TheĀ government shutdown, alreadyĀ the second-longest in history, with no end in sight, is quickly becoming a way for PresidentĀ Donald TrumpĀ to exercise new command over the government.
It wasnāt always this way. In fact, it all started with an attempt to tighten Washingtonās observance of federal law.
The modern phenomena of the U.S. government closing down services began in 1980 with a series of legal opinions from Attorney GeneralĀ Benjamin Civiletti, who was serving under Democratic PresidentĀ Jimmy Carter. Civiletti reached into theĀ Antideficiency ActĀ of 1870 to argue that the law wasĀ āplain and unambiguousāĀ in restricting the government from spending money once authority from Congress expires.
In this shutdown, however, the Republican president has used theĀ funding lapse to punish Democrats, tried toĀ lay off thousands of federal workersĀ and seized on the vacuum left by Congress to reconfigure the federal budget for his priorities.
āI canāt believe the Radical Left Democrats gave me this unprecedented opportunity,ā Trump posted on his social media platform at the outset of the shutdown.
The fact Trump and the GOP are trying so hard to convince us this is good for them should tell everyone everything they need to know.
Keep it shut down. Fuck it. ICE isnāt getting paid.