Quick note here at the top, there's some brief, strong language in this conversation.

All right, as you were.

Over the last few days, I've been trying to puzzle out how the current government shutdown ends.

Because this shutdown, it is now the second longest in U.S. history.

The path ahead seems fuzzy, right? Like we're in some kind of suspended animation?

These things always conclude, of course, one way or another. Take what happened during Trump's

first term.

From President Trump today, a new warning. He says the partial government shutdown will last as long as it takes to get funding for a southern border wall.

Trump's 2019 shutdown over the border wall was the longest ever, 35 days.

But then, government workers started calling in sick. The Federal Aviation Administration has announced a full ground stop at New York's LaGuardia Airport.

It's because of the government shut down.

There's a shortage of air traffic controllers.

They've been calling out sick. Within hours, the government had down. There's a shortage of air traffic controllers. They've been calling out sick.

Within hours, the government had reopened.

I called up Jonathan last from over at the bulwark, because I wondered whether this kind of sudden turnabout was likely now.

For those who are counting, we are on day 27 of this shutdown, by the way.

Day 27 or day 270 or day 2,900?

I don't know.

I mean, time is a flat circle, isn't it?

I mean, we're now in year 72 of Trump's second term.

In the past, when things were slightly less broken in Washington, it was decorum and bipartisan negotiating that illuminated a path forward. Like back in 2018, when the GOP engineered a

quickie three-day shutdown, a so-called gang of centrist senators from both parties.

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