Story by Karen Tumulty

Government shutdowns are a familiar autumn rite of dysfunctional government. But this one is different from any that have come before. That makes it a harder test of both sides’ resolve and discipline.

President Donald Trump is reveling in a legally shaky plan to employ the shutdown to punish his enemies — or more accurately, their constituents.

The administration has put a halt on tens of billions of federal dollars that are going to blue states, including roughly $18 billion for New York’s subway and Hudson Tunnel projects. Not coincidentally, those are in the hometown of the Democratic leaders of the U.S. House and Senate.

And instead of furloughing federal employees and giving them back pay when the government reopens, as has happened in past shutdowns, Trump is threatening to fire them and gut entire agencies.

As much as the White House is trying to blame this on Democrats, who have refused to give Republicans the eight votes they need in the Senate to reopen the government, a survey by The Washington Post showed that a large plurality of Americans are holding Trump and the Republicans responsible.

Nearly three-quarters support the Democrats in their central demand that subsidies lowering the cost for health coverage purchased under the Affordable Care Act should be extended, rather than expiring as scheduled at the end of the year…….

In the meantime, he has been gleefully trolling the opposition, spreading deepfake videos that include one portraying Vought as the grim reaper. Another depicts House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-New York), who is Black, in a mustache and sombrero. The racist imagery promotes a false Republican claim that Democratic lawmakers are trying to force the government to offer full health care benefits to undocumented immigrants.