Anybody who’s been through a federal government “shutdown” in the past knows two things: 1) outside of Washington shutdowns go largely unfelt by the average American, and 2) the dying news media will cover the stall with hysteria, plus blame Republicans. Which is why it’s really interesting to see that this particular shutdown is not getting that same treatment by the media this time.
No, in fact, Politico, the most Washington-drama-obsessed news publication of them all on Thursday described the current shutdown as “lowkey.” The reason for the discrepancy is painfully obvious — Democrats are undeniably at fault for this one and for very, very indefensible reasons.
A typical shutdown goes like this: Republicans and Democrats have a fundamental disagreement on some funding issue, and the media immediately get to work amping up sob stories about seniors not getting their Social Security checks because Republicans oppose one thing or another. The point is to portray Republicans, with an undeserved reputation for opposing government spending, as sociopaths dead set on starving grandma.
That’s conspicuously not the case this time around. No, there is hardly a peep about the safety net and welfare programs running dry. To the extent that there is, it goes like this NBC News article this week on federal food “assistance,” in which the only partisan mention (aside from a brief quote from a Trump admin official) is of both Republicans and Democrats acknowledging the program is running out of money. The outlet showed little interest in finding out why.
We know why. Democrat leaders have declined to continue the government for one reason — to show their irrationally angry base that they’re “fighting” President Trump. They say on record that it’s actually because they won’t fund a budget that doesn’t include health insurance subsidies for low-income Americans, but that’s a farce, and even if it were the real reason, Republicans rightfully oppose it because it includes money for people in the country illegally.
But as to the real reason — “fighting” — it’s a bridge to nowhere. Republicans have no incentive to support yet more welfare subsidies, no less because so much of it would go to noncitizens, so Democrats are effectively throwing punches at a ghost. Shutting down the government was such an obviously bad strategy that Kamala Harris endorsed it.
Everyone knows this, including the media. That’s why this shutdown feels so “lowkey.”
Eddie Scarry is the D.C. columnist at The Federalist and author of "Traitors: The Democrat Party’s Collapse into Anti-American Filth."