According to foreign media, US President Trump has just issued an executive order to shut down the federal government on December 24.

The New Year is sad - this old Chinese saying, US President Trump probably has a deep understanding of it these days.

Two days ago, he had a bad relationship with Senate Democratic leader Schumer and others. The reason is still for money. It is reported that the US government funds will be exhausted on December 21, and the new year's fiscal budget must be released. But when it comes to funding for the construction of the "U.S.-Mexico border wall," Trump offered $5 billion, but Congress controlled by Democrats did not want to give him more than $1 billion.

A total difference of 4 billion! How could Trump endure it and threatened, "If you don't give me money to build the border wall, the government will shut down." Schumer directly accused Trump of having a "bad temper." This means that if the two sides insist on refusing to give in to each other and the U.S. government cannot receive operating funds for the next year in time, a shutdown is not completely impossible.

On the surface, this is a lack of consensus on the budget between the US Congress and the government. In fact, it is a reflection of the huge differences between Democrats and Republicans on immigration policy. The U.S.-Mexico border wall was Trump's core proposal in the 2016 election. Since taking office, Trump has spoken out on this issue many times, and the tens of thousands of immigrants from China and the United States who broke out some time ago have even urged him to speed up the process. Democrats, represented by Schumer, have always had objections to this.

At this moment, conflicts are breaking out. One of the triggers is that the Democratic Party will regain control of the House of Representatives after the mid-term elections in November, and the new Congress will take office in January next year. In other words, if Trump does not implement the US$5 billion to build the border wall as soon as possible, it will be more difficult to get the money next year. His calculation is that now that the new year is approaching, if Congress does not pass a budget, the government will not be able to operate, and public opinion will inevitably surge, which can be used as a bargaining chip.

Whether this trick is effective or not is another matter.

In January this year, Trump and Schumer had a big fight over immigration, and the U.S. government shut down. In order to force the other party to accept their own plans, the Democrats and Republicans are testing each other's bottom line. Who would have expected that everyone is not a fuel-efficient lamp, but no one gave in even a little bit, and the government budget was not passed. After the quarrel, both sides blamed each other. Trump said the government shutdown was a "Schumer shutdown," and Schumer retorted that it was a "Trump shutdown." However, the media still commented well that this is "the American system has shut down."

For the world's largest country, the central government faces the danger of "shutdown" from time to time, which is hardly normal. It is even more difficult to understand that the two major political parties can still be so complacent about this and use it as a bargaining chip to check and balance each other. Even though many people know that during the "shutdown" of the U.S. government, core departments such as the military, border defense, and public security will continue to operate normally, but hundreds of thousands of employees will be forced to take leave, and other businesses will inevitably be affected, and economic growth will inevitably not be affected. Statistics show that the shutdown at the beginning of this year caused losses of approximately US$6.5 billion per day.

If you calculate the big and long-term accounts, everyone knows which loss is more serious, "4 billion" or "6.5 billion". But the problem is that neither party has the ability or the will to coordinate the overall situation. Because the "5 billion" received to build the border wall proves the political performance of Trump's Republican Party and captures this group of voters, while the 6.5 billion cannot be directly linked to the actions of the political party. On the contrary, it may be able to rake the blame and throw the blame on the other side.

The "government shutdown" is just a manifestation of the polarization of partisanship in the United States.

Under the premise of "ballot politics", everyone participating in the game must prepare two hands - offense and defense. Regardless of whether one's own ideas are about drinking poison to quench thirst or "drawing a big pie", the key is to maximize the interest of voters and guide votes to vote for oneself; the key to other people's ideas, whether they are beneficial to the country or the people or not, is to find loopholes and attack fiercely to win back the votes. As a result, a situation is unavoidable: a vicious fight between the two parties. As long as you agree with it, I will oppose it, and as long as you oppose it, I will support it. The final result is that although everyone talks about being responsible to the people, the people have repeatedly become victims. They keep saying they want to make the country better, but they shut down the government entirely.

Party criticism and social division have become recognized shortcomings of the American electoral system. If people used to comfort themselves with "power checks and balances" and "democratic votes" before, now the many sequelae are enough to show that it has inherent fatal flaws and is likely to be irreversible. From the two parties criticizing each other's governing strategies, to forcing the government to shut down, to live broadcasting of "quarrels" between the top leaders of the two parties... If this trend continues, the checks and balances of both parties will become more and more extreme and "exciting". I wonder what the White House will come up with to satisfy the audience next time?