View from K Street: Closure opens eyes

The longest government shutdown—43 days, and the second under a Trump administration—has ended, with none of the underlying issues resolved. Many fear this is merely a temporary abeyance, as the funding agreed to lasts only until January. However, it seems that interest in this attempt at legislative leverage has waned. The inconclusive end of the shutdown has clarified the difficulty facing any party, especially one in the minority, in gaining an advantage by means of this tactic. But that does not mean the shutdown had no lasting impact. The sages of K Street, well-attuned to the recent election results, are wondering if the greatest impact is in how government itself is regarded by the populace, at large.

For one, the shutdown made clear that this is a totally Presidential government. It appears that, in the president’s view, all one needs to run the largest economy and the most diverse population in the world is a military and a paramilitary, both acting domestically and abroad, without Congressional intervention. The rest is left to the fiats and dictates of the president. The president’s willingness to threaten hunger as a bargaining chip during the shutdown makes K Street wonder whether the president has lost touch even with his base (see Epstein). The issue is whether this unprecedented conduct has altered most everyone’s idea of how a president of all the people should function. It is as if the closing of the government was not at all regretted by the president, and it provides little reason to change how he governs.