Peter Lemiska

Yes, of course you already know who’s responsible for the government shutdown. As a lifelong Democrat, there’s no doubt in your mind that Trump and the Republicans caused the shutdown and all the hardships that come with it. If, on the other hand, your politics lean conservative, you’re certain the Schumer shutdown is just another cynical manipulation of hardworking Americans by Democrats.

The polls confirm it. Democrats blame Trump and his administration for the shutdown; Republicans blame the Democrat Party. One recent NBC Poll of registered voters indicates that 52% blame Trump and Republicans, while only 42% believe Democrats are to blame. That poll seems to support Democrat Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s assessment that “Every day gets better for us.”

But those who blame Republicans haven’t really been listening to the Democrats, who have candidly taken responsibility for the shutdown, or at least strongly suggested they want it to continue.

In discussing the shutdown, House Democrat Whip Katherine Clark openly admitted, “Of course there will be families that are going to suffer … but it is one of the few leverage times we have.”

Senator Bernie Sanders, who caucuses with the Democrats, also freely admitted, “We reopen the government, and we lose our leverage.”

And Democrat Senator Chris Coons, former chairman of the Senate Ethics Committee and a life-long politician worth somewhere between $6 and $13 million, talked about the shutdown in these terms: “Republicans control the House the Senate and the White House; frankly, this is our only moment of leverage and although a very unpleasant tool to use, it’s gotten us focused.”

It’s an interesting perspective, a telling choice of words. While they candidly admit to using the shutdown for leverage, they must also remember the reason they no longer control the House, the Senate, or the White House. It’s because the American people overwhelmingly rejected their agenda and elected Donald Trump in November 2024. Their shutdown isn’t hurting the Trump administration. It’s hurting the American people. If that’s not their deliberate intention, they sure do seem indifferent to the suffering it’s causing.

So if there was any confusion about the party most responsible for the shutdown, these Democrats cleared it up. They’re using the suffering caused by the shutdown to extort more unsustainable spending by Congress. That includes taxpayer-funded healthcare for the millions of illegal aliens they admitted into our country during Biden’s administration.

It may seem incomprehensible to rational people, but even while boasting about their cynical political strategy, Democrats continue to put the onus for the shutdown on Trump and the Republicans.

House Democrat Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar, among others, used this fallacious argument: Because Republicans control Congress and the White House, “They own this crisis. They own this shutdown.”

It was a slick deception by omission. When Democrats use that argument to blame Trump and the Republicans, they never mention the 60-vote threshold needed for passing legislation in the Senate. Because of the slim majority held by Senate Republicans, at least a handful of rational Democrats are needed to pass legislation. But with one or two exceptions, Democrats have established themselves as the obstructionist party, blocking all efforts to reopen the government.

That deception, though, was only a sample of what was to come. More recently, Democrat House Leader Hakeem Jeffries was interviewed on CNN about the shutdown. He made the outrageous claim that it’s Republicans who “want to weaponize hunger as part of their continuing effort to hurt the American people.” It seems that if Democrats are not telling half-truths, they’re telling complete lies.

Then again, these are the same people who orchestrated the Russian collusion hoax, and who for four years unanimously told us, “The border is secure.” They’re the same prevaricators who, throughout his administration, told us that Joe Biden was on the top of his game.

Fifty-two percent blame Trump and the Republicans for the shutdown? More than half the country is buying into the Democrat storyline?

Maybe they just have a high tolerance for duplicity. The rest of us find it hard to imagine why anyone still takes the Democrat Party seriously.