Voters now blame Democrats slightly more than Republicans for the shutdown -- if you believe the polling. An historic 43-day closure resulted in as much as a $14 billion hit to the economy. All sorts of disruptions and inconveniences happened. Democrats voted against funding Uncle Sam 15 times during the “Schumer Shutdown,” though corporate media did their level best to cover for them, as usual.

Democrats bet on pain leading to gain. The shutdown was a governance and, finally, a perceptions victory for President Trump -- who furnished Republicans the backbone. Another shutdown looms in January. ObamaCare, a miserable failure, needs to be scrapped. Trump wants it replaced with a program centered on consumer empowerment. We’ll see if congressional Republicans are up to the challenge.

Though Democrats came up empty legislatively, they did make gains in the off-year elections. The shutdown helped gin up their base. Blue states voted blue, which isn’t a surprise, but the magnitude of those victories was unexpected -- save for New York City, where Zohran Mamdani won with a plurality. The shutdown helped Democrats in Northern Virginia’s D.C. suburbs. MAGA voters stayed home. Independents in New Jersey swung Democrat -- partly due to the shutdown, but mostly due to economic frustrations. Voters in blue states are overtaxed and overregulated, which dampen state economies, yet it must be Trump’s fault.

Contrary to Democrat and corporate media propaganda, the economy has improved since Trump took office. Gas prices are down. So is the price of eggs. But consumers say grocery store prices are still too high. Wage growth among blue-collar workers is the best in about 60 years. Energy production is climbing. You can’t overestimate its importance. Abundant, cheaper energy will have huge impacts on costs economy-wide. The economy........

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