This is the dumbest government shutdown ever — and Americans will continue to pay the price. Here’s who’s to blame

In the early hours of Friday morning, the Senate passed by voice vote a bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security for the rest of the fiscal year. This came after a shutdown that had lasted more than 41 days.

The legislation will not fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and will not fund border patrol, given that Republicans refused to meet Democrats even halfway after an ICE officer shot and killed Renee Good and CBP officials shot and killed Alex Pretti in Minneapolis two months ago.

But already, the House Freedom Caucus revolted over the fact the package did not include the SAVE America Act, which would require proof of citizenship to register to vote. That put Speaker Mike Johnson in a bind as he has sought to blame Democrats for the shutdown. Then, out of nowhere, Johnson torpedoed the deal and said Republicans would pass a two-month extension of Homeland security funding.

Both sides are in a staring contest and nobody wants to blink. Amid wraparound lines and cancelled flights at airports thanks to TSA officers not getting paid, President Donald Trump first sent ICE officers to airports.

By Thursday, he would instruct his newly-installed Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin to pay TSA officials. Johnson and Trump also seemed to be reading from the same hymnal, blaming Democrats for open borders while digging their heels in. Johnson had said he had spoken to the president, who was on board.

But removed a significant pressure point that Republicans could use against Democrats. House Speaker Mike Johnson had a running television showing the chaos at airports in front of his office.

This is easily the dumbest government shutdown of the 21st century. Neither side really “won” anything. Democrats did not get any guardrails to ICE’s practices since now Republicans are setting up a plan to fund ICE through the process of budget reconciliation, which allows them to avoid a filibuster.

But that comes with significant perils as well, because Johnson hopes to include funding for Trump’s war with Iran into the bill and the SAVE America Act in the bill. The last time Republicans did reconciliation–when they passed the One Big Beautiful Bill–they nearly ripped each other to shreds.

Here are the biggest villains in this whole mess and here’s how they are going to play out in the coming weeks.

Donald Trump

The president doesn’t write laws. He doesn’t appropriate funds, and he’s not responsible for passing a budget each year.

But since returning to power last January, Trump has taken little interest in the legislative gamesmanship and horse-trading that characterize relations between the White House and Capitol, especially on large, must-pass legislation such as appropriations bills.

Instead, he’s remained on the sidelines while allowing Johnson to be hijacked by a small group of the most extreme right-ward fringes of the GOP caucus that routinely rejects any compromise with the Senate because the Senate allows Democrats to have input into legislation — a sentiment he’s repeatedly encouraged through occasional Truth Social outbursts threatening to veto any legislation that puts any restrictions on immigration enforcement efforts.

Historically, Trump bullies the Freedom Caucus into folding. But if he remains checked out, he will face a major crisis on his hands as the internecine House-Senate warfare encouraged by Johnson causes his party’s approval ratings to sink lower and lower as the midterms loom.

Kristi Noem, Stephen Miller and the Department of Homeland Security

This shutdown would have been avoided had it not been for the killings of Good and Pretti and the fact that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller attempted to smear them as “domestic terrorists.” That triggered even Republican senators to say that Noem had to go.

The Trump administration’s mass deportation regime was no longer seen as protecting the country from dangerous criminals but rather a rogue law enforcement agency patrolling the streets of American cities. The rash decision-making and immediate attempts to smear American citizens led to Noem’s ouster. But Miller staying in the White House means under new leadership, there will be no reforms.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune

The fact that the majority leader split off Homeland Security funding from the rest of the government spending package spoke to the outrage Americans felt about ICE’s actions. But Republicans did not want to budge.

Even when it came to having ICE needing warrants, Thune told reporters this week “Administrative warrants have been used for a long time,” adding that “I think there’s probably always going to be some disagreement about that, but I’m not sure how you solve that one in this discussion or negotiation.”

In the end, Thune wound up facing pressure from Trump to terminate the filibuster, but ultimately did not relent. The Senate now stands where it was before the shutdown with no tangible gains made and ICE still at the baseline levels it was.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer

When CBP officers in Minneapolis killed Pretti, Schumer saw it as a moment of leverage and said immediately that Democrats would not vote to fund ICE.

In fairness to Schumer, he did a decent job this shutdown compared to the last shutdown in keeping his caucus together with almost no defections.

But the fact remains that even amid a DHS shutdown, ICE would still have money given that Republicans had pre-funded the agency to the tune of $75 billion in 2025 under the One Big, Beautiful Bill without DHS being funded.

Schumer risked putting his most vulnerable incumbent, Sen. Jon Ossoff of Georgia, at risk as lines wrapped around at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. Schumer has had a target on his back for being inept from both progressives and even some moderates. He held tough this go-around, but without much to show for it.

House Speaker Mike Johnson

Like Thune, Johnson had refused even the most modest reforms toward ICE. When asked about why not agree to allowing ICE to remove their masks, he said “​​Because unlike your local law enforcement in your hometown, ICE agents are being doxxed and targeted.”

But, like with the last shutdown where he sought to just force Democrats to tap out on wanting to extend expanded health care tax credits, he wound up cutting his party out of the negotiations. Now, he faces an internal revolt from the House Freedom Caucus. Historically, the Freedom Caucus stamps its feet, yells and then folds, but even if they cave, it will extend a painful process.