The federal government shutdown that just ended was really weird.

There's no other word for it.

The Republican position never made any sense.

Then the Senate, they acted like a bunch of zombies.

They wandered the halls, but it wasn't clear why they were there.

House Republicans, they didn't even show up to work.

What if, it turns out, the entire shutdown was about the Epstein files.

What if, while Democrats were earnestly discussing tax policy and health care and costs,

the entire Republican Party was being driven by the fears that Donald Trump had about what was in the Epstein files and that it would come out.

In this episode, I will explain why I now believe that that is what the government shutdown

was always about. Trump knew it. Johnson knew it. And now, as a result of a blockbuster release

of new emails, we all know it.

But I think it goes beyond the shutdown.

It actually explains a lot about what has been happening in our government since Donald Trump took office.

But before we get into it, make sure you subscribe to Democracy Docket to stay informed about what you need to know is happening to democracy.

In the last few weeks, we have heard a lot of theories about why we were having the longest

shutdown in American history, or at least recent American history.

You know, why was it going on for weeks and weeks, and it never seemed like there were even

any negotiations.

You know, Republicans refused to even come to the table and discuss how to reopen the

government. It was, as I said in the introduction, really weird. I mean, that isn't the way

past shutdowns have gone. In past shutdowns, one side has one position, the other side has another position,

...