"Ever since Newt Gingrich brought the federal government to a halt for three weeks in 1995, "birthing a new era of American gridlock," as NPR later put it, the shutdown has been one of the capital's recurring set pieces. Republicans, as the official anti-government party going back to the Reagan era, have usually been blamed. Maybe that's why Democrats are charging ahead this time. Party leaders on Capitol Hill are calling the partial closure of the government that began at midnight on Wednesday"
"This capitulation was initially portrayed as a triumph for the new Democratic majority under House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and a stinging defeat for Trump, with headlines such as "Trump Relents on Wall" ( Politico), "Trump Concedes" (CNN), and "Trump Is Down, but Not Out" (New York Post)-but it was not. It was, in fact, a moment of revelation in which he realized that he could do just about anything he wanted."
Newt Gingrich's 1995 shutdown initiated recurring government closures in Washington, often blamed on Republicans. Democrats now frame the recent partial closure as "the Trump shutdown," aiming to protect expiring health-care subsidies and to cast responsibility on the G.O.P. With Republicans controlling the White House and both congressional chambers, polls show the public leaning toward blaming Republicans. The thirty-five-day 2018–2019 shutdown ended with a government reopening without promised wall funding, yet the president later obtained the border-wall money, demonstrating a presidential ability to sidestep congressional constraints and erode checks and balances.
Read at The New Yorker
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