Which is incredibly dumb.

Setting aside the damage to the economy and just looking at the politics of it:

• “Republicans hate our troops” is an easy attack. Enlisted service members tend to lean right, and stopping their pay (while still requiring them to work) is going to be a bad look. And all the Dems have to say is “hey look at what the Repubs did to our men and women in uniform.” Easy win.

• It’s obvious that the Republicans are at fault for the shutdown. And it’s obvious that they’re not going to get anywhere. They don’t have the votes. When we come out of this with a stupid temporary budget, the Repubs will have won nothing and will look even more incompetent.

• It gives the Dems easy talking points, while being difficult to defend by the Repubs. Anyone but Trump would get wrecked in a debate with Biden over this. (Trump never says anything coherent, and no one expects him to, which is a huge benefit in a debate. You simply can’t debate him effectively.)

Republicans are shooting themselves in the feet, and it’s going to bite them in the ass in the general. It just sucks that this will have lasting repercussions on the economy and the strength of the dollar worldwide…