It just goes on and on, my friends.
By David A. Graham, The Atlantic
Gather round and let me tell you a fantastical tale of the past, when government shutdowns were highly unusual. They didn’t even occur until the 1980s, and none lasted for more than three days until 1995. We’re now in the sixth shutdown since the start of the Clinton administration. Today is the 23rd day since the government ran out of funding, still short of the 35-day record set during the first Trump presidency, and although there are sporadic signs of movement in Washington, this shutdown looks like it could go on for a very long time.
A closed government seems to suit Donald Trump just fine, and he shows no concern for whether Congress authorizes him to do what he wants. The Republicans who control Congress take their cues from him, and Democrats see little incentive to reopen the government, which they argue would legitimize the president’s actions. Typically, this is where I’d deploy a journalistic cliché and call it a “gridlock,” but that implies that anyone is really trying to get free of it.
