Earlier today I posted on Mitch McConnell’s gambit of inserting language modifying Title 10 US Code to all retired USMC General James Mattis to serve as Secretary of Defense into the must-pass spending bill that funds the federal government. In order to oppose Mattis, they had to oppose the stop gap spending bill.

The message was sent and received.

Senate Democrats are signaling that they will not block a must-pass spending bill despite reservations about the GOP using the measure to speed up the process for confirming Donald Trump’s defense secretary. Democrats warned against using the short-term spending bill to sidestep a debate over giving retired Gen. James Mattis the legislative waiver he will need to lead the Pentagon under Trump, given his recent service in uniform. But Republicans late Tuesday added language to the spending bill that preserves a 60-vote margin to approve Mattis’ waiver — making their play to limit debate on his nomination less of a make-or-break issue for Democrats.

Shorter: they folded like a cheap suit.

I suspect we will see a lot of this in the coming months. The Senate Democrats are already in a minority and if Heidi Heitkamp and one or two other endangered RedState Democrat senators are offered cushy jobs in a Trump administration rather than looking at a brutal dogfight of an election in 2018 the Democrat situation grows much weaker. They have voluntarily relinquished the filibuster for executive branch appointments and they can only afford to pick fights where the GOP is divided. Otherwise they simply beclown themselves.