Blaze TV host: “It's important that we hold the line here” on the shutdown amid looming higher health care premiums
Stu Burguiere: "Now I don't think Donald Trump is gonna fold, but I do think there are people on the Republican side who are gonna say, wait a minute, we can't go through this. ... We have to fold on all of this health care stuff.”
Published
Stu Burguiere on higher healthcare premiums
Citation
From the October 21, 2025, edition of SiriusXM's The Megyn Kelly Show
STU BURGUIERE (BLAZE TV HOST): We have this health care situation they've been blathering on about, and, of course, this is their own program. Obamacare was theirs. They passed it. They said it was gonna be the solution. They called it the Affordable Care Act. And what we're talking about going back to in this long-term shutdown debate is, essentially, Obamacare has passed, right? They passed it, and then they added on a bunch of COVID subsidies on top of that. Their complaint is we're not allowing the pandemic-era stuff to continue, okay?
And I -- as I think about this, we are a few, a couple weeks away from the deadline of when people are going to start to see these increases in prices, right? They're gonna see these bigger bills on their health care. And I -- my belief is — and I'm sort of testing the strategy in my head, but I'd love to hear your thoughts on it, Megyn, because I think there's part of the Democrats that are waiting this out because they think they're gonna get a more negative reaction when people start seeing those higher bills. And I think they believe it's going to create pressure on Republicans to fold. Now I don't think Donald Trump is gonna fold, but I do think there are people on the Republican side who are gonna say, wait a minute, we can't go through this, I'm worried about these polls going, people are giving us negative attention, we have to fold on all of this health care stuff.
I hope that's not the outcome to this and I do hope — Because I'm not seeing the same coverage of the shutdown that I've seen of every other one I've ever covered. I am not seeing all the sob stories. I'm not seeing all the single moms who've lost access to some program. I'm not seeing any of that stuff. It feels like the Democrats —
MEGYN KELLY (HOST): I know, it feels like a memory hole.
BURGUIERE: Yeah, it's weird. And I don't know if it's because — you know, my kind of assumption was Democrats, obviously, are the ones out of power, usually, that's the side that gets blamed, so maybe that's why the media is holding out. I'm concerned they're kinda just holding their fire back for this to take, to happen in about ten days. And if we get there, you know the Republicans, Megyn. They'll fold kind of on anything if the attention gets thrown their way.
KELLY: Yeah, don't put your faith in them.
BURGUIERE: No, don't do that. So it's important that we hold the line here. I think Trump will do it, but I do think there is a risk of some of these more, you know, shaky Republicans dropping that line.
KELLY: I think it's a very good theory, and it reminds me, my audience doesn't think that I — they don't believe me that I read the emails, but I do read the emails. And one of the viewers emailed about this just this past week saying, "I have the same concern that they're gonna wait until the prices go up, and then they're just gonna say, oh, it's all a Republican problem." Meanwhile, these are Democrat policies. These were Democrat increases under Obamacare. All of it is to be blamed on the Democrats.
And I don't know. I mean, this White House is better than most at messaging, so I think they probably will be able to message that. But, you know, this White House also had the chance, at least in 1.0, to do something about Obamacare, and it didn't. So, you know, there's plenty of blame to go around. We'll see. I think cutting some sort of a deal is what's good for the country because we can't have these government employees just remain not getting paid. I mean, it's just a morale killer. We can't have, you know, some of these jobs actually do matter to us. And, look, if you're gonna make people do the work, you gotta pay them.