave America its longest government shutdown even though it never had the votes necessary to succeed. And most of the shutdown's supporters still don't realize how a big blunder it was.

Contact Review-Journal Washington columnist Debra J. Saunders at [email protected]. Follow @debrajsaunders on X.

Photo credit: Tim Mossholder at Unsplash