Posted on 10/25/2025 6:45:21 AM PDT by MtnClimber
We have no idea how the government shutdown, now in its fourth week and the second longest in history, will end, or how. But what is increasingly clear is how badly Democrats miscalculated on this one.
Consider three bits of news from this week:
First, the shutdown isn’t hurting Republicans.
In fact, a Reuters/Ipsos poll showed that President Donald Trump’s approval rating has ticked up by two points to 42% since the shutdown started. Other polls find it unchanged. The Real Clear Politics average shows Trump’s disapproval at 52%, which is down a point from the day before the shutdown started.
That same Reuters poll showed that the public is mostly split on who deserves blame for this shutdown, which is in stark contrast to past shutdowns, during which the Republicans were overwhelmingly blamed.
Second, the GOP isn’t cowering in fear. “I don’t know what there is to negotiate,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune said at a meeting with fellow senators at the White House this week. “Open up the government first.” He told reporters that Republicans are “a united team.”
They shouldn’t negotiate because they have the upper hand on messaging. To wit, the Democrats are holding the country hostage because they want to borrow and spend $1.5 trillion on health care for illegals, Obamacare for the well-to-do, and a host of woke programs the general public doesn’t want.
Third, and perhaps most stunning, is a Rasmussen Reports poll also out this week that finds that 51% of likely voters want the government to remain shut down, including 31% who strongly approve of keeping it that way. Only 41% said they disapprove of it continuing.
True, that’s because two-thirds of Democrats want the shutdown to continue because they hate Trump. But this is another example of Democrats’ cutting off their nose to spite their face.
In this case, keeping the government shut down gives the president the opportunity to permanently shrink it, a prospect that appears to delight Trump.
“We have Darth Vader,” Trump said, referring to the head of the Office of Management and Budget, Russ Vought. “They call him Darth Vader. I call him a fine man, but he’s cutting Democrat priorities, and they’re never going to get him back. … So, while they thought they were doing maybe bad, maybe indirectly they’re doing good.”
Trump has also managed to find ways to keep paying the military and law enforcement, which has caused Democrats to sputter about how he’s abusing his authority. Or, as Politico put it, “Lawmakers bemoan Trump’s latest power grab: Troop pay.”
Yes, the shutdown is disruptive, but the longer it goes on, the more people (who aren’t on the government’s payroll) will realize that their lives aren’t being affected by it one way or another. As we noted in this space at the start of the current shutdown (see “You Call This a Shutdown“), nearly 70% of the government is on autopilot – and so is unaffected by the shutdown – and much of the rest of what makes up the federal government is waste, fraud, and abuse.
The more people realize this, the weaker the Democrats’ hand becomes. Which, for Democrats – a party built on the notion that a big, powerful, expensive federal government is essential to our everyday lives – is the worst possible outcome.
Our hope is that Republicans maintain their resolve, because the longer the shutdown lasts, the more damage Democrats will suffer. And, in the meantime, Trump will have more time to fire federal workers and shut down federal programs.
For the first time in my life I’m affected by a shutdown.
I bought a two-way radio that requires a FCC license. But since they’re closed I can’t get the license. On the flip side, FCC isn’t working either so…
I believe the air traffic controllers are making an error by causing disruption. They are making the argument to privatize the ATC system like the UK and Canada.
I’m taking side bets that we’ll be $40,000,000,000,000 in the bloated federal debt this time next year.
short for donkeys....opposite of GOP elephants
Certainly not for everyone. I've got some farm business to take care of with the fed, and I can't do it as long as the government is shutdown.
They may have to get jobs? Boo hoo
Google the term donks, think you will laugh
Damn! I certainly hope not! We have to get this garbage under control!
It's NOT a "shutdown". It's a brown-out.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.