This government shutdown won't sting

Furthermore, it’s not like a shutdown would permanently chip off 1.5 percent of economic output this year. It would just delay it until a budget deal is finally hammered out.

Temporarily removing that demand from the economy certainly isn’t good. And the stock market, which has been having a tough time of it already, may well freak out. But with unemployment at 3.7 percent and wage growth ticking upward at an increased clip, the fundamentals of the economy look stronger than they have at any point since the Great Recession. In all likelihood, the vast majority of Americans won’t notice the shutdown at all.

As a result, Trump and his supporters feel like they have much more room this time to play chicken with the rest of the government over immigration. “If you look at what the real-world consequences would be, I think this shutdown would be different because we have funded most of the government, because President Trump has said he will make sure essential services continue,” Rep. Richard Hudson (R-N.C.) told The Washington Post. “I don’t think the American people will feel an impact from this like they may have in the past. I also think that the most important thing is we’ve got to secure our southern border because we have a national security crisis down there.”