Food stamps for 38 million low-income Americans would face severe reductions and more than $140 billion in tax refunds are at risk of being frozen or delayed if the government shutdown stretches into February, widespread disruptions that threaten to hurt the economy.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.
Way back in 2017, which seems like at least a decade ago at this point, I read somewhere that with the Trump administration, it was basically a race between their mendacity and their incompetence, and that the nation's best Hope was that incompetence would win out.
I thought that was true then, and I still believe it is true now.