Member-only story
The Shutdown’s Dark Side
The shutdown of our government is all anyone is talking about. The Epstein Files cannot be released because the Congress is not doing its job, Speaker Johnson will not swear in the newly elected Congresswoman from Arizona, lawmaker Adelita Grijalva. Her vote on the release of the Epstein files will force him to release them.
The shutdown will affect people’s lives. Trump is up front about shutting down the government, he is using it as a tool to fire workers and potentially make other changes that are on the agenda of Russell Vought, the architect of Project 2025. As he does that, GOP members are trying to weaponize the shutdown for political gain against the Democrats. There have been nasty video memes being shared from both sides. What is going on?
From Politico: “This is the risk of shutting down the government and handing the keys to Russ Vought,” the Senate majority leader John Thune said in an exclusive interview Wednesday in the Capitol, adding that “there should have been an expectation” among Democrats that Vought’s Office of Management and Budget could broadly target government workers and programs in a shutdown. Pressed on whether Vought was muddying the waters, Thune said, “The only thing I would say about that is yes, and we don’t control what he’s going to do.”
