THE CASH COMMENTARY FOR OCTOBER 16, 2025

                                                                   CASH MICHAELS

LESSONS FROM THE SHUTDOWN

by Cash Michaels

For the second time, I’m beginning this column in the midst of the federal shutdown, this time on Oct. 10th, not knowing whether or not it will be over with by the time you read this. I’m pretty sure it won’t be.

That’s important because Oct. 15th is supposed to be payday for our troops and other federal workers. That will be my marker for ending this week’s commentary, whether or not our troops AND other federal workers got paid, and if not, why not. 

But today, Friday, Oct. 10th, seems like the perfect time to begin to offer some perspective on exactly who did what during this shutdown so far, and whether they did it well or did it lousy. Why is knowing any of this important? Because in my opinion, the manner in which this whole episode has been handled and mishandled, teaches us something about where our country is today, and where it will be tomorrow if we don’t pay attention.

So on Day 10 of the federal shutdown, let’s get started with our score card. 

As the shutdown days lead up to Day 15, I’ll fill-in the pertinent details in each category to accurately portray how each player behaved, why, and what role they played in either prolonging the shutdown, or bringing it to an end.

To me, the answers to those questions may determine what party takes over Congress in the 2026 midterm elections. That’s how important this shutdown is. Voters won’t forget!

And since context can be everything, then let’s start this by saying that on Day 10, the country is NOT in a good mood, with rising costs of living, Washington, D.C. seemingly out of control, and definitely a growing sense that America is NOT changing for the better. 

THE REPUBLICANS

First of all, what have we learned from the behavior of the Republican Party during this shutdown? Simple - how NOT to act when you’re being out-flanked, outplayed and outmaneuvered. GOP congressional leaders are acting desperate right now, because they are. They think that because their MAGA voters were dumb enough to make them the majority in the U.S. House and Senate, that those voters will follow them anywhere. But Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (MTG), that certified MAGA-nut from Georgia, has proven that at some point, you have to drop the pretense, and stand with the truth - shutting down the federal government just because you want to give big tax breaks to the very rich at the expense of vital health care access for everyone else in this country is a bad idea, simply because there’s no real explanation for it.

And there’s also little explanation for Republican Congressional leadership bending over and taking it from Donald Trump. He only has as much power as Republicans give him. He has clearly shown that he has no respect for them, or respect for the fact that Congress is supposed to be a co-equal branch of government.

Congressional Republicans are in deep, deep trouble over the shutdown in large part because they’ve allowed Donald Trump to put them there, and then walk away leaving them with the big bag of blame. They have gone too far out on the limb for him, and with him on this and many other important issues, with the notorious Jeffrey Epstein files being perhaps the biggest.

The MAGA base knows full well that convicted child sex trafficker Epstein was best buds with their leader and president, Donald Trump, and despite his denials to the contrary, they also know that something is in those files that he doesn’t want the world to see.

And that’s one of the main reasons why Republican House Speaker Mike “MAGA Mouse” Johnson won’t reconvene the House after almost a month of paid vacation (the House hasn’t been in session since Sept. 19th. This Sunday will be October 19th). Because of a looming discharge petition vote to release the Epstein files, which would leave Johnson powerless to stop it, he has to keep the House out of session.

Let’s be clear - Republicans hate Obamacare and have been trying to kill it for 16 years, but can’t do it. They’ve tried convincing folks that it’s a failure, but it’s more popular than ever, and folks aren’t buying that Republicans have something better to replace it with - not after 16 years.

So Democrats have them by the short hairs on this one, and the American people know it!

Republicans have also considered doing away with the 60-vote Senate filibuster, which would allow them to end the shutdown without the Democrats. If they had any guts, that’s a trigger they should pull, except that they know what will happen when the Democrats take back the Senate, so they don’t dare touch it now.

This shutdown has exposed a lot of the fundamental weaknesses of the Republican Party, and no matter how much they continue to falsely beat their collective chests in their gambit, they already have “BIG LOSERS” painted all over their faces. On Day 13, “MAGA Mouse” Johnson was trying to continue to sound like a clown in control, but no dice. He warned that this federal shutdown could be "the longest in U.S. history."

From where I come from, we call that MAGA Mouse bluff a “woof ticket”  because it’s all bark and no bite. Even MTG openly called Johnson and all other GOP males in the party “weak” for uttering such toothless nonsense. 

On Day 13, Johnson’s master, Trump, was over in Israel and Egypt soaking up applause for the successful ceasefire deal that freed 20 Israelis hostages and stopped, for now, the incessant bombing of Gaza.

The message couldn’t have been clearer - when there’s glory to be gotten, there’s only room for one on the big stage. And Republicans by now, know who that is.

The Lesson- disagree with Democrats and lick the president’s boots all you want, but when it comes to the welfare and well-being of the poor suckers who put you into office, always do what’s right, because one day, it will be time to count receipts for what you have, and have not done, Republicans.

And that day may already be here for the Republican Party if they don’t get off the stick, and work with Democrats to end this shutdown now! 

DONALD TRUMP

The man is nothing but a user and a scammer. So if he sees somebody else with something he wants, and feels that he has to have, like power, he will do whatever is necessary to film-flam them out of it for his own designs. 

That is exactly what he’s done, and continues to do to the Republican Party and its voters.

And then, because he is who he is (as opposed to what he really is), Trump scares these people into doing his bidding, keeping them in line, and having them pay the price for such blind obedience.

If you’re paying even the slightest attention, that’s what happening now during the federal shutdown. The Republican Party is catching all of the hell, but Trump is the one actually throwing most of the partisan bricks. Why? Because he believes no one can touch him as long as he remains president. That’s another reason why he’s amassing so much power and ignoring the courts every chance he gets.

You’ve heard of the rule of law? Well Trump is master of the rule of flaws. He’s going to test established social and political norms until they break, a’la sending federal troops to major American cities under the guise of maintaining law and order. Or having his ICE agents grab innocent people and their children out of their homes in contradiction to their constitutional rights.

All of that brings us back to the federal shutdown, where Trump is labeling anything and everything he considers bad as “Democrat,” and issues threats of firing workers from “Democrat agencies,” or Democrats in Congress being responsible for shutting down the government, or not paying furloughed workers.

As The Atlantic reported:

With the government shutdown well into its second week, President Donald Trump’s strategy to break Senate Democrats has become clear: Maximize the pain of the closure to force them into retreat. His administration is firing civil servants en masse, threatening to withhold back pay from furloughed federal employees, and canceling billions of dollars in funding for states that voted for his opponent last year.

Of course, none of this would be complete from Trump without a healthy dose of bald-faced lying, which he believes a majority of Americans are falling for.

Again, another case of Trump joining the Republicans in assuming that the poor suckers who put them in charge of the White House, the U.S. House and the U.S. Senate are going to remain dumb suckers, especially when the common sense issues of this shutdown begin to bite them and their families. With health care - an issue Trump and the Republicans have never really mastered - front and center, they are finding out that lying about stuff really has a short shelf-life when it comes to what really counts to most Americans.

By now you know that since I started this week’s commentary, Trump has buckled under mounting pressure, and ordered Secretary of War Pete Hegeseth to use “all available funds” to pay our troops by Oct. 15th, which, no surprise, may not even be legal.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has also reversed itself in laying off hundreds of vital CDC staffers, saying now that they got “incorrect notifications.”

All of that leaves Congressional Republicans looking silly, and has weakened their argument for standing strong on the shutdown. They’ve been undermined by their own leader!

Trump sure knows how to pick the perfect chumps!

The Lesson - As the old adage goes, when you lie down with dogs, you wakeup with fleas. So when you do Donald Trump’s bidding, you’ll end up doing something that is supposed to be anatomically impossible - screwing yourself! Republicans are learning that everyday of this shutdown. 

THE DEMOCRATS

After the fateful 2024 presidential election. Many of us were of the opinion that the Democrats had severely lost most, if not virtually all of their credibility. What did they stand for? Who did they stand for? Did they even remember how to win an election anymore?

What added insult to injury was that Democrats had once again lost to Donald Trump, meaning that whatever powerlessness they experienced going against him when they were in leadership, would be now be made worse that he was back in power and stronger.

There was just no way to truly beat this guy, especially given that he now owns the White House, House, Senate and the Supreme Court - every avenue of power you could imagine.

Democrats indeed looked like a minority of chumps for a while there, until the federal shutdown happened, and Trump and the Republicans began overplaying their hand. For some unknown reason (stupidity, perhaps) Trump and his Republicans began acting like they were not the ones in charge of the government, and started blaming Democrats for the shutdown. But not only did House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and his team saddle-up tough for the ensuing messaging war, but Democrats did their homework, and determined that health care, and specifically the Obamacare tax credit subsidies paid for by the federal government so that people with private insurance could afford the monthly premiums, would and could be a prime area of focus during the shutdown.

Republicans had the power to fix the looming problem of affordability, but wouldn’t because then they would have to screwup Trump’s massive tax cuts for the rich which they provided by gutting hundreds of billions in healthcare for regular people.

Hakeem and the Dems kept their message plain about Trump and his Republicans being willing to crash the government just to screw their voters, and their message was so effective, even Marjorie Taylor Greene had to sing along.

So now the Democrats are in a strong position during the shutdown, maneuvering Trump and his Republicans into unforced errors like firing thousands of federal employees, taking glee in posting that many furloughed workers wouldn’t be paid; refusing to call the House back into session over the Epstein files.

And Senate Democrats, who are key to much of this, are holding firm by not breaking the filibuster. That means Leader Chuck Schumer still has some juice in him. They should remain united.

I don’t know if Dems are going to maintain their strong position in the messaging war (they should), but this much I do know - forcing Republicans to at first say out loud that they weren’t paying the troops (which then forced Trump to break down and order Pete Hegseth to use “all available funds” in the Dept. of War to indeed ante up on time), along with allowing air traffic controllers to walk off the job, clearly shows who’s responsible for this mess.

Democrats don’t have the power to fix these catastrophes. Trump and his Republicans do, and the American people know it! Dems, make sure you keep reminding us!

The Lesson - Stay on message, don’t talk down to the American people; always be seen fighting for ALL of us, even the ones who didn’t vote for you; and consistently stand strong against a sorry tyrant who is the president.

                                                    DAY 15

        Well, we've reached Day 15, and the federal shutdown, like the pain in my back, persists. The Senate took an eighth vote last night in hopes that Democrats would buckle, but naturally nothing happened, even after Republicans began tastelessly blaming Dem Leader Chuck Schumer for "planes ready to fall out of the sky," or getting pressure from the left-wing of his party.

        Meanwhile, the House did not reconvene as Speaker "MAGA Mouse" Johnson originally said it would. The means that on October 19th - this Sunday - the U.S. House of Representatives will have been closed for business for the past month.

        At least our troops have been presumably paid as ordered by now, though thousands of other federal workers have either been fired, or remain furloughed.

        As for Donald Trump...he's back from the Middle East, already blowing up more alleged drug boats, promising to make Hamas drop their weapons in accord with the Israeli ceasefire deal, and complaining about his near bald-looking Time Magazine cover.

        Today the Washington Post reported Trump is "all but ignoring" the shutdown "for parts of the government" he favors. More federal worker layoffs are coming for those parts of the government he does not care for, and he's grabbing more power from Congress to do whatever he wants, primarily because they give it to him.

         Also, a federal judge in San Francisco temporarily blocked Trump's firings, calling them "unlawful," saying that they have "a human cost," and are not being thought through.

         Trust me, Your Honor, Trump has "thought this through." He wants to inflict the pain.

         How much longer the shutdown will continue, no one knows, but one thing I do know is that the American people deserve better from their elected leadership. I pray the millions who are expected to hit the streets for the second national "No Kings" march and rallies this weekend make that clear!

           I sincerely wish them, and the rest of us, peaceful GODspeed! 

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THE CASH STUFF FOR OCTOBER 16, 2025

 

                                                           REP. CECIL BROCKMAN

WHAT’S NEXT IN THE REP.

CECIL BROCKMAN CASE?

By Cash Michaels

Contributing writer

Guilford County State Rep. Cecil Brockman is next expected in Superior  Court on November 13th to face charges of indecent liberties with a minor under the age of 16 (two counts) and two counts of statutory rape.

The six-term High Point Democrat, who has served in the NC House since 2015, was arrested last week by agents with the State Bureau of Investigation after it was determined that he allegedly had been having sexual relations with a 15-year-old teenager he met last May.

Brockman, 41, was arraigned in a Greensboro courtroom last Friday afternoon by virtual remote transmission from a nearby hospital after reportedly falling ill with a “medical emergency” Thursday.

Bail was set at $1,050,000. Brockman faces a maximum sentence of  life in prison without parole if convicted.

If released on bond, Brockman will not be allowed to leave the state, or have any contact with his alleged juvenile victim. In fact, according to court records, Rep. Brockman has already tried to use his legislative status “…to contact the victim in this case and …[attempted] to locate the juvenile in the hospital.”

According to electronic evidence presented in court by Guilford County District Attorney Avery Crump , Rep. Brockman met the alleged juvenile victim by dating app online last May, right before the alleged minor victim turned 15 the following month in June.

Brockman allegedly went to Atlanta to live with the minor, and both then moved to High Point in August.

The alleged relationship was unknown until, on October 5th, Brockman reportedly called 911 saying that the teenager had gone missing, and he was trying to track the child via a tracking app known as Life360. The Davidson County Sheriff’s Dept. initially responded, but eventually contacted the High Point Police, which ultimately got the SBI involved because Brockman was a state representative.

It was after the alleged juvenile victim was finally located, and the teen’s cellphone was recovered and examined, that 14 sexually explicit videos of “certain acts” allegedly involving Rep. Brockman, were discovered.

The alleged acts were reportedly from August 15th, according to arrest warrants.

The High Point Democrat was arrested on October 8th, three days later. The investigation is ongoing, with additional charges possible, according to D.A. Crump.

Though represented by appointed council at the arraignment, Rep. Brockman said he would ultimately hire his own defense attorney.

He has also claimed to have mental health problems in the past, causing him to miss several days at the NC. General Assembly.

Legislatively, Rep. Brockman is also known to vote with the Republican majority in the state House on several issues, defending his votes by saying he’s looking out for his community.

But doing so hasn’t made him popular with his fellow Democrats, who are now, in light of the serious criminal allegations against him, are uniformly calling for him to step down from office even before he gets a trial.

“While the legal process has yet to play out, it’s clear he cannot effectively serve his constituents and should resign immediately,” Gov. Josh Stein said in a statement last week.

The state House’s Democratic leader, Minority Leader Rep. Robert Reives, agreed.

“[I]t has become clear that he is unable to continue serving in the House of Representatives,” said Reives in a statement Thursday. “Rep. Brockman must resign immediately.”

Those calls for Brockman to step down were also echoed by NC Democratic Party Chair Anderson Clayton and Republican House Speaker Destin Hall.

If Brockman refuses to relinquish his seat in the NC House, that body can vote to have him removed, a rare occurrence since New Hanover County Rep. Thomas Wright was removed from office several years ago in a financial scandal.

In Brockman’s case, the Guilford County Democratic Party would select a replacement for the remainder of his term, and Gov. Stein would endorse it.

Given that Rep. Brockman crossed state lines to allegedly sexually engage with a minor, might he face federal charges? That remains to be seen, based on the evidence, but normally, a person who crosses state lines for the purpose of sexually engaging with a minor is considered to be breaking federal law.  

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BLACK UNEMPLOYMENT IS UP,

THANKS TO TRUMP ANTI-DEI

POLICIES

By Cash Michaels

Contributing writer

Remember a year ago, when then-Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump was running for re-election, he dismissively touted how undocumented immigrants were allegedly endangering “black jobs?”

Turns out now that Trump has been re-elected, it’s not undocumented immigrants that are the root cause for black unemployment.

        He is.

According to a story last week in The NY Times, “Joblessness for black workers is rising again, two years after reaching a record low.” 

And what does The Times story attribute the rise in black unemployment to? “…[T]he Trump Administration’s assault on diversity programs and cuts to the federal work force could make it even more difficult for Black workers to recover when conditions improve.”

President Trump has been back in office since January 20th, over eight months. But, according to The NY Times, “African American unemployment rate has surged over the past four months, from 6 to 7.5 percent, while the rate for white people ticked down slightly to 3.7 percent. On top of a slowing economy, the White House’s actions have disproportionately harmed black workers, economists said.”

Because Trump enjoyed a strong economy during his first term starting in 2017, African-American unemployment was low. But in 2019, the Covid-19 pandemic hit, and many black workers lost their in-person jobs.

It wasn’t until “generous public subsidies …cushioned the blow” later on that black employment surged, The Times story notes. Thus by 2023, in the midst of the Biden Administration, black unemployment was as low as 4.8 percent, with wages rising at their fastest rate since the 1990s, and, The Times story adds, "...the Black median household wealth reached the highest level on record.”

But once the pandemic-era subsidies ended in 2024, hiring slowed. Inflation began to hit black low-wage earners hard. In fact, per The Times, “Black households were the only racial group last year in which median income fell and the poverty rate rose…,” according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

A close look at the numbers shows a significant number of job losses “concentrated among black women working in professional services such as human resources," the Times story reported. Plus, a hiring freeze and mass layoffs in the federal work force, which have continued during the government shutdown and now exceed 200,000 have also fallen disproportionately on Black workers.

That federal hiring freeze effectively closed the door to entry-level positions for young people.

And now the Trump Administration’s war against DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) policies, and forcing private industry and the public sector to reverse its DEI policies as well, has made it more difficult for African-Americans to get employment in both areas. Before Trump, and since the tragic police murder of George Floyd, private and public sectors made sure that job candidates of color were among the first to be interviewed. But that effort has now been stopped.

With thousands of federal workers, many of whom are black, having been fired from various federal agencies, in addition to what’s happening now during the federal government shutdown, black unemployment has been steadily rising in the recent weeks.

The Dept. of Labor has also proposed a rollback of minimum-wage and overtime protections for domestic workers, who are usually black or Hispanic.

Here in North Carolina, according to the NC Dept. of Commerce Labor and Economic Analysis numbers, the current unemployment rate for blacks is 6.8%, compared to Hispanics at 3.0%, and whites at 2.8%..

In 2022, the black unemployment rate was more than double that of whites and Hispanics.

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THE NEW CASH COMMENTARY FOR OCT. 9, 2025

 

                                                                 CASH MICHAELS

GAME OF CHICKEN…POOP!

by Cash Michaels

As I begin this commentary shortly after the start of the current infamous federal government shutdown, nine months into Trump’s second presidency, there is little doubt in my mind that it will not be over by the time you read this at least a week later. Because Republicans (who are in charge of the White House, House and Senate) and Democrats (who are the heretofore sorry, powerless minority in Congress) can’t come to a mutual agreement on what’s known as a “CR” (continuing resolution) to keep the government funded and running, important federal government operations have either been slowed down or shutdown. 

To add insult to injury, thousands of innocent federal employees stand to lose their jobs behind this mess, and to add even more insult and injury, many may not even get paid for the work they've done, or work they were supposed to do.

The sticking issue here is health care, and Democrats say fix what’s broken now because time is running out. 

Republicans say we’ve got plenty of time to talk about fixing health insurance stuff, just reopen the government first by voting with us.

Democrats’ response - You must think we’re chumps! You fix now, then you open now!

Pres. Trump is beyond gleeful about all of this because, as far as he’s concerned, this gives him a chance to permanently reduce the size of the federal government, and paint his Democratic opponents (you know, some of the people he ‘hates” the most) as the bad guys. All they have to do is give him what he wants, or else, he assumes, Dems will carry most of the political blame for whatever damage the shutdown causes.

And make no mistake, as we begin this commentary on Friday, Oct. 3rd, hundreds of thousands of federal employees have either been furloughed or threatened with dismissal.

The rest who still have a job, and remain on the job, are not being paid to do their job.

Either way, hardworking fellow American federal workers with families are being used as pawns in this unmitigated pissing contest between Trump and the Democratic leadership in the House and Senate (where at least three Senate Democrats have already caved in to Republican demands to go along to get along. One Democrat-leaning independent senator is thinking about switching back). 

Nebraska Republican Congressman Mike Flood apparently did not get the memo to keep up the "act of concern" for impacted federal workers. He recently told CNN, “…[W]e have a bloated government. It makes sense to make some cuts. But until I see the exact plan, it‘s going to be hard to say how it will affect America or Nebraska.”

The “exact plan” is to act like you care, Mike, act like you care!

Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Voight, a chief architect of the cold-blooded Project 2025, says he’s withholding billions in funding already approved for projects in at least 16 Democratic blue states like New York and Illinois to punish them for the shutdown standoff and not voting for Trump in the last election.

By now you’re probably sick of hearing both sides, especially if you’re reading this well past Day 3. Trump and the Republicans are pulling out all stops to blame the Democrats for any resulting human carnage from all of this mess, even though they're the ones pulling the strings.

And Democrats, amazingly, have found some backbone to stand up to Trump and his GOP minions for once, demanding the GOP rollback the billions of dollars in Medicaid cuts that were passed in Trump’s “big, beautiful bill,” in addition to cutting billions more in Obamacare tax credit subsidies, just to give the rich big, permanent tax breaks. 

It’s a sight to see and hear Democrats standing strong.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries has even challenged Speaker Mike Johnson to a nationally televised primetime debate on the shutdown. Of course Speaker “MAGA Mouse” (my pet name for such a spineless Trump sycophant) said no, but again, Democrats are being the aggressors here, which is good.

Yes, Republicans in either the U.S. House or Senate cannot reopen the government unless they get a certain number of Democratic votes (the Senate Republicans need a 60-vote threshold to overcome a filibuster, unless they change the rule), even with a clear majority in the Senate, and razor-thin majority in the House. So they have to agree to something Democrats like in order to end the shutdown. 

Or Dems could (but better not) cave to Republican demands to vote with them to reopen the government, thus throwing away whatever leverage they’ve earned thus far.

Republicans say since Dems won’t give them the requisite number of “yes” votes needed, any collateral damage from the shutdown is on them.

“We want to protect hardworking federal workers,” insists Speaker MAGA Mouse. “Democrats are the ones who have decided to inflict the pain.”

        Someone who lies like this deserves to be Trump's chump.

Why won’t Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and his Senate Democrats give Trump and the Republicans what they want to reopen the government?

They say there will be no funding deal until Republicans vote immediately to extend enhanced tax credit subsidies for Obamacare, which are set to expire at the end of the year without congressional action. Open enrollment actually begins  November 1st, with renewal notices already in the mail, thus the urgency.

Without those subsidies, millions of Americans will find themselves paying hundreds of dollars, if not thousands more per month, Democrats charge. 

On “X” recently, Senator Raphael Warnock (D-GA), a man I’ve come to respect, clearly documented the problem.

He displayed the health insurance costs for a 65-year-old man with Obamacare in Georgia receiving government subsidies in 2025 versus what his health insurance costs are projected to be without those tax credit subsidies in 2026.

For that 65-year-old with an Anthem Blue Cross-Blue Shield Bronze HMO plan now - $307.20 per month. 

What that same Anthem Blue Cross - Blue Shield Bronze HMO plan for that 65-year-old man will cost once Republicans are allowed to eliminate the government subsidies - $964.30 per month.

“This is s crisis. We cannot wait to fix this,” Sen. Warnock warns, and he gave several other examples documenting what Americans will face if GOP cuts to health care are allowed to go through. 

“Let’s be clear: I don’t want a government shutdown,” Sen. Warnock continued. “But I won’t accept raising the already high costs of health care for millions of Americans, closing hospitals, and making people sicker.”

Meanwhile, Republicans counter the main reason Democrats are dragging their feet on a deal to reopen the government is because they want free government sponsored healthcare for “illegal aliens,” which is a brazen lie!

A number of news organizations have already debunked this unsupported malarkey, and found it wanting. This from CNN:

What we’ve increasingly seen in the Trump-era GOP is a more shameless and almost unflinching willingness to say whatever is most advantageous in the moment, no matter if it misleads Americans about the very real issues in an important debate.

Top Republicans like J.D. Vance, Speaker Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune are certainly guilty of this.

Dems call B.S. on the false Republican claim because, by law, undocumented immigrants are ineligible to get free government sponsored healthcare, and Democrats aren’t seeking to change that law. Republicans, they charge, are just trying to scare people.

And so both sides are in this rhetorical pitch battle, and are playing a very costly game of chicken…poop.

Who will win? Who should win? Well now that I’ve given you all of the pertinent facts as best as I understand them, the rest of this commentary is pure opinion. How could I go wrong?

First, in my opinion, Trump and the Republicans are congenital liars every day, hour, minute and second they breathe, so any time they can grab more power, especially at the Democrats’ expense, they’ll do it, and not give one whip of a whistler’s damn who they hurt in the process.

A recent Washington Post poll showed that 47% of American hold Republicans responsible for the shutdown. 30% blame Democrats, and 23% are just not sure.

So the American people, thus far, aren’t falling for the GOP okee-doak.

Let’s be clear - who’s giving the orders here? Who’s taking the orders like a bunch of scared rabbits?

Who has threatened to fire federal workers en masse and touted that now’s his chance to eliminate several so-called “Democrat agencies" without paying anybody?

There’s only one man who thinks like this, and talks like this, and he damn sure is NOT a Democrat.

Who has the temerity to send out racist Mexican sombrero and mustache memes of Democrat leaders while serious discussions about keeping the government should be going on?

Who ordered Dept. of Education employee nonpartisan out-of-office emails to broadcast anti-Democratic Party messages about the shutdown be sent out, which is illegal?

And who has been salivating at the very thought of destroying Obamacare since his first term as president, but neither he nor his Republican cohorts could ever get the job done?

If you answered Donald Trump to all of the above questions, congratulations, ‘cause you’re paying attention, probably more than most citizens.

To be point blank, Democrats simply have to stand up to Trump and company on this one. If they don’t display some backbone here, they will have signed their own political death warrant for generations to come.

Dems can’t be seen or heard giving in to the infestation that is destroying our democracy. They MUST show the they’re willing to go to the mat for what matters! Dedicated federal workers are losing their jobs, important government programs are being cut. It’s a high and horrible price to pay for what’s going on, but those are the cards on the table, and Democrats did not put them there.

This is what Trump wants, and Democrats are the only ones in a position to stop him, especially with the 2026 midterm elections just around the corner.

For his part, Trump feels he has nothing to lose as long as he can sucker Republicans in Congress to do his bidding. In fact, he’s not saying a whole lot so that Republicans in Congress are left holding the bag. What a coward-in-chief!

“When there’s significant upside, he doesn’t care about downside,” one Trump ally told CNN about the president. “And he doesn’t really give a damn about criticism.”

But I’ve always wondered about something. We’re told that the reason why Trump holds sway over congressional Republicans is because he can primary anyone in the party who isn’t obedient.

The part that doesn’t make sense to me is, there are 220 Republicans in the House, and 53 Republicans in the U.S. Senate. If every one of them, or even most of them in both chambers, grew a pair and stood up to him, Trump couldn’t possibly sponsor primary opposition against all of them. If he did, it’s even odds that Republicans would lose the 2026 midterms which would do him no good.

Besides, many of the people who would suffer the most because of the escalated cost of Obamacare health insurance premiums live in Red states, so if their current representatives stood up for them now and deal in good faith with Democrats to keep those costs from rising, in addition to keeping rural hospitals open and Medicaid from being drastically cut, I think the voters in their states would reward Republicans for that act of courage.

According to NBC News, more than 22 million Americans get the Obamacare tax subsidies. And a poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) just before the shutdown revealed the 59% of Republicans and 57% of MAGA supporters want those subsidies extended by Congress.

In that same poll, 4 in 10 Americans with an Obamacare plan said they would go without insurance if their monthly premiums doubled.

Even Trump’s own pollster, Tony Fabrizio, has warned Republicans that they’re playing with electoral fire here, fire that could burn down the 2026 midterm elections for them.

So this isn’t so one-sided out in the hinterland, giving the GOP an opportunity to support their base, instead of Trump.

And once Republicans in Congress stand up to Donald Trump, he would be virtually powerless to get away with much else.

But you see, that would require a spine, and the Republican Party has proven that isn’t about to grow one now, or in the future. So that just leaves us where we are - a federal government shutdown unless Democrats give in.

Oh, please don’t misunderstand me. I’m not at all saying that Democrats should give in. But as long as Republicans continue to play clueless puppy dogs to their master, Donald Trump, this shutdown is going to going on, and on, and on.

This mess is starting to hurt the economy. Federal workers, especially the military, aren’t getting paychecks to spend in their local communities. The Bureau of Labor statistics can’t issue an unemployment report for the previous month, so the Federal Reserve will have a hard time determining accurate interest rates. The financial markets are watching gobsmacked for what will happen next.

Air traffic controllers at airports across the country are not reporting for work because they’re not getting paid, causing delays. Thousands of federal contract workers are not only not being paid, but, unlike furloughed federal employees, are not entitled to any back pay once the shutdown is over.

And millions of mothers and their children may lose WIC benefits next week, meaning they lose food.

We’re playing with fire here on all fronts, folks. We can’t have this many balls in the air at once without dropping at least one of them, and someone seriously getting hurt!

Our legislative leaders are talking to everybody else except each other. 

Hell, the U.S. House wasn’t even in session this week, not set to return until Oct. 14th. And there's no guarantee it will return then. Plus, the Senate has voted down every proposal that’s come before it so far to reopen the government, seven times and counting.

Most federal employees were normally scheduled to get their paychecks on Oct. 15th if it wasn’t for this mess. Those checks would be cut by the 13th. Now, the only federal folks getting paychecks will be members of Congress, who obviously don’t deserve them. Word is Republicans hope Democrats will give up and give in by the 15th. 

That’s not going to happen.

And now there’s reporting on a White House memo that questions whether furloughed federal workers actually have to be given back pay after the shutdown is over. Trump's goons are seriously playing with ignoring a law that Trump himself signed during his first term to ensure that such a thing doesn't happen. First Republicans play with innocent people, then punish them because they can.

        Folks forget, Donald Trump is infamous for having people work for him, like the workers who built his casino in New Jersey or Trump Tower in Manhattan many years ago, and not paying them, not caring a damn about any resulting lawsuits. We're seeing that again.

        With Trump, the cruelty never stops.

        Fortunately, tough Democrats like North Carolina's own Rep. Alma Adams of Charlotte aren't standing for it!

        “Federal law is clear—all furloughed federal employees receive backpay once the government shutdown ends. This law was signed by President Trump in 2019, and it should worry our country that the president can’t remember the policies he helped create,” said Congresswoman Adams. “Rather than trying to hold our federal workers hostage, there’s a simple solution to end the government shutdown. Speaker Mike Johnson needs to end House Republicans’ paid vacation, return to Washington, and meet Democrats at the bargaining table so we can pass a bipartisan bill that reopens the government and protects affordable healthcare for everyone.”

We began all of this in the chicken poop stage, folks! But now, we’re shoveling our way through the massive loads of pure B.S. cycle, with Trump weighing in saying he’ll “work” with Democrats on Obamacare subsidy issues.

But, he insists, they have to reopen the government first!

What a liar! Dems didn’t close the federal government! And they’re not firing or laying off thousands of federal employees either.

Trump wants this win no matter what the costs, and if Republicans don’t soon wake up and realize how they’re being manipulated to ultimately destroy this country and their party, they will be willing accomplices!

Thus far, at least one MAGA Republican has broken ranks with leadership on not saving Obamacare, primarily because it affects her constituents and family. Talking about oft times nutty Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who let it be known Monday night on X that this shutdown should not be a game.

“I’m going to go against everyone on this issue because when the tax credits expire this year my own adult children’s insurance premiums for 2026 are going to DOUBLE, along with all the wonderful families and hard-working people in my district,” the MAGA Republican better known as MTG, wrote. 

“No I’m not towing the party line on this, or playing loyalty games. It’s one of the top issues I hear about in my district,” she added. “I’m conservative and obviously want to do everything I can to reduce spending and the overall national debt…”

Then MTG made clear that her congressional leadership is not ready for primetime.

“Not a single Republican in leadership talked to us about this or has given us a plan to help Americans deal with their health insurance premiums DOUBLING!!!” MTG added. 

Obviously, just based on the polls, she can’t be the only Republican in Congress feeling this way. Probably why Johnson shut the House down this week, so Republican members, like MTG, wouldn’t turn on him and vote the other way.

        She wants Speaker MAGA Mouse to order the House back into session, and it's not just to catchup with her best Democratic buds.

To be clear, there are other House Republicans, like conservative Texas Rep. Chip Roy, who see this as a chance to destroy Obamacare altogether, and are urging their GOP leadership to hang tough against the Democrats.

“If Republicans govern by polls and fail to grab this moment, they will own it,” Rep. Roy warned his party in an open letter in The Wall Street Journal this week.

Well, it’s been beyond a week since the government shutdown began, and almost a week since I began writing this commentary, and there’s no end in sight. The madness continues. Democrats and Republicans apparently don't trust each other enough to make a deal, and so the tragic stalemate continues, and our government remains shuttered. Some members from both sides are even openly confronting one another in frustration.

        It's gotten ugly, and getting worse.

The holidays are coming just around the corner, and all of those federal government employee families are having to suffer without a paycheck for the foreseeable future! And Trump has the unmitigated gall to say some of the furloughed employees  don’t even deserve their jobs, or deserve to get paid.

Meanwhile masked federalized officers are raiding Portland, Oregon and Chicago, Ill. from other states like Texas, against the will of the leadership in those states, brutalizing innocent people at will.

All because one greedy, lying, power-hungry, wicked old man, with the heart of a convicted criminal, is willing to hurt anyone and everyone, just to get what he wants to glorify his sick and crippled ego!

Welcome to America, everybody!

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