Stop the Lying, Trump and Republicans Own This Government Shutdown
Recent US government shutdowns stem from a common root cause: the extremism of the modern MAGA Republican Party.
Another federal government shutdown, of indeterminate duration, has begun. For three decades, they’ve become regular features of the Washington landscape.
Each one has involved different politicians, issues, and electoral outlooks. But modern-era shutdowns stem from a common root cause: the extremism of today’s Republican Party.
That’s the throughline extending from Newt Gingrich to Donald Trump, from demands to cut healthcare, education, and environmental protection, to brute-force authoritarian power grabs.
Year after year, Republicans in Congress or the White House pursue objectives far beyond what their institutional power and public support would justify.
In 2025, Trump has introduced the most radical tactic of all by lawlessly, unilaterally shredding institutions that safeguard our prosperity and security. With cowardly congressional Republicans abandoning their constitutional responsibility to check abuses of executive power – and a Trump-stacked Supreme Court declining to step in – the GOP created the conditions for yet another shutdown stalemate.
On the surface, lines have been drawn in the ordinary fashion.