When President Donald Trump announced last week he wanted Congress to “pass a clean, temporary government funding Bill,” that should have dropped the chances of a federal shutdown to near zero.
After all, shutdown threats tend to get driven by conservative hard-liners intent on cutting spending — and who better than Trump to pull them in line and keep the government open?
So it’s quite a testament to how dramatically Trump has shaken up Washington over the past six weeks that the likelihood of a shutdown hasn’t abated. In fact, according to my reporting, it might actually have increased.
This time, it’s Democrats who are itching for a fight — over the Department of Government Efficiency cuts that Trump has blessed and deputized mogul Elon Musk has gleefully carried out.
Right?
If you’re a US Congressperson, way to deal with some random security guard hired by Musk blocking you from entering the Department of Education is to tell them you’re a sitting US Congressperson, and that you’re entering that building, and if they accost you or your associates in any way, shape, or form, you’ll be bringing the full force of the law (as in, actual US code, not some dipshit hired by eel-on-musk) down on their head. And then you enter the building.