Well, the Democrats’ kabuki-theater desperation stunt — better known as the Schumer Shutdown — is finally over, and America can start getting back to normal. With TSA agents and air traffic controllers finally getting paid again, the travel mess should settle down just in time for Thanksgiving. And we can all breathe a sigh of relief knowing that the brave men and women of our armed forces will keep receiving their paychecks, despite Democrats using them as bargaining chips for the past six weeks.
The big question making the rounds today: was any of this worth it for the Democrats? Spoiler alert — not even close.
Vice President JD Vance agrees — the whole junior-high-level stunt was a complete waste of everyone’s time. In an interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity that aired Thursday night, the vice president previewed his thoughts in early-released clips. His takeaway? Democrats accomplished nothing except ratcheting up the stress level for everyday Americans while pretending they were engaged in some grand act of resistance:
“Here’s what the Democrats actually accomplished. They caused a lot of stress for our troops, they made our air traffic controllers not get paid, they caused a lot of flight cancellations, they had a lot of people thinking they weren’t going to get their food benefits. All for literally nothing,” Vance told Fox News host Sean Hannity in an interview set to air Thursday.
Even worse, the deal Democrats finally accepted was nearly identical to the one Republicans offered back in September:
Vance claimed the House deal that ended the shutdown was identical to one top Democrats rejected weeks earlier.
“We could have struck this exact deal 45 days ago,” the vice president said. “In fact, we met with Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer and said we will pass this exact deal. They said no.”
WATCH:
VP Vance criticizes Democrats over the record-breaking government shutdown, highlighting the stress on troops, unpaid air traffic controllers, and flight cancellations. He argues it was all for ‘nothing,’ as the same deal could have been struck 45 days earlier. pic.twitter.com/ePSgZkqsDN
— ????? (@pr0ud_americans) November 13, 2025
The vice president added that President Trump knew all along Democrats would eventually cave — they’d boxed themselves into a corner with no escape route, no leverage, and no real plan:
The vice president went on to praise President Donald Trump’s leadership during the 43-day standoff, saying they “knew this was going to happen.”
“The president of the United States said every day eventually the Democrats were going to realize this was an absurd position, we’ve got to reopen the government and that’s what they did,” Vance said.
President Trump signed legislation to fund the government again Wednesday night. He signaled Monday the government would open soon, as consequences of a lapse in funding continued to snowball, including missed paychecks for federal workers and airline delays stemming from air traffic controller staffing shortages.
The bill keeps the government funded through January 30, 2026, buying time while lawmakers squabble over the fiscal year 2026 budget. But if they can’t reach a deal by then, what happens? Do we have to endure this nonsense all over again? Will Democrats once more try to hold America hostage over policies voters overwhelmingly rejected in the 2024 elections?
One can only hope they learned something from this spectacular failure — but given the level of insanity they’ve already shown they’re capable of, I’m not holding my breath.
