Why This Shutdown May Be Different

"Democrats are continuing to use their leverage in the federal-funding process to confront Republicans. Meanwhile, the threat of layoffs looms for many government workers. Panelists on Washington Week With The Atlantic joined last night to discuss how long the government shutdown could last and more."

"This shutdown is not necessarily something that Donald Trump would have chosen, "but he likes a fight," Ashley Parker, a staff writer for The Atlantic, said last night. "He thinks-publicly, gleefully-that it benefits him and Republicans politically." That, however, "still remains to be seen," Parker argued."

"The president is also using the shutdown as an "opportunity for the deconstruction of the administrative state," Parker continued. But, she added, "there's some understanding within his orbit that there might be some blowback if they were actually to do that.""

Democrats are using leverage in the federal-funding process to press Republicans, contributing to a standoff that risks prolonging a government shutdown. Many government workers face the prospect of layoffs as funding lapses and negotiations stall. The president did not necessarily seek this shutdown but embraces confrontations and believes they may yield political benefits for himself and his party, though the outcome is uncertain. The shutdown is being framed as an opportunity to dismantle parts of the administrative state, but there is awareness within his circle that aggressive moves could provoke political blowback.

Read at The Atlantic