Good Thursday morning, I'm Jake Sherman and welcome to your political playbook audio briefing.

Stay tuned after the show for a message from the National Retail Federation.

And I'm Anna Palmer. Is the American government in a state of crisis?

There's no doubt we've gotten accustomed lurching from standoff to standoff, diplomatic row to global skirmish.

But the past few days, it feels as if our domestic government has hit a new inflection point.

We are now on date 27 of a shutdown over whether to build a new barrier on the southern border with Mexico.

Hundreds of miles of barriers already exists.

Neither Republicans nor Democrats have been willing to blink, and both sides appear to

be growing increasingly dug in. The shutdown is continuing. Ratings agencies and economic

forecasters have warned Congress to shape up or face huge consequences. At the same time,

the Trump administration is forcing workers to come back to work with no pay.

The people who the government have hired to ensure people don't board our airliners with bombs and weapons, TSA agents, are working without pay.

So are the people protecting the president of the United States.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi is in open war with President Trump, essentially rescinding her invitation for the president

to speak to the nation from the capital in the annual state of the union. The situation she lays out

is quite dire. She expressed concern that the government cannot protect the capital, which would

be filled with the entire government. It also had the additional political benefit of being a kick

to the groin to the

president. DHS secretary Kirsten Nielsen said publicly DHS and the Secret Service is ready to

protect the Capitol for the event. Meanwhile, a senior House Republican, Representative Steve King

of Iowa, was admonished by his leadership and in some cases asked to leave Congress because he voiced support for white supremacy.

He has been stripped of his committee assignments.

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