Washington - Congressional Democrats are taking a page from the playbook of President Donald Trump and hard-line conservatives: Fight for your base and don’t blink.

In forcing a showdown over immigration — and triggering a government shutdown — Democrats have embraced a confrontational, rule-breaking strategy they once blasted as irresponsible when practiced by the other party. But the Trump-era appears to come with new rules for both sides. Rather than playing it safe in an election year, Democrats are calculating the bigger risk would be missing the moment to challenge a deeply unpopular president and deflating the energy that could drive liberal voters to the polls in November.

“No one wants to conduct themselves in a way that you are running scared and being a milquetoast moderate in a way that dampens the enthusiasm,” said Brian Fallon, a former aide to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.

It’s a strategy shift for Democrats, who negotiated repeatedly with Republicans during the punishing Obama-era budget battles. Those showdowns were prompted by conservatives who were swept into Congress during the tea party wave and who refused to compromise on the fiscal issues that motivated their voters.

As a candidate and as president, Trump has frequently...read more at ABC News