USA government shutdown becomes longest in US history

[JJAwiiu]

Two questions:

1) Why is he doing the Wall thing now, as opposed to when he got right into office? Seems like he had a much better opportunity before if this was so important to him.
2) It's already been articulated that the Federal workers affected will get back pay when the shutdown ends. Any possibility that a politician on either side can make it so these workers get paid WHILE the shutdown is in effect?

 

[_Karooo]

Dumbest shutdown in the history of the US.

 

[shadowsdarknes]

Two questions:

1) Why is he doing the Wall thing now, as opposed to when he got right into office? Seems like he had a much better opportunity before if this was so important to him.

Click to shrink...

The wall was a relatively hollow campaign promise.
He had a lot of chances to get a wall done. But he and the GOP were largely not interested in giving up anything of value to get it done.

But now, Ingraham, Limbaugh, Hannity, and Ann Coulter called Trump on his BS and told him to use this shutdown as leverage to get a wall or else they would begin to question their support.

 

[Titik]

Two questions:

1) Why is he doing the Wall thing now, as opposed to when he got right into office? Seems like he had a much better opportunity before if this was so important to him.
2) It's already been articulated that the Federal workers affected will get back pay when the shutdown ends. Any possibility that a politician on either side can make it so these workers get paid WHILE the shutdown is in effect?

Click to shrink...

He finally realized that Democrats will make his presidency a living hell and he wants some sort of legacy similar to Obamacare. That's my take anyway.

 

[JAlpsWanderer]

The longer this goes on, the more pessimistic I feel about how much Republicans actually have to lose in this fight.

Since the modern Republican philosophy seems to thrive on a lack of empathy for others, what is the reason for them to stop now? There aren't any elections in the near future, and the electorate generally gets amnesia from week to week. Slimmer government has always been the GOP goal, and if this goes on for a few months without any real noticeable consequences for those who are not directly affected, couldn't GOP just selectively open what they want and ignore the rest? Seems like something they could even campaign on with their base.

Furthermore, the longer the shutdown continues, the more the false equivalency bullshit will increase. People with a soul will care less about the $5 billion and the despicable manner in which it's being bargained for and more about the lives of those who are being hurt. It will be chalked up as two sides squabbling about their differences rather than painted as a harmful and cynical bargaining chip that should never be in play in the first place. People will just be more frustrated with government, which benefits the GOP to begin with. And then when Democrats finally bow to their consciences and approve the money, this tactic will just be used again.

I concede that I'm probably not as informed as some of the others here, but I just don't see how this will negatively affect Republicans long-term more than it already has. I'm not living in the US currently, so I'm sure you all can see things a bit more clearly, but man if I don't feel bummed out about it.

 

[Titik]

The longer this goes on, the more pessimistic I feel about how much Republicans actually have to lose in this fight.

Since the modern Republican philosophy seems to thrive on a lack of empathy for others, what is the reason for them to stop now? There aren't any elections in the near future, and the electorate generally gets amnesia from week to week. Slimmer government has always been the GOP goal, and if this goes on for a few months without any real noticeable consequences for those who are not directly affected, couldn't GOP just selectively open what they want and ignore the rest? Seems like something they could even campaign on with their base.

Furthermore, the longer the shutdown continues, the more the false equivalency bullshit will increase. People with a soul will care less about the $5 billion and the despicable manner in which it's being bargained for and more about the lives of those who are being hurt. It will be chalked up as two sides squabbling about their differences rather than painted as a harmful and cynical bargaining chip that should never be in play in the first place. People will just be more frustrated with government, which benefits the GOP to begin with. And then when Democrats finally bow to their consciences and approve the money, this tactic will just be used again.

I concede that I'm probably not as informed as some of the others here, but I just don't see how this will negatively affect Republicans long-term more than it already has. I'm not living in the US currently, so I'm sure you all can see things a bit more clearly, but man if I don't feel bummed out about it.

Click to shrink...

I'd be as pessimistic as you if Nancy and Chuck did not goad Trump into taking the shutdown as his own in live national tv a couple weeks back. But they played the orange thing and it galvanized to people that this is a Trump Shutdown.

 

[AnansiThePersona]

We did it reddit