Damn them for not winning a no-win situation!

[onenote]

85. How so? Do you remember how bad the 2018-19 shutdown was for federal employees and the public?

That shutdown lasted from December 22, 2018 until January 25, 2019 -- the longest in history. During that time, around 800,000 federal workers either were furloughed or required to work without any known payment dates. Many federal employees had to find other paid work. Businesses that rely on the federal workforce, also suffered. Members of the public were harmed by reductions in payments from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, delays in processing billions in tax refund, and TSA staff shortages resulted in some airports closing down for periods of time. I personally witnessed long lines of federal employees waiting in the winter cold for free meals being provided by World Central Kitchen.

I get that we all hate Trump/Musk and what they're doing. But I'm not so Machiavellian as to believe the end justifies the mean to the extent we should be rooting for a devastating shutdown, for economic collapse that destroys people's retirement plans, for higher inflation that makes it hard for those on the margins to feed their families or keep their businesses afloat.

As I posted elsewhere -- I strongly support judicial efforts to block the Trump/Musk agenda. I wonder whether some here actually would be happier if those efforts failed if it then meant more harm to the country and thus more anger at Trump/