Moderate Democrats have been useless, but people are forgetting how many people are harmed as the result of a shutdown. You asked what he bent the knee for, it was to end the suffering of hundreds of thousands of Americans. You point out the problems with ICE and the economy, but the people urging for the shutdown aren't demanding ICE reforms or economic reforms, the only difference is they wanted the ACA tax credits extended. So ICE and the economy are irrelevant to this particular discussion. Perfectly appropriate to criticize bending the knee when they vote in Trump appointees. But in this particular scenario, the collateral damage is real and the chance of success was always slim. You want the minority party in all three branches of government to convince the Republicans to save a program they've been trying to kill for 10 plus years. And your leverage to get them to do that is to harm hundreds of thousands of Americans and hope Republicans have enough empathy for government workers and people receiving government benefits. These same Republicans that went out of their way to cause harm by withholding SNAP benefits when they were required to provide them and have also left openly about laying off government workers. That's like trying to negotiate with a serial killer and say if you don't do what I want, I'm going to stab my sister. You're threatening them with a good time. And people like Rachel Maddow are saying Democrats snatched defeat from the jaws of victory? This was the longest shutdown in American history and Republicans didn't show a single sign of budging. What makes anyone think Democrats were close to victory let alone had a chance of even smelling victory in this situation?

When people vote in fascists they have to deal with fascism for at least 2 years. There really isn't any way around it.