Republicans are up against it, battling both the media and Democrats over the narrative of who is to blame for the current government shutdown.
Somehow, polling shows that the public is blaming Democrats, which has only led to the media pushing even harder to counter that outcome.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), however, has been getting his message out, and he is hitting a home run so far.
The Trump administration has posted on numerous government website pages that Democrats are the ones responsible for closing down the government.
For instance, the Justice Department's web page states, "Democrats have shut down the government. Department of Justice websites are not currently regularly updated."
Numerous media reports are now claiming that the administration is violating the Hatch Act with postings of this nature.
The White House responded, "The Trump administration is committed to sharing the truth with the American people, and it’s simply a fact that the Democrats shut down the government. Democrats opposed the clean CR that they supported just 6 months ago and 13 times under the Biden administration because they want free healthcare for illegal aliens."
Johnson has done a great job during this shutdown, as his message is clearly hitting home with voters. And he just keeps hammering it hard.
For instance, he recently stated, "[Trump is] very bothered by that, that Chuck Schumer would do this, Democrats would do this, because we haven't.” He was referring to the fact that more than a dozen times, when Dems were in charge, the GOP always signed off on continuing resolutions needed to prevent a government shutdown.
Johnson continued, "And even when the Republicans were in the minority, we did the right thing to keep the government open. And we fully expected that Schumer would do that again, as he always has, but not this time.”
He concluded, "This is a selfish political calculation he's made, that he's got to prove to the far left that he's going to fight Trump or something. So, we talked about our frustration with that."
I get why Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) is engaging in his current course of action, and he surely thought that with the media behind him, he could pull it off, but it has badly backfired on him, with even some in the media turning on him.
While many media outlets are blaming the GOP, a few major publications have called out the “Schumer Shutdown” on their landing pages, openly questioning how the Senate leader could have possibly thought this was a good idea. He has even been challenged to his face regarding his previous statements decrying a government shutdown.
Schumer still has time to save face, but as Hugh Hewitt wrote, “The sooner the Democrats pull the parachute, the better it will be for them. But there’s lag time in polling. It could be a while. A very long while as the GOP has absolutely no reason to move an inch. None. And they won’t."
If this shutdown has any length to it and the Dems don’t come out with a major win, it will be Schumer and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) who pay the price. It could also give the GOP a much better chance of pulling off an upset win and keeping the House majority in the 2026 cycle, which history tells us should be a bloodbath for the GOP. Right now, Dems are their own worst enemy, and they just keep inflicting unnecessary wounds, much to the delight of Trump and Republicans.
