Ep. 1826 - The Government Shutdown And The Dumb Reasons EXPLAINED In 4 Mins - The Michael Knowles Show

The Michael Knowles Show

Episode 1826 — The Government Shutdown And The Dumb Reasons EXPLAINED In 4 Mins

Date: October 1, 2025
Host: Michael Knowles (The Daily Wire)

EPISODE OVERVIEW

Michael Knowles breaks down the real reasons behind the latest government shutdown, debunking both the Republican and Democrat public narratives. He argues that, contrary to claims about healthcare and immigration, the driving force is the Democrats’ flailing poll numbers and political desperation. The episode also delves into recent law enforcement action against violent gangs, public polling on the shutdown, the shifting political coalitions, and critical reactions to Democrat rhetoric on crime and race.

MAIN THEMES & DISCUSSION POINTS

1. The Real Cause of the Government Shutdown

Conventional Narratives:
- Republicans claim Democrats want to provide healthcare to illegal immigrants.
- Democrats claim Republicans want to deny healthcare to Americans.
Knowles’ Take:
“I think this is all about poll numbers and I think this is about every other issue beyond healthcare.” (03:55)
Political Context:
- Government missed its funding deadline; Republicans attempted a “clean” continuing resolution.
- Democrats demanded extra Obamacare subsidies—Knowles argues this was meant to shift the conversation to their only favorable polling issue: healthcare.
Key Quote:
“Democrats are actually… still underwater on all the issues that matter to people: on crime, on the economy, on immigration, on foreign policy… The only issues that the Democrats are still doing all right on are women’s rights, the environment… and health care.” (06:26)

2. Shifting Political Coalitions

Recent major political realignment:
Post-2024, former Democratic strongholds like black men, women, and young voters have been trending Republican.
Republican transformation:
GOP now supports using government power assertively, contrary to the “libertarian, government-shrinking” stereotype.
Key Quote:
“After the Trump revolution in 2016, that’s not really the case… plenty of Republicans and conservatives… want to wield the government.” (09:26)

3. Who’s Really to Blame for the Shutdown?

Polling Evidence:
New York Times/Siena poll (late September): 65% of respondents oppose a Democrat-led shutdown, including only 47% of Democrats. Only 27% of all respondents support the shutdown. (21:01)
Media Spin:
Even the New York Times can’t plausibly blame Republicans, signaling diminished media power to control the narrative.
Key Quote:
“If even the New York Times today cannot blame this on the Republicans, this seriously could backfire for the Democrats.” (22:49)

4. Law Enforcement, Immigration, and Political Optics

Federal Raids Highlighted:
Massive ICE raid in Chicago targets violent Venezuelan gang ‘Tren de Aragua’—30 arrests. (17:15-18:04)
Democratic Response:
Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker criticized the use of federal law enforcement in Chicago, calling it disruptive.
Knowles’ Counter:
“Thank you American servicemen for protecting American citizens by carrying out basic American laws… What is Donald Trump doing? He is merely enforcing the most basic laws.” (19:50)
Memorable Riff:
“Chicago is like a war zone. JB Pritzker doesn’t care, he’s willing to let Chicagoans be murdered and slaughtered by the bushel basket as long as he thinks it will give him an electoral advantage.” (21:32)

5. Immigration Policy and Electoral Impact

Cartel Testimony on Trump Policy:
CNN airs a Sinaloa Cartel member admitting Trump’s policies are making their operations more difficult.
- “Yeah, I gotta give the devil his due… it’s becoming more difficult.” (27:15)
Democrats Caught on the Wrong Side:
Media coverage and Democratic rhetoric suggest more sympathy for criminals than law enforcement.
Voting & Representation:
Illegal immigrants counted in census bolster Democratic representation in Congress.
- Knowles points to a school superintendent in Iowa (an illegal immigrant) who was registered to vote.
- “How was this guy registered to vote for years and years? … There’s your proof that the illegal aliens are in fact registered to vote.” (34:57)

6. Personal Harm from Crime: A Grounded Testimony

First-hand Story:
A grandmother from D.C. testifies:
- “He shot my grandson in Cola seven times and they didn’t consider that as first degree murder… The bottom line is that murder in D.C. is treated as a joke…” (38:59-39:27)
Knowles’ Analysis:
Democrats’ soft-on-crime policies have real, tragic impacts, and are fueling further shifts to the right, especially among black men and women.
- “Politics really is not rocket science… People have had enough.” (40:16)

7. Democrat Rhetoric on Race, Health, and ‘Medical Misinformation’

Jamaal Bowman on CNN:
Claims racism and hearing the N-word cause higher rates of heart disease and diabetes in black communities.
- “The reason why heart disease, and cancer, and obesity and diabetes are bigger in the black community is because of the stress we carry from having to deal with being called the N-word directly or indirectly every day…” (42:50)
Knowles’ Response:
Expresses skepticism and humor at the claim, highlighting double-standards in what counts as “medical misinformation.”
- “Turns out it’s like Snoop Dogg [who causes these illnesses].” (43:19)

MEMORABLE QUOTES & MOMENTS

On the true motivation behind the shutdown:
“This government shutdown comes out of sheer political desperation for Democrats.” (11:41)
On law enforcement and political advantage:
“Democrats… put on this sideshow… Trump is going in and enforcing the law in a popular way.” (16:18)
On shifting blame:
“No group wants to shut down the government… but support is only among Democrats.” (21:56)
On voter realignment:
“Massive shifts of the voting populace moving to the right, and as the Republicans now do have the government, are wielding the government to uncover the Democrat perfidy on this and all the other issues.” (36:25)
On Democrat response to crime:
“Chicago is like a war zone. JB Pritzker doesn’t care, he’s willing to let Chicagoans be murdered and slaughtered by the bushel basket as long as he thinks it will give him an electoral advantage.” (21:32)
Personal testimony on crime:
- Grandma’s voice: “The bottom line is that murder in D.C. is treated as a joke when it comes time [for] justice.” (39:13)
On political polarization and temperature:
“Of course the left murders its political opponents… and then demands that its political opponents bring down the temperature. We can't.” (37:43)

IMPORTANT TIMESTAMPS

01:00 – Introduction to the government shutdown and political spin.
03:55 – Knowles diagnoses the real reason behind the shutdown: poor Democrat polling.
06:26 – Recap of the midterm conundrum: issues where Democrats struggle.
09:26 – Political realignment and contradiction in Democrat rhetoric.
17:15 – ICE raid in Chicago against ‘Tren de Aragua’ gang.
19:50 – Blame game: reactions to the use of federal law enforcement.
21:01 – New York Times/Siena shutdown poll results.
21:32 – Critique of Democratic leadership in Chicago.
27:15 – Sinaloa cartel member admits Trump policy is working.
34:57 – Voter fraud & representation: the school superintendent example.
38:59 – D.C. grandmother’s testimony on crime.
42:50 – Jamaal Bowman on disease and racism.

SUMMARY

Michael Knowles asserts that the current government shutdown is less about policy and more about political optics, with Democrats leveraging their one remaining area of relative public support — healthcare — to shift attention from a string of unpopular positions and poor poll numbers. He contends Republicans are unlikely to be blamed, as media power wanes and polling shows little support for the shutdown even among Democrats. Real-life stories on crime and law enforcement, contrasted with progressive rhetoric, further illuminate the shifting coalitions. The episode blends sharp analysis with trademark sarcasm and a focus on high-stakes political maneuvering in Washington.

[End of Summary]

Transcript

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Democrats have officially shut down the government why republicans are arguing that the dems shut down the government to give health care to illegal aliens democrats are responding that they only shut down the government to give health care to legal immigrants as well as other americans in reality the shutdown has almost nothing to do with healthcare and it has everything to do with democrats historically bad poll numbers with right now we'll get into the minutia of michael knowles this is the michael knowles show welcome back to the show not unrelated to the government shutdown cnn of all outlets has just interviewed a sinaloa cartel member admitting admitting to cnn that president trump is making their job tougher that's when cnn is running essentially campaign ads for republicans you know things are tough for dems we will get into that but first i want to tell you about shopify go to shopify dot com knowles starting a business is very very tough and and if you want to have the 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your one dollar per month trial and start selling today at shopify dot com knowles that is shopify dot com knowles canada w l e s shopify dot com knowles why is the government shut down is it because as the republicans contend democrats want to give health care to illegal aliens democrats do i'm sure want to give healthcare to illegal aliens but i don't think that's quite what's going on is it because as the democrats contend they just want to give healthcare to all americans and those republicans want to let americans die in the streets no i don't think it's that either i think this is all about poll numbers and i think this is about every other issue beyond healthcare what could have happened there was a midnight deadline we just passed it we're now whatever eight eight nine hours past it and the midnight deadline was to fund the government what the republicans tried to do was pass a continuing resolution that would just fund the government at its current spending levels nothing changes republicans aren't trying to sneak anything in it's just they're gonna just keep it going while they negotiate a broader budget democrats said no they said no we're not going to keep the government going at current spending levels nothing changes it's all normal we're not going to do that we are going to shut down the government we are going to shut down so called non essential services does raise some question as to why we have so many non essential services in our government that's a point for another time the democrats say we will only fund the government if you republicans who control the white house and the house of representatives and the senate and the supreme court i guess and who have unified government if you guys give us a bunch of extra subsidies for obamacare obamacare what why what's that about what this is about is democrats right now losing on every single issue almost every single issue other than healthcare also the environment there's women's rights but if you look we covered this on the show just a few days ago right now and we're what nine months into president trump's second term right now the democrats should be winning on a lot of issues that's just what happens the midterm elections happen after a presidential election and the party that's out of the white house usually does really really well and the problem for the democrats right now is they're actually somehow still underwater on all the issues that matter to people on crime on the economy on immigration on foreign policy they're tied on defensive democracy which is a kind of made up issue it's a real sloganeered kind of issue that is supposed to just buoy the democrats even that the democrats and republicans are statistically tied on the only issues that the democrats are still doing all right on are women's rights the environment whatever and health care healthcare is one that the democrats historically can lean on and so they're doubling down on that and they're gonna shut down the government in order to change healthcare or at least change the conversation now to focus on healthcare now part of the reason the democrats feel like they can do that is republicans always get blamed for a government shutdown maybe that will happen again republicans that's the conventional wisdom is the republicans always get blamed for the shutdown i'm not so sure it's gonn this time you have to remember we've just endured a seismic political shift the coalitions have changed a lot of voters that have historically gone to the dems have moved significantly to the right including black men including women of all kinds including young women especially young voters moved ten points in twenty twenty four the gop has flipped the script on a lot of issues on things like tariffs on things like immigration to some degree on things like foreign wars so i'm not sure that the conventional holds i'm not sure conventional wisdom holds rather i'm not sure that past really is precedent here and on top of that the voters gave republicans unified government so it does not stand to reason that the party that controls the entire government would shut down the government also because i think what the democrats are counting on is the heavy libertarian influence in the republican party for the whole the entirety of my lifetime for many decades at this point which suggests that republicans are thrilled to shut the government down the republicans are borderline anarchists they don't want any government at all they wanna privatize everything once again though after the trump revolution in twenty sixteen that's not really the case that's not there are plenty of republicans and conservatives who do want to wield the government in fact it's a discordant line of argument for the democrats because the democrats have spent the last seven months claiming that trump is a fascist dictator who wants to turn the government on all of his enemies that he's an authoritarian that he's using the government too much so again you can't simultaneously make both of those arguments these republicans hate the government they wanna dismantle the government also they wanna build up the government and use it to pummel their enemies you have to pick one if you wanna make sense the one thing the democrats do have to do though is change the conversation because at this point in trump's first term the democrats should be doing really well in their poll numbers and they're not in fact their unfavorability rating is as high as it's ever been which is really really bad news they have to do something and i think this government shutdown comes out of sheer political desperation for democrats shoot the economy was supposed to collapse the tariffs were supposed to destroy the economy the tariffs were supposed to lead to massive inflation the tariffs and none of that happened even jerome powell who's being rhetorically pummeled by trump every single day even jerome powell chairman of the fed said nah actually the inflation has not come about because of the tariffs well the immigration crackdown that was supposed to work for democrats no actually the republican immigration policies are still very popular very popular well trump was supposed to get us into world war three actually he hasn't well well well so democrats have these really high unfavorables they have to change the conversation away from crime in the cities every second we're talking about crime in the cities it's bad for democrats because the democrats are the ones letting their own constituents be murdered by criminals and taking the side of the criminals when they do it every second that we spend talking even about the economy which does have some underlying issues of course even that it's not working for the democrats every second we're talking about really just about any issue the only issue that might be able to move the needle for them is healthcare and the only way that they can distract from the conversations that are going on probably first and foremost the political violence from the left which has not had success persuading voters in recent years and so has increasingly threatened its opponents and actually celebrated even the murder of one of its most prominent opponents all of that stuff redounds to the detriment of the democrats so i get the calculation hakeem jeffries there in the house chuck schumer in the senate even though these guys have spent many many years inveighing against government shutdowns which they always blame on the republicans now they are advocating for a government shutdown but they're doing it because they have no other option they have to do something to change the conversation and they have to do anything they can to make the conversation about healthcare whether or not that will work remains to be seen because there's a brutal poll just came out from new york times and siena we'll get to that in one moment first though i want to tell you about policygenius go 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compare quotes from top insurers see all your options laid out clearly no confusing jargon no guesswork secure your family's financial future today with policygenius go to policygenius dot com knowles to compare life insurance quotes from top companies see how much you could save policygenius dot com knowles new york times siena poll september twenty second through twenty seventh so quote quite recent views on whether the democrats should or should not shut down the government if their demands are not met so right there off the top i know what democrats are gonna say they're gonna say that's a push poll that's a loaded question why are you blaming the shutdown on the democrats and the answer is because the democrats are obviously the ones doing it the republicans control the government they very much do not want to shut down the government the only party advocating to shut down the government is the democrats even the new york times is admitting it so don't go after the new york times if you're on the left trust me if the new york times could spin this in a way that would blame republicans i'm sure they would they just can't it's not possible so if the times isn't gonna succeed at it i don't think you random democrat congressmen are going to succeed at it either what does the poll say all respondents only twenty seven percent say that the dems should shut down the government sixty five percent say they shouldn't only one in four voters just about says the dems should shut down the government sixty five percent no among democrats only forty seven percent say that they should shut down the government so this government shutdown is unpopular less than fifty percent support even among democrats among independents only thirty two percent think that support the democrat shutdown among republicans unsurprisingly five percent so first of all those poll numbers alone show you who is shutting down the government no group no group wants to shut down the government there is no majority of any political group in the country that wants to shut down the government but in as much as the different groups support or don't support it the support is only among democrats basically no republicans support this so in my mind if the media do not have their hegemonic power that they once did if the spin machine for the democrats is not firing on all cylinders i don't know that this is gonna be blamed on republicans if even the new york times today cannot blame this on the republicans this seriously could backfire for the democrats and meanwhile trump is willing to take advantage he says look i don't wanna shut this thing down things are going pretty well but if you're gonna shut it down and you're gonna make us get rid of these federal workers then we're not gonna play your game and merely furlough a lot of the federal workers and then you know give them their jobs back with back pay and extra pay and no if you really want to shut this thing down fine then we're going to use this opportunity that you're foisting upon us in order to continue to streamline government which is one of the things we were elected with back in november in fact this is one of the things we won the popular vote on namely bringing efficiency back to government doge this could really backfire this could really really backfire for the dems and even still it shows you the desperation of their position even still if i were hakeem jeffries i might shut down the government anyway not because i think that's likely to help the democrats it's just that everything else seems worse if the democrats continue on their current trajectory they're gonna get blown out in the midterms and maybe in twenty twenty eight so in some ways it's the least bad option for dems but i see a lot of upside here for the republicans i don't see a lot of upside for democrats meanwhile the essential services are moving ahead and this is the real threat for dems so they're gonna stand around and they're gonna whine about how they want to they're gonna hold the government hostage in order to ramp through a bunch of plausibly popular healthcare proposals but some of them are pretty unpopular and the ones that pertain to immigration are really unpopular but at least we're not talking about ice right well not really because the department of homeland security is an essential service law enforcement is an essential service so while the democrats are putting on this sideshow trump is going in and enforcing the law in a popular way like a federal raid just happened in chicago three hundred ice agents rappelling down from helicopters targeting a building full of illegals and we're not just talking about the gardener we're about talking we're not just talking about the nice abuela who cleans your home or something we're talking about trend aragua terrorists.