By Jeffrey A. Rendall
It’s no longer speculation – Democrats use government shutdowns to purposely hurt people
It’s no secret – Democrats love government shutdowns.
Democrats also relish deflecting any and all responsibility for driving the work stoppages. In fact, Democrats have become so accustomed to saying (to establishment media members) that it’s not their fault that they’ve started looking as if they enjoy causing the discomfort associated with federal workers losing paychecks and livelihoods over miniscule political backbiting.
Only this time the sorrow includes ordinary Americans simply looking to board planes bound for their destination of choice. That’s it. Citizen A books a flight, grabs a few belongings and heads to the airport with time to spare because he or she figures on being run through a wringer while some stranger in uniform probes – sometimes literally – for weapons on their persons.
Being a TSA agent can’t be much fun. All they hear, day after day, are complaints from stressed-out otherwise normal people in a hurry, objecting to everything the personnel are mandated to do to scrutinize potential air travelers.
Now the TSA cogs are not even getting paid for performing their official duties. This is due to another Democrat filibuster.
In an article titled, “Democrats say they are not to blame for the pain Americans increasingly feel from DHS shutdown”, Kerry Picket reported at The Washington Times last week:
“Congressional Democrats’ more-than-30-day shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security has created chaos at airports and undermined anti-terrorism efforts, but they say it isn’t their fault and they are willing to keep the shutdown going indefinitely.
“Democratic lawmakers are pointing the finger at Republicans for the partial DHS shutdown. The shutdown began Feb. 14, when Democrats blocked DHS funding, demanding restrictions on federal immigration agents that would effectively end President Trump’s mass deportation efforts.
“Democrats still vow to block funding for DHS until the administration agrees to changes at U.S. Immigration and Customs and Enforcement. The campaign to rein in ICE follows the fatal shootings of two U.S. citizens who were protesting federal immigration enforcement officers in Minneapolis.”
Man, did the powers-that-be handling the DHS and ICE operations err when those two Democrat-inspired protester kooks were killed by agents a few months ago. We’ve heard the arguments about how the freaks threatened the lives of the agents and the officers were justified in using deadly force to protect themselves.
But we had to have known the left would make martyrs of the protester casualties and launch into a diatribe about “excessive force” and carrying guns and masks and unmarked police vehicles etc. etc. We also should’ve realized Democrats would revive the tactics because they did it a few years ago during the bogus George Floyd controversy and turbulent summer of 2020 when miscreants defied COVID lockdown orders to take to the streets for a little reprieve from government confinement.
“Defund the police!” the gutless whiners shouted. The slogan “A.C.A.B.” (All Cops Are Bastards) grew a life of its own. In Seattle and Portland, the scum took over entire city blocks and the Trump administration was powerless to prevent it. The hubbub led directly to the turmoil that ensued after the controversial – because of vote counting shenanigans — 2020 election and the January 6 protest that got out of hand at the U.S. Capitol.
Yet here they (Democrats) are, employing the very same legislative tactics to try and drum up public sympathy – again — for their insane demands. This isn’t the majority of Americans, mind you. It’s the contingent of regular liberal Facebook posters bent on causing trouble for trouble’s sake that has resulted in TSA agents not being paid and long, long lines at the security screening checkpoints at airports.
President Trump’s idea to have ICE agents fill-in as screeners at major airports has helped ease the congestion. Was Elon Musk’s offer to pay the TSA agents during the shutdown accepted? Both brilliant concepts, weren’t they?
Democrats complain it’s the Republicans causing the impasse because the GOPers won’t agree to endangering the lives of ICE personnel by exposing their faces to the degenerate horde. Unmasking? How about mandating Antifa take their masks off first?
In all of this, one can’t necessarily blame Democrats for savoring a good shutdown. Their voters, a sizeable percentage of whom are federal and other government employees, generally don’t look at leftist pols whenever the shutdown topic arises. Government workers have had the “It’s the Republicans’ fault” social media meme drilled into their heads over the course of decades, so much so that it’s intellectually impossible for them to assess the situation objectively and rationally.
Last fall’s record-length government shutdown was instituted because Senate Democrats filibustered a funding bill – a continuing resolution, no less, that basically would sustain funding the affected departments at current levels – because Republicans wouldn’t accede to demands to extend Obamacare subsidies that were set to expire under the already-passed One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
In other words, Democrats had no qualms with starving federal workers of pay just so they could maintain budget-busting handouts for their Obamacare constituents. Yet surveys showed voters held Republicans in lower esteem just because they drew a line in the sand somewhere on the budget beach and refused to give in to Democrats’ insistence that everyone be taken care of no matter how ridiculous it would’ve been to simply stay the course.
Democrats didn’t prevail in the Obamacare subsidies battle in 2025, but they appeared to win the political war. Democrats used the shutdown issue to motivate their already-agitated base to turn out and vote in last year’s off-year elections. There were other factors involved, but Democrats saw the shutdown as a means to win over low-information voters.
Virginians are finding out now what electing Democrats gets you.
To the extent that most Americans ever even notice a shutdown, it’s a virtual certainty that a majority of them will side with Democrats no matter what. It’s always easier to fault the politicians who say “no” no matter how much merit is in their fiscal prudence.
Armed with this knowledge, Democrats have no incentive to bend on issues because they surmise, in advance, that bringing attention to the matter works to their political benefit.
The portion of the public that cares about what Democrats think doesn’t delve deeply enough into the nitty gritty of the disputes to make an informed decision on where they stand. Democrats figure they can ride the anti-ICE wave they’ve drummed-up to steer public opinion, and they won’t be stopped until voters punish them for their duplicity.
Do you doubt it?
Democrats couldn’t care less that TSA and the Coast Guard and other DHS entities aren’t getting their paychecks. They also seem unconcerned that long lines are forming at airports, with travelers being forced to wait to be screened by federal agents who aren’t getting a dime for their service. Far be it from me to say, but the more TSA – and air passengers – suffer because of Democrats’ political gamesmanship, the better it is for them in regards to public relations.
Liberals conceded as much last fall, when a few loose-tongued Democrats admitted that prolonging the government shutdown was the only “leverage” they had in negotiations.
Picket’s article quoted Colorado Democrat Congressman Jason Crow pontificating about “gambling with people’s lives” due to ICE’s purported excesses, but he callously disregards the lives he and his party put at risk by denying TSA the ability to staff up to necessary levels.
Democrats choose the wellbeing of illegal alien criminals above the poor souls subjected to hours of waiting in crowded airports before being permitted to continue to their gates. Rational Americans must remember this disparate treatment when choosing between candidates. The question is…. Will they?
At the same time, Democrats say they would fund the “other” parts of the Department of Homeland Security if Republicans relented on their defense of ICE agents using masks (for self-protection) as well as to agree to agents wearing body cameras and being required to obtain judicial warrants for detentions.
Last week, the Trump administration signaled that it was okay on body cams, but it was a no-go on lowering the individual identity-hiding masks and compelling ICE to secure judicial warrants.
Do we really want to turn the subject over to the court system to resolve? Illegal aliens don’t have the same rights as citizens, including the disposition of warrants. Why is this even in dispute? Haven’t Democrat appointed judges already caused enough heartache for American national security providers?
Republican candidates must use this dispute and its real-world consequences to highlight the Democrats’ priorities in this year’s elections. If Democrats can’t be persuaded/goaded to listen to reason, they must feel the “pain” of being voted out of office. Only then will the ridiculous Democrat-forced government shutdowns be a thing of the past.
Jeff Rendall is editor and publisher of GolfintheUSA.com and has written about golf and politics for over a quarter of a century. A non-practicing attorney from California, he moved to the east coast three decades ago to pursue and combine his interests in all things American history and culture. Jeff has worked as an intern on Capitol Hill and in various capacities in grassroots organizing and conservative organizations and publications, including a nearly two-decade stint at ConservativeHQ.com. Column republishing or other inquiries: Rendall@msn.com .