NYT’s Peters: ‘International Embarrassment’ that the U.S. Gov’t Isn’t Functioning Properly

EXCERPT:

PETERS: "You know, it’s an international embarrassment that the United States cannot get its government functioning again. But the problem is, Andrea, it’s a small enough percentage of the government that the players, the people who are making the decisions about whether or not to re-open the government aren’t feeling the political pressure to do so, and I don’t know when that happens, when they really start to really feel, the pinch as awful as it is for the people who're not getting their paychecks and the entities that cannot run themselves because they don’t have the funding. Once the president and the leaders of both parties in Congress start to feel that pressure you will see some movement, but I don’t see that happening soon because we’re in a situation with the Republican Party especially where for the last few years they have only responded to their base which says you have to fight. You have to fight harder. You can’t just cave like you always do. And it’s created a situation right now where President Trump has his back up against the wall because he needs to be perceived as fighting."