White House officials, at the start of the shutdown, were certain the Trump administration was better positioned to battle the left during a funding lapse.
In early October, several Trump administration officials had a friendly pool going of how long the shutdown would last. The White House, at the time, was confident Democrats would quickly fold.
No one guessed more than 10 days.
The account, relayed by a person close to the White House granted anonymity to discuss internal thinking, underscores just how much the administration miscalculated the Democrats’ will to keep the government closed even amid furloughs and imperiled social programs like food assistance.
As the shutdown heads into its second month, Donald Trump is increasingly frustrated. On Thursday, he called for Republicans to abolish the filibuster to reopen the government — a plea he knows is futile, but that demonstrates his growing irritation with Democrats, said a second person close to the White House.
They are betting on the misery of their own voters. And 50% of your voters still think all of this is super ok? Can someone ELI5 how that is possible without a mob forming because I really can’t follow anymore.
I remain as shocked as you. When Trump was the candidate in 2024 I figured Kamala’s victory was guaranteed. What I’ve come to realize in recent years is that USAmericans are fundamentally unwise. They really vote based on what they feel in the moment, hence why as the country gets worse, the elections keep flip-flopping.
Trump lost in 2020 because of Covid-19 and won in 2024 because of “grocery prices” and being the opposite major party to the current guy. The fact that he’s an insurrectionist rapist conman who pioneered division and destruction just doesn’t matter to them. The 2016-2020 term? The Pandemic he failed to maintain? Forgotten about. The embarrassments in the Republican-held congress? Most voters don’t even recall them. How any of us live with this is beyond me. It’s like being held hostage by self destructive parents.
There has been a concerted effort on the right to isolate a dumb down voters for years. There was a solid documentary a number of years back I think it was called outfoxed where they explained how after Nixon was defeated a group of right wingers swore they would create a system where that would never happen again. Surprisingly, they succeeded. Trump is the result of that. When he said he could walk out in a Times Square shoot someone and no one would care he was correct. They have insulated isolated and dumb down their voting base so much that he could do or say whatever he wants and get away with it because they think he’s winning and therefore They are winning. A comedian said it best recently: MAGA supporters are like the guy at the local strip club who thinks that the stripper is in love with them when in reality the stripper doesn’t give a fuck about you and just wants your money. That’s what this entire administration is. They’re going to rob this country blind completely destroy it and then walk away with billions of dollars while the rest of us have to suffer through this shit storm they created. But no one will care because Black people brown people poor people us anybody else than me is suffering just a little bit more than me and that’s good enough for them because they’ve been told to think like that and they’re okay accepting that.
I believe that comedian was Josh Johnson.
It was a fantastic set the compares the blind faith of MAGA for Dump to some dude in love with a stripper who only wants the money.
There’s way too many of his sets that include Dump for me to link the specific one, but he has weekly releases on TubeYou.
They feel like they’re winning as long as groups they don’t relate to are made to suffer even more.