I’m puzzled about how waiting until after the election to re-open the government helped the D’s.
I think that they wanted their chief constituency, the lazy welfare-sucking SNAP gang, to be hungry and motivated. Takes a lot to motivate those that won’t even try to earn their keep.
Consider their arrogance and dependence on their brothel media. They have banked their survival on a hard core crowd that they have convinced that the only issue facing the nation is for everyone to HATE Donald Trump! Then you daily whip them with the fantasy that the govt is shutdown by mean old Donald Trump and greedy 'pubbies just to make the helpless Dems look bad AND to destroy Obama's fabulous gift to America - the Affordable Care Act (which was deliberately written to never be affordable until everyone throws in the towel and embraces universal health care - socialized medicine.)
Their mindless minions were to flock to the polls and deal a deadly blow to those elite white supremacists!