---

---

By Emmanuel Williams

Today I voted in the November 4, 2025 election in my Colorado county by the skin of my teeth. I had the dentist late in the day and my ballot had already been lost in our mail pile. But I did it!

On my way home tonight I discovered I had access to election coverage via Amazon Prime and NBC News Now. This is one of my favorite things to do, watching election night in America. Seeing our glorious democracy in action and discovering how the rest of the country is feeling about not only our leadership at the federal and state level, but the issues and concerns at the city and county level with the help of Steve Kornacki at The Big Board (NBC).

But as I sit here watching Kristen Welker and Hallie Jackson, powerhouse journalists in their own right, discuss and analyze and predict, I couldn’t help but wonder, what’s the ANGLE here? 

The apparent benefactor should be the American People. Capital A, Capital P. But there are plenty more actors and parties who benefit should any number of candidates win their races. And what the People end up winning most will perhaps be closer tied to county issues, and the elections for Mayor, Governor, and what all this means for the hottest issue affected by this ballot:

The Economy.

Which if you haven’t noticed, is a slow motion car wreck the majority of Americans cannot brake or swerve enough to avoid.

Let me show you the economy from where I sit.

Recently I purchased my first major comic book hero merchandise after my Batman tattoo, a steel replica of the hammer of Thor from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Mujlnir. I ordered from Etsy, but the seller is based in the UK, so I got slapped with a tariff days later after the remaining money from my latest check went to the rest of my bills, and the fridge since I won’t be receiving my SNAP benefits this month.

The government being shutdown usually doesn’t affect SNAP (food stamps), and this is the first time, to my knowledge, that this has been allowed to happen.

I only have one paying job (for now!) and tuition refunds only come at the start of each semester. I need all the help I can get.

Luckily the seller could show mercy and arrange a mutually beneficial solution. But since I’m not the only one relying on SNAP benefits, and I can at least tell you that healthy lunches for schools came across our ballot here, people are voting with the shutdown in mind.

The shutdown has its own angle. Two angles. The Republican position, and the Democrat position. Republicans don’t want to support The Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) with provisions in the same bill to reopen the government. Democrats won’t vote to reopen the government without these provisions.

Republicans have been trying to shut down Obamacare since Trump’s first term. Keeping up a line of vitriol that Trump has always been outspoken about, his disdain for every Democrat President before and (between?) him, especially President Barack Obama.

In the interest of history, the Affordable Care Act established medicaid access across the nation, first on a mandatory basis, but always available to lower income individuals. And in order to keep medicaid so accessible, it has to be funded.

Remember how Trump and Elon Musk went on a rampage to clear up United States debt by ending unnecessary programs? That same impulse to trim the fat has to the ANGLE for republicans in blocking further assistance to “Obamacare”.

For Dems, it’s a standoff of inordinate measures. And they are not backing down. Obama is an honored President among democrats (and this columnist) but their approach to this crisis is only to stand their ground.

When it seems obvious that the solution is to separate Obamacare provisions for a separate bill, and reopen the government for the sake of the American People in a bipartisan fashion.

If POTUS used the same angle from the peace talks in Gaza and put up a 12 Point Plan for reopening the government, then I will concede that he can actually end a conflict, instead of holding out on the solution so he, his party, or his family can benefit like some psychopath pageant chick hiding behind the real dealmakers like Jared Kushner, or the true architects of Trump’s Peace Plan, the unsung drafters who thought long and hard about how to fix things.

What’s the angle here?