How Is the Record US Shutdown Impacting Americans?

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00:00There we go, Esther, Donald Trump talking there exactly about the shutdown.

00:04You are, of course, in the United States at the moment.

00:08What have you witnessed from the shutdown that's now the longest in history?

00:13And we can't forget the last longest one was in Donald Trump's first term.

00:17Yes, exactly. So I think this kind of gridlock has been kind of baked into the cake,

00:21certainly for previous administrations, but certainly we were expecting that for Trump's administration,

00:26especially with how divided the Republicans and the Democrats are at the moment.

00:30Few concessions have been made. I mean, the main gripe over this was obviously subsidies for Medicaid,

00:36which need to be renewed in the first week of December.

00:39This was obviously going to be a sticking point for the Democrats because the kinds of people that tend to be affected by this

00:45are poorer voters in urban areas that actually depend on these sorts of health care subsidies, health insurance subsidies.

00:52And we've seen a little bit of movement on the Democratic side to try and get that going.

00:58But obviously, most people are blaming this latest shutdown on the Republicans.

01:03Now, if it goes into next week where air traffic controllers who are federal employees will be affected,

01:08then you'll likely see, you know, cancellations of flights and real time carnage that for the last 30 days,

01:15many people have been insulated from.

01:17We saw the kinds of people that were being furloughed, which Donald Trump actually wanted to fire anyway.

01:21So like education, federal education employees and the likes.

01:25But now you're tipping into territory of really essential workers like air traffic controllers,

01:30which would, I think, really hurt the Republicans' reputation with the public.

01:34And that being said...

01:36Oh, sorry, Esther, I was saying what's really interesting is the last shutdown, I remember coming there.

01:41And what actually ended that was the outcry over air traffic controllers not coming to work

01:46and the absolute chaos it had at airports.

01:49Definitely.

01:51Exactly. So this is a ticking time bomb.

01:53And there has to be some concessions made within the next couple of days or else people are not going to forget this.

01:58And we've already seen federal workers in Virginia basically tipping the polls to the Democrat governor

02:04winning yesterday and the latest election.

02:09So the Republicans had the cards to begin with.

02:13And while many people have yet been insulated from the worst effects of the shutdown,

02:17it's going to start happening.

02:18It's going to start happening soon.

02:20And I think now the pressure is on for the Republicans to really get the gear moving.

02:23And I think in some ways that's benefiting the Democrats.

02:25And I think it's going to start happening soon.