As President Trump and his surrogates continue to spout lies and ignore the needs of the American people, the shutdown continues. Here’s the state of play:
- House and Senate Democrats are determined to reopen the government despite partisan Republican obstruction.
- Senate Democrats (with Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen at the helm) also have a plan: “block any and all measures in the Senate that are unrelated to funding the government until the Senate votes on reopening it.”
- Meanwhile, Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders appeared on Fox News to lie for Trump. It didn’t go so well.
- Sanders falsely claimed that “roughly 4,000 known or suspected terrorists come into our country illegally, and we know that our most vulnerable point of entry is our Southern border.” Fox anchor Chris Wallace was ready for the lie and fact-checked it bluntly. Other news anchors should take note.
- Undeterred, Trump has scheduled a trip to the border on Thursday and a primetime address tomorrow night to keep up the drumbeat of lies and demagoguery. Networks have refused to air primetime addresses of previous presidents when they felt there was no real news, and they certainly shouldn’t be airing this one.
While Trump throws a temper tantrum, federal workers are suffering. 420,000 federal employees are working without pay, and 380,000 workers have been sent home without pay.
For a state-by-state breakdown of shutdown impacts, click here. For local stories from around the country, check out this thread.