A Shutdown Where None of the Normal Rules Apply
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From The New York Times, I'm Michael Barbaro. This is The Daily. Under normal circumstances, the profound pain of a government shutdown compels both parties to negotiate as quick a resolution as possible on behalf of the American people. But so far, nothing about this shutdown is normal. Today, as the federal shutdown enters its 17th day, three of my colleagues, White House reporter Tyler Pager, congressional reporter Katie Edmondson, and economic policy reporter Tony Rom, explain what's making it feel so different. It's Friday, October 17th.
Katie, Tyler, Tony, welcome to The Roundtable.
Thanks so much, Michael. Good to see you, Michael. How you doing?
Doing great. I just need to observe that saying those names in quick succession makes me feel like you're a family, like maybe a family of tigers. Katie, Tyler, Tony. Katie, Tyler, Tony.
the tiger.
They're great. Welcome to a special shutdown edition of the Roundtable. It's a topic that I think benefits from having specialized reporting experience brought to the topic, and I think each of your specialties can emerge as we go. I just want to start with a simple observation. This is a real weird shutdown. Yes or no? Yes. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, without a doubt. And let's talk about the ways in which it is a weird shutdown, Tyler, starting with you.
Yeah, we have never seen a White House or an administration weaponize the federal government against the opposing party the way in which we're seeing it happen right now.
Right. In a shutdown. I mean, clearly, people have weaponized perhaps Trump, especially government in the past, but you're saying weaponizing a shutdown.
Yeah.
Yes, absolutely. They are trying to use the closure of government to pursue their political goals and also inflict political pain on the Democratic Party.
Mm-hmm. And what's the most vivid example of that?
If you were to log on to any federal government website, you will be greeted by a message from that department or agency. If you look on the Treasury Department website, it says right now, quote, the radical left has chosen to shut down the United States government in the name of reckless spending and obstructionism. You know, you can look at airport videos. There are more than a dozen airports around the country refusing to display a video of Kristi Noem, the Homeland Security Secretary, who put together a new video blasting Democrats for the government shutdown and any travel disruptions that may result from it.
Right. And those are just message weaponizations, right, Tony? There's actually funding and job cut weaponizations as well.
Right, absolutely. This is not just rhetorical. This is an attempt to inflict real pain on the president's political enemies, in this case, Democrats. And they have done this on a number of fronts. They have taken steps to halt or cancel billions of dollars that the federal government had previously approved for cities and states and congressional districts led by Democratic leaders. They have taken steps to fire thousands of federal workers who serve at agencies that the president, at least, believes to be, quote, Democrat agencies or on Democrat programs.
How can an agency be Democratic under a Republican president?
Yeah, it's a great question. And I think the president has used this phrase, Democrat agencies or Democrat programs, as shorthand to describe kind of two different things. The first is agencies and programs that largely track the areas that Democrats increased when President Joe Biden was in power, things like health and education and housing and research. But I think second, more broadly, this White House sees the function of government as inherently democratic. And they see the cuts to the work of government as bringing government more in line with their vision that, you know, Washington and the bureaucracy should have less of a role in people's lives and in the management of the economy.
Katie, I want to talk about another very weird element of this shutdown, which is the manner in which, even as the president has weaponized it and used it to wield partisan warfare, he's simultaneously using
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