And They’re Off…
The government has officially shut down. The Democrats are using what little leverage they have to try to save extremely popular health care policies, keep premiums from spiking, and to convince their constituents they have a little fight left in them. The GOP is refusing to negotiate on health care or anything else until a short spending bill is approved. It’s a battle over one of the most important and expensive aspects of American life, but like everything in politics, it’s also a battle over messaging—which is especially complicated in an era of algorithms, deep-fakes, siloed news universes, and a newsfeed that scrolls so rapidly, even something as vital as whether the government is on or off may not consume our attention for more than about five minutes. In this environment, it’s become challenging for Americans to focus on something as personal and critical as their own health. I can barely maintain my focus through a prostate exam without being distracted by incoming news notifications. And those news notifications are coming faster than ever, because the messaging wars, they have begun. NPR: Trump administration uses taxpayer dollars to blame Democrats for government shutdown. “The Trump administration is blaming Democrats for the government shutdown in internal federal agency communications as well as public agency websites, in what experts say could be a violation of federal ethics laws.” (At this point, I’d usually insert a humorous remark to provide some levity to a serious issue. But I can’t really come up with anything funnier than the phrase, federal ethics laws.)
+ Government shutdown 2025: A guide to what’s still open, what’s closed and what’s fuzzy.
+ Semafor: Congress is about to experience a painful reality for the first time in six years: Getting into shutdowns is easy. Getting out of them is a lot harder. (I don’t think any of the old rules apply to our current politics. So who knows?)
+ With the government shut down, maybe we should update the software, and unplug it for thirty seconds and plug it back in. Maybe when it restarts, Kamala will somehow be president. Here’s the latest from NBC, AP, and ABC.
