What Really Caused the Government Shut Down Will Shock (and Dismay) You

In case you’ve been living under a rock, you might be surprised to learn that the government just went through a short shutdown. The Senate failed to pass a budget before the deadline, so for a few days nonessential services were suspended.

A stopgap resolution has passed, so the government will be funded for a few more weeks, but the whole issue is as messy as anything we would expect from Congress, and it revolves around general ridiculousness that is sickening to most Americans. You’ve been told that this shutdown was centered on immigration arguments. Let’s take a closer look and see if that holds water.

Before we can dive into the deeper politics of this issue, we need to discuss the mechanics of the shutdown. You likely know that the shutdown was the result of the Senate failing to pass a budget. What has escaped the bulk of mainstream discussions is that the failure was the result of a filibuster.

Senate Democrats enacted minority powers to make it harder for the budget to pass. Instead of a simple majority, 60 votes (or a super majority) were needed to end the filibuster and move the budget to its next stage. Another way to look at the simple arrangement is that 41 votes against were enough to keep it from passing. After five Democrats crossed party lines and voted in favor, there were still 44 left voting against. That alone was enough to create the shutdown.

The Demand

Here’s where things get dicey. One could argue that forcing a shutdown is a reasonable way for a minority party to force issues related to the budget. If the Democrats, for instance, wanted to reduce deficit spending, this would have been the time and place to play hardball. The biggest problem with this particular shutdown is that they were fighting for immigration reform. They wanted Republicans to promise to vote on DACA recipients, as their interim status is due to expire in March.

At this point, you might feel a little anger stirring. Senate Democrats shut the government down to get a promise of protection for illegal immigrants, and that’s already a bad move, but it gets worse. President Trump has already charged Congress with drafting legislation to deal with “dreamers.” Whether they are given protection or not, dealing with the issue is already on the Congressional agenda.

So, in response to the Democrat shutdown, the Republicans promised that a DACA vote would happen. What did this change? It possibly moved the discussion timetable from late February to early February. That’s it. That’s why we had a shutdown.

The Ridiculousness

Well, that’s what the left claims, anyway. They held the budget and the government itself hostage for the sake of those poor dreamers. They hold to this even though their antics had no discernable impact on the budget or Congressional agenda. They stand by their decision even though it threatened to cancel a program that provides medical care to American children in need. They shut down a (technically) functioning government over a literal non-issue.

Now, let’s talk about how serious this really is. The shutdown was short enough that military members didn’t have to work without pay, and the basic structure of the government was in no real danger of collapsing. We’ve seen this kind of thing before.

But, there’s a fundamental difference between Republicans forcing a shutdown as opposed to Democrats doing the same. It’s the left, after all, that believes the government exists to help people. Democrats champion the social programs that are intended to foster dependence among the people, and they never shy from spewing their moral arguments when they do.

That’s the height of hypocrisy. If you fundamentally believe that the government is the only tool that can help people, shutting it down is among the most immoral actions you can take. Either Senate Democrats don’t actually believe that the government helps people, or they don’t care how many were hurt by their antics. Neither is a good look for them.

Ulterior Motives

At last, we can get to the real issue. Buried beneath the lies and deceit is the real aim of this shutdown. The Democrats already had the promise they wanted before the filibuster. They chose the shutdown for one reason alone: they wanted to make Trump look bad.

It’s no coincidence that this shutdown happened so close to Trump’s one-year anniversary as president. It’s also no coincidence that the media was fully complicit in trying to spin the narrative that this was a Republican shutdown, despite the obvious math involved. Trump promised nonstop winning, and he has largely delivered. The left wanted to give him a loss. Let’s look at the scorecard for a moment.

  • The economy is in the best shape we’ve seen in decades, and the growth is accelerating. Fast.
  • ISIS is a shell of its former self and completely defeated in terms of holding any significant territory. It would be a lie to still call them a caliphate.
  • Al Qaeda is suffering similar losses throughout the Middle East and is in a long retreat.
  • Illegal immigration saw a massive decline over the last year.
  • Violent crime has dropped sharply and is at near record lows.

There have been countless other small victories, and all of it was accomplished in a single year with a Congress that was hardly on board. Anyone who isn’t a mindless slave to mass media knows that Trump has had the best first year as president in modern history.

In the end, this all boils down to midterm elections. The left has no policy wins in their books. Everything they have said and continue to say about Trump and his supporters is proven untrue time and again. These career politicians aren’t ready to relinquish the power they’ve held so dearly for so long, but Trump is draining the swamp, and their days are numbered.

They don’t care about Americans (or even liberal ideologies), and this shutdown was hard proof of that. Their only goal is to distract us and discredit Trump and Republicans in a desperate attempt to win in the midterms this year.

America has proven that we’re fed up with the Washington establishment, and as long as we remained focused, we can fulfill Trump’s promise and truly drain the swamp in November. MAGA.


Most Popular

These content links are provided by Content.ad. Both Content.ad and the web site upon which the links are displayed may receive compensation when readers click on these links. Some of the content you are redirected to may be sponsored content. View our privacy policy here.

To learn how you can use Content.ad to drive visitors to your content or add this service to your site, please contact us at [email protected].

Family-Friendly Content

Website owners select the type of content that appears in our units. However, if you would like to ensure that Content.ad always displays family-friendly content on this device, regardless of what site you are on, check the option below. Learn More



Most Popular
Sponsored Content

These content links are provided by Content.ad. Both Content.ad and the web site upon which the links are displayed may receive compensation when readers click on these links. Some of the content you are redirected to may be sponsored content. View our privacy policy here.

To learn how you can use Content.ad to drive visitors to your content or add this service to your site, please contact us at [email protected].

Family-Friendly Content

Website owners select the type of content that appears in our units. However, if you would like to ensure that Content.ad always displays family-friendly content on this device, regardless of what site you are on, check the option below. Learn More