Donald Trump and Elon Musk derailed a stopgap spending bill, flexing their influence before the president-elect takes office.

Months before many officials in Washington — and investors in the bond market — anticipated, the federal debt ceiling has re-entered political discourse, after President-elect Donald Trump said Dec. 19 that he’d back getting rid of the cap entirely, more than a century after its creation. The limit has long been a tool of political leverage for the party in opposition, because of the dire consequences of any failure to either suspend or increase it.

Democrats share Trump’s interest in getting rid of debt-limit politics. But they should drive a bargain as good as the discarded stopgap bill.

Many senior Democrats have decided to ignore the fact that the party is out of touch on a range of cultural issues like race, gender, and immigration.

Now is not the time for surrender.