Independent Maine Sen. Angus King told MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” on Monday why he and seven others voted with the Republicans to take the first step to ending the government shutdown, in exchange for the promise of a vote on extending Obamacare subsidies within six months. The other crossover votes were Democratic Sens. Dick Durbin of Illinois, John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, Tim Kaine of Virginia, Jacky Rosen of Nevada, Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, and Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire. “Standing up to Donald Trump didn’t work,” King told MSNBC. “It actually gave him more power.” “Any good general-if the strategy isn’t working, you change tactics. And particularly, you change tactics if your own troops are at risk. That’s really what’s happening here.” “There was collateral damage to the American people at the same time the goal wasn’t being achieved,” he said. To Democratic critics, King said: “What was your strategy, man? What was your endgame? If we’re going to extend the shutdown another week, another month, through Christmas, Thanksgiving-is that going to get us anywhere?”

JOE SCARBOROUGH: Why did you decide to vote with Republicans to open the government? SENATOR ANGUS KING: Well, Joe, you have to go back to what the strategy was at the beginning of the shutdown. There were two goals, both of which I support. One was standing up to Donald Trump, and the other was getting some resolution on the ACA premium tax credit issue. The problem was, the shutdown wasn’t accomplishing either goal, and there was practically-well, there was zero-likelihood that it was going to. In terms of standing up to Donald Trump, the shutdown actually gave him more power. Exhibit A being what he’s done with SNAP and SNAP benefits across the country. Oh, by the way, Joe, you’re going to love this-guess who’s getting paid during the shutdown? Not the park rangers or air traffic controllers. The ICE agents, under special law, under that big awful bill that they passed last summer-the ICE agents are being paid. Nobody else is. So standing up to Donald Trump didn’t work. It actually gave him more power. And then secondly-and I’ve been a big supporter of the ACA-the idea of forcing the Republicans to the table to negotiate on that issue by virtue of a shutdown didn’t work. It’s now the longest shutdown in American history, and there was no prospect that it was going to work. I talked to a lot of my Republican colleagues. The chances of negotiating a settlement in the midst of the shutdown were zero. As of last night, we now have a guaranteed vote on a bill on the ACA subsidies-something that is unprecedented in my experience in the Senate. And so we have a shot at it. I’ll take those odds any day. JOE SCARBOROUGH: But even Donald Trump admitted that the government shutdown is what caused Democrats to win the election in historic fashion last week. SENATOR ANGUS KING: Well, I think it’s a question of, at some point, there are diminishing returns. And as I say, the strategy was: let’s bring the Republicans to the table. It didn’t happen. It wasn’t going to happen. And in the meantime, if this was just a dispute between politicians in the Senate and whether we had to hang around for the weekend, that would be one thing. But, Joe, there’s tremendous collateral damage from this. Forty-two million Americans’ SNAP benefits are at risk and are being lost. People aren’t being paid for the work that they’re doing. I don’t want to land at an airport in the United States with a sleepy air traffic controller because they’re working double shifts. So, any good general-if the strategy isn’t working, you change tactics. And particularly, you change tactics if your own troops are at risk. That’s really what’s happening here. There was collateral damage to the American people at the same time the goal wasn’t being achieved. So we’re going to change-we’re going to change the narrative. And now we have a guaranteed vote within the next month on the ACA tax credits drafted by the Democrats that the Majority Leader has agreed to bring to the floor. That’s a big deal. It gives us a chance to put the Republicans to the test: are you going to work with us on this issue or not? In the midst of the shutdown, they just weren’t talking. JOE SCARBOROUGH: So Bernie Sanders and other progressive leaders have said that you and other moderates who voted to reopen the government are going to cause great damage to the Democratic Party, that many will see it as a betrayal, and that voters will remember next November. What do you say to Bernie Sanders? SENATOR ANGUS KING: Well, I think what I’m saying is-what was your strategy, man? What was your endgame? If we’re going to extend the shutdown another week, another month, through Christmas, Thanksgiving-is that going to get us anywhere? The point is, there never was an endgame if the initial strategy didn’t work. And now we have one. We’re going to have, as I say, a guaranteed vote on the ACA. It may not succeed-I grant that-but a reasonable chance of ten, twenty, thirty percent is a lot better than zero percent, which is where we were as of yesterday morning. So I understand-everybody wants to stand up to Donald Trump, everybody wants to deal with the ACA tax credits. I do too. The question is: is this the right tool to do it? And it’s becoming counterproductive. You can’t ignore forty-two million people not getting their SNAP benefits.

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