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GELFAND’S WORLD -
Questions and Answers
1) Why is Donald Trump so eager to have a government shutdown?
Answer: It gets the Epstein files off the front page
2) Why did Donald Trump decide to put a tax on prescription drugs?
The Epstein files
3) Why did Donald Trump insult the rest of the world at the U.N.?
Epstein files
Questions 4 through 20:
Answer: Distract from the Epstein files
A salute to the late Charles Peters
Way back when, a particularly perspicacious guy name of Charles Peters founded a small magazine called the Washington Monthly. It was often referred to as the most influential publication that nobody had ever heard of. Anyway, Peters used to write about government shutdowns – this would have started shortly after Newt Gingrich started the tradition and continuing through the many Republican-led shutdowns (typically over increasing the debt ceiling). Anyway, Peters pointed out that the national government would point out that the shutdown would be harmful because – for example – it would have to shut down the Washington Monument. Peters gave this tactic a name: The Washington Monument Ploy. So fun fact for the day: This morning the television newscast showed a written statement from the government that the Washington Monument is currently closed.
It turns out that there is an even older use for that term. Back in the day, the Park Service would respond to the threat of a budget cut by pointing out that attractions such as the Grand Canyon and the Washington Monument might have to be closed if they didn’t get their entire funding. This is also known as the Washington Monument Strategy.
We’re seeing an analogous approach from the Trump administration this time around, but it has been adjusted to threaten job cuts and reducing or closing whole agencies that Trump views as Democrat. That word “weird” fits this approach perfectly.
One little thought about the Democrats in the Senate defending their refusal to aid in restarting the government.
The Dems, through Charles Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries, are pounding on the Republican cuts to federal healthcare subsidies such as Medicare, Medicaid, and the Affordable Care Act. The strategy is defensible and might even result in some sort of concession on the part of the Senate Republicans. But I think it is way too limited. Let’s consider just some of the Republican approach to government in 2025:
The tariffs: a policy that can’t help but damage the economy, put people out of work and lead to recession
The appointment of incompetent, blustering fools such as Hegseth to cabinet posts
Undoing decades of environmental protections
Denial on global warming
Damaging the system that calculates job growth (or reduction)
My view is that the Democrats should go full-Mitch-McConnell and refuse to cooperate with any of this. Also, to borrow and paraphrase from Josh Marshall, who was commenting much earlier in the year, the minimum demand is that Trump and the Republicans stop breaking the law.
(Bob Gelfand writes on science, culture, and politics for CityWatch. He can be reached at [email protected])
