Day 716: Report: Trump didn’t understand what shutdown truly meant before forcing one

Unbelievably — okay, probably not that unbelievably considering the past two years — Donald Trump and his team failed to understand the monumental reach that a government shutdown would have before Trump made sure one would happen.

According to a report by The Washington Post, the administration is scrambling after only now grasping the countless implications of the shutdown.

The Trump administration, which had not anticipated a long-term shutdown, recognized only this week the breadth of the potential impact, several senior administration officials said. The officials said they were focused now on understanding the scope of the consequences and determining whether there is anything they can do to intervene.

Food stamps, tax refunds, park and museum closures and a litany of other federal services are already being affected or set to be in the coming days and weeks. The Trump-induced shutdown has already affected nearly a million federal employees who aren’t collecting a paycheck. Others are feeling the loss of other government functions. Now, it’s set to affect tens of millions of people in real, life-threatening ways should it prolong much longer and funding for food stamps is exhausted.

All the while, the Trump administration has been caught wholly ignorant to the sheer number of Americans who would be harmed by their political stunt.

716 days in, 746 to go

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