The Shutdown's Even Darker Side

Project 2025 may do more damage

A New Yorker cartoon of mine

The shutdown of our government is all anyone is talking about. The Epstein Files cannot be released because the Congress is not doing its job, Speaker Johnson will not swear in the newly elected Congresswoman from Arizona, lawmaker Adelita Grijalva. Her vote on the release of the Epstein files will force him to release them.

The shutdown will affect people’s lives. Trump is up front about shutting down the government, he is using it as a tool to fire workers and potentially make other changes that are on the agenda of Russell Vought, the architect of Project 2025. As he does that, GOP members are trying to weaponize the shutdown for political gain against the Democrats. There have been nasty video memes being shared from both sides. What is going on?

From Politico: “This is the risk of shutting down the government and handing the keys to Russ Vought,” the Senate majority leader John Thune said in an exclusive interview Wednesday in the Capitol, adding that “there should have been an expectation” among Democrats that Vought’s Office of Management and Budget could broadly target government workers and programs in a shutdown. Pressed on whether Vought was muddying the waters, Thune said, “The only thing I would say about that is yes, and we don’t control what he’s going to do.”

From the NY Times: Trump is promising to cut Democratic agencies, and cut programs in blue states. He called the government shutdown an “unprecedented opportunity” to enact sweeping cuts to agencies as part of a pressure campaign that halted billions of dollars in funds to Democrat-led states and used federal websites and workers to wage political attacks.

Democrats aren’t budging from their demand for Republican concessions on health care and reversing cuts to Medicaid and other health programs that Trump made.

This is an absolute nightmare and I am unclear what can be done.

allinwithchris

A post shared by @allinwithchris

Reports are that House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries is going to ramp up his response to the shutdown, be louder and more aggressive. He has been criticized for his even tempered approach. I hope he does something.

I am also hearing rumblings from members of Congress that Trump should be declared incompetent. His speech to the generals earlier this week certainly sounded incoherent. But since the GOP controls the legislative branch, unless some Republicans step up, NOTHING WILL CHANGE until the Democrats win back the Congress in 2026.

Please stay informed and speak up if you can. This is a very dangerous moment in our democracy and we need to show our concern. I am actually headed to France this evening to go to a cartoon festival where my work is being shown in an exhibit. I look forward to seeing many old friends, political cartoonists from around the world. I will report what I see and hear, I am sure many will want to know what the heck is going on in our country.

I do, too.

Here’s a sweet video to end my post on today:

colbertlateshow

A post shared by @colbertlateshow

Thank you all for being here, I love this community and value you and your support. We have to stick together. Have a good Thursday if you can.