What shutdown? Frustrated voters shrug as pols point fingers

NEW YORK — What if they shut down the government and no one cared?

On the ground in communities across America, many voters barely noticed the latest spasm of dysfunction in Washington. Those who did were angry and frustrated with their elected leaders but were also growing numb to the near-constant crises that have dominated the Donald Trump-era politics. Few expected last weekend’s 69-hour government shutdown to have any significant impact on the high-stakes midterm elections in November — a political reality that may make another shutdown more likely.

“I saw absolutely nothing in my life that indicated the government had shut down other than the headlines in the paper,” said Florida attorney John Grant, a 74-year-old former Republican state senator. “To me, the government shutdown was a nonevent. The whole thing is a joke.”

For the vast majority of America, there was no noticeable effect as Congress failed to enact a spending bill late Friday, effectively closing the federal government through Monday evening.

Thousands of federal workers were furloughed Monday. NASA tours were canceled, and the IRS helpline was closed. Overseas troops worried that they wouldn’t be able to watch Sunday’s football games. Despite dire warnings from the White House, there was virtually no impact on the military, border patrol or airport security. There also weren’t any disruptions with Social Security payments or Medicare.

At the same time, the nation grappled with reports that the president’s personal attorney paid a porn star $130,000 to stop her from discussing an affair she said she had with Trump weeks before the 2016 presidential election. And new reports surfaced that Attorney General Jeff Sessions had been questioned by the special prosecutor investigating Russian meddling in the 2016 election.

“Nobody is going to remember a three-day shutdown over the weekend because we can’t remember the five major news stories that happened last week,” said Republican strategist Rick Tyler.

Washington, however, spent Tuesday bogged down in intense finger pointing. Shortly before noon, Trump tweeted, “Big win for Republicans as Democrats cave on Shutdown.”

In the short term at least, Democrats did appear to lose the political battle. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer faced heated criticism from frustrated liberals and giddy Republicans who said he caved on Democrats’ wish to protect young immigrants from deportation. Liberal activists scheduled an evening protest outside his Brooklyn home to express their displeasure.

History suggests the shutdown will be soon forgotten, however.

In 2013, Republicans were overwhelmingly blamed for the 16-day shutdown in which conservatives fought unsuccessfully to strip funding from President Barack Obama’s health care law. A year later, Republicans seized the Senate majority.