Alex McGrath:
Democrats should either take two different stances, either seeking to extract concessions on Social spending cuts or deliberately letting the government shutdown to inhibit the administration’s actions. Polling is indicating the Republicans will be blamed for the most part for the government shutdown, and taking a hard stance could improve the opinion of the Democrat base who overwhelmingly desire a more combative stance against the Republican Party and the administration’s agenda. Overall, taking a combative stance is politically expedient for Democrats.
Noah Heftman:
There are two main questions posed by this looming government shutdown. The first is who stands to gain. There are arguments for the possible benefit for each. For the Republicans it could be spun as the Democrats trying to shut down the government and would provide an opportunity for Trump to cut large portions of the government. For the Democrats it could be spun as an example of resistance to Trump specifically for Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. I believe that the party which stands most to gain is the Republican Party due to Trump’s general ability to shift public perception of government events especially over the long term as evidenced by approval polls remaining constant even as unpopular policies remain. The second question is will this shutdown finally be different and cause significant effects. Those who contend that this time will be different point to specific sectors like Aviation and cybersecurity or unique circumstances like Trump’s attacks on the Fed as the catalyst for dangerous declines. Though, time and time again we have neared shutdown and all the pundits hype up the disaster that will occur now and nothing has occurred in the end.
Tyler Snyder:
A government shutdown will occur. A government shutdown is not going to be horrible immediately, but overtime our economy will go down. CBS reports a GDP decrease of .1% per week, so an over-time effect. Republicans are already semi-shattered, many different groups under the Republican “banner”, so Republicans caving would not really affect them (in theory). Democrats are already being flamed by their base for not “resisting” against Trump enough, and Democrats caving would tank intra-party legitimacy. Question to ponder: Would Democrats or Republicans who leave their party (depending on which cave, ex: Dems cave so Dems leave) stop voting (2-party system would disallow an independent to run and succeed) or stay voting for their party until something worse happens and switch parties?
Renee Ma:
I think a shutdown is going to happen.
