Democrats in Congress are aware they’re facing a challenging political situation, yet they seem poised to exacerbate it by insisting on a federal government shutdown.

Republicans — with narrow House and Senate majorities — want to pass a stopgap measure to keep the government funded, and running, after Sept. 30.

Yet Democrats are poised to block the bill — because their base voters are demanding they “do something,” no matter how stupid the gesture.

Republicans made that mistake many times in past shutdowns, as their base demanded symbolic action no matter the price.

President Donald Trump’s recent “pocket rescission” — where he unilaterally canceled $5 billion in foreign-aid funding, strategically timed to prevent Congress from overriding him — has intensified Democrats’ frustration over their inability to obstruct his agenda, leading to new threats of shutting everything down.

Both grassroots activists and wealthy donors were outraged back in March when Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (NY) acted responsibly by allowing a floor vote on a previous stopgap-funding bill. This was because a shutdown would primarily harm the individuals Democrats claim to support, would upset most voters, and wouldn’t secure the spending increases and tax hikes Democrats are seeking.

The only thing that’s really changed now is that the midterm elections are coming closer — including primaries where the left could take out incumbent Democrats if they seem like a bunch of do-nothings, and so increase the chances of GOP pickups in close races.

Donors have been stingy so far, too, even though Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries have done great work recruiting candidates like ex-Gov. Roy Cooper in North Carolina and Scranton Mayor Paige Gebhardt Cognetti for very winnable Senate and House races.

So Schumer and Jeffries (who was already talking tough during the March standoff) may decide they’re better off doing the wrong thing.

For now, Democrats are seeing if the GOP will bend (maybe at the behest of the White House?), as they demand Republicans roll back changes they made to slow Medicaid outlays in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

Thing is, the party that’s seen as forcing a shutdown generally gets the lion’s share of the blame — and Dems can no longer rely on the media’s ability to snow voters into thinking it’s always the Republicans’ fault.

Ironically, a shutdown makes little sense even ideologically for Dems: They’re the party of more government; every day it’s even partly shut down is a loss — especially with Trump’s team deciding exactly what must close.

Since Republicans can just force vote after vote to reopen (on their terms) until Dems feel compelled to give in, the “strategy” has near-zero chance of winning the left anything of substance.

Most Americans would see them as having acted like children, once again virtue-signaling to appease the loudmouths instead of looking out for the best interests of the country.

If Dems do pull the trigger anyway, it’ll be one more damning sign that the party’s hard left is still calling all the shots — so that even a vote for a moderate Democrat is only serving the radicals’ agenda.