As we enter the third week of the Schumer Shutdown – which a surprising number of people are still trying to blame on Republicans, like they do with every other shutdown in history – I can't help but think of the difference between this and when the government shut down under President Barack Obama.
Then, as now, there wasn't an agreement, and the government shut down all non-essential operations.
At least in theory.
Back then, there was still enough money to pay people to go to open-air memorials and parks and put up barriers to block any entrance. The Lincoln Memorial doesn't need a staff, after all, but people were barred from visiting. The World War II memorial was shuttered as veterans who'd flown from across the nation to see it, the last chance for many of this dying generation, only to be turned away.
There was no reason for it besides making the shutdown hurt as much as possible.
President Trump could do that if he so desired. It's pretty clear that the blame is landing on Sen. Chuck Schumer, and making it hurt would certainly turn the heat up on Senate Democrats. He's not doing that, though.
Why?
Part of the reason is that it was always stupid.
After all, Obama is part of the same party that bolted 2x4s to basketball hoops and arrested people for surfing during the pandemic, even as fresh air was probably the best way to prevent getting sick in the first place.
Shutting down anything people might enjoy just seems to be part of Democrats' nature.
During Obama's shutdown, though, it was easy to see the motive. The idea of making it so no one could access anything they actually wanted was meant to make government look vital and to make Republicans look petty, which only worked because of a complicit media. People bought everything being shoveled, even as Obama held a temper tantrum with all the power of the executive branch.
On Saturday, the whole "No Kings" nonsense took place. It's funny how many of them label Trump a tyrant, yet don't seem to notice that he's not shutting everything down out of spite. He's not the one telling the Greatest Generation of veterans that they couldn't visit the memorial built in their honor, all because he's having a tiff with the other party over the budget.
Trump isn't trying to hurt the American people just to prove a point.
And they still expect the American people to believe he's the tyrant-in-chief, while their messiah overstepped his authority with every pen stroke? The same messiah who actively tried to make life difficult for the American people when he didn't get his way, whose answer to suggestions of finding a middle ground was "I won," by the way.
In two separate shutdowns, we can see a lot about the men who sit or sat in the Oval Office.
We can see that the "No Kings" bunch really do love them some kings, they just want their kings to hold the correct authoritarian positions. Nothing more, nothing less. They can spin it however they want, but the truth is there for anyone willing to look.
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