Trump's Trials - What's changed since the last government shutdown during Trump's first term?

Episode Date: September 30, 2025

The last government shutdown was in 2018 during President Trump's first term. Republicans controlled Congress and needed Democrats to pass a spending bill — just like now. But a lot has changed.Support NPR and hear every episode of Trump's Terms sponsor-free with NPR+. Sign up at plus.npr.org.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

I'm Scott Detrow, and this is Trump's Terms from NPR. We're going to be doing all sorts of things. Nobody ever thought was even possible. President Trump has brought back string to the White House. We can't just ignore the president's desires. This will be an entirely different country in a short period of time. Every episode, we bring you one of NPR's latest stories about the 47th president, and now he is trying to remake the federal government.

Today's story starts right after this. I'm Michelle Martin. The federal government is heading for a shutdown at midnight tonight. If that happens, tens of thousands of government employees will be told they have to stay home. Others will be expected to work without pay. Congressional leaders met at the White House with President Trump yesterday. And when it was over, Vice President J.D. Vance came out and said this. I think we're headed into a shutdown because the Democrats won't do the right thing. I hope they changed their mind, but we're going to see. I'll let the speakers. The last government shutdown was in 2018. Trump was in office then too. controlled the House and Senate and needed Democratic votes to pass a spending bill just like now. But as NPR senior White House correspondent Tamara Keith reports, a lot has changed. Back then, it was Trump who was trying to use a shutdown as leverage to extract a policy win. Billions of dollars in funding to build a border wall, as he told Democratic leaders days before the shutdown.

I am proud to shut down the government for border security, Chuck, because the people of this country don't want criminals and people that have lots of problems and drugs pouring into our country. So I will take the mantle. I will be the one to shut it down. I'm not going to blame you for it. And shut it down, he did, rejecting a last-minute bipartisan compromise to keep the lights on. Once it started, it was really hard to end it. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Giles Snyder. The partial federal government shutdown is now 22 days old, making it the longest in U.S. history. It ended up lasting 35 days. The first Trump administration worked to minimize the impact on Americans, going so far as to keep national parks open, despite many park employees being on

forced furlough. Shalonda Young was a top Democratic congressional aid at the time. They didn't want the shutdown to feel like it had an impact on Americans. This time, though, the roles are reversed. Democrats are the ones trying to leverage their votes for policy changes. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries spoke outside of the White House last night. Democrats are fighting to protect the health care of the American people. And we are not going to support a partisan Republican spending bill that continues to gut the health care of everyday America. Period. Full stop. Now it's Republicans, accusing Democrats, of holding the government, quote, hostage. But there's an escalation from typical temporary furloughs.

The White House has instructed agencies to plan for mass firings of federal workers during the potential shutdown. And a new memo says one of the few allowable uses of government-issued equipment during the shutdown for furloughed workers will be checking to see if they've been fired. Young, who was budget director for President Biden, says these threats are unprecedented. and just confirm why Democrats don't trust the Trump administration to keep any deal they make. It feels just different in so many ways. You know, all you have in this town is your word. And it's been broken over and over and over. The Trump administration's current shutdown posture reflects confidence, says Hogan Gidley, who was a top White House aide in the first Trump term and is now advising House Speaker Mike Johnson.

He says the president and Republicans, are confident voters are going to blame Democrats for the shutdown. They're going to shut down the government so that a select few people inside their radical base are happy that they are just standing up and fighting. But they're not getting anything done for the American people. One person who's had very little to say about this so far is President Trump himself. In 2018, he made sure cameras were rolling for his Oval Office blowup with Democratic leaders. Yesterday, the cameras were kept out. Tamara Keith, NPR News.

Before we wrap up a reminder, you can find more coverage of the Trump administration on the NPR Politics podcast, where you can hear NPR's political reporters break down the day's biggest political news with new episodes every weekday afternoon. And thanks, as always, to our NPR Plus supporters who hear every episode of the show without sponsor messages. You can learn more at plus.npr.org. I'm Scott Detrow. Thanks for listening to Trump's terms from NPR.