By Luca Knych | Spring 2026 – Volume 16

Beginning on October 1st and lasting until November
12th, last year’s United States Government shutdown
marked the longest in American history. As is always the
case, the shutdown began due to Congress’s failure to pass
the required 12 appropriation bills, which provide funding
to the federal government by the start of the fiscal year on
October 1st, 2025. However, this shutdown stood out as
its true causes stem much deeper than mere budgeting
disputes. Underlying these developments were deepening
political polarization, unprecedented cuts to essential aid
programs, and the influence of private interests. As a
result, country-wide trust in the United States system of
government reached its lowest level in nearly seven
decades.

Beyond the Budget

Typical government shutdowns revolve around fiscal
policy disputes. For instance, the 2013 government
shutdown resulted from funding disputes surrounding the
Affordable Care Act. There, policymakers clashed on
whether and how to fund a new major government
program. In contrast, the 2025 shutdown was headed and
prolonged by institutional power disputes, as the Trump
administration fought for control over the federal
workforce. On October 10th, ten days into the shutdown,
the administration began issuing RIF (reduction-in-force)
notices to approximately 4,100 federal employees. Unlike
typical shutdowns, where workers are furloughed (temporarily suspended from work until the government reopens), the Trump administration instead pushed for
permanent dismissals. The RIFs were designed to
eliminate specific positions in targeted agencies such as
the HHS, Department of Education, the IRS, and the
EPA, with the president going as far as to publicly state
they were targeting “Democrat-oriented” agencies.
Despite the fact that ultimately 3,600 of the RIFs were
reversed when the shutdown concluded, the precedent was
set: attempted mass firings at specific agencies resistant to
a current administration’s agenda marked a clear misuse
of institutional power. It sets a dangerous precedent
regarding the future of the federal workforce and whether
their loyalty will remain to the country itself or to the
bidding of the current administration.

Political Gain Above All

Further egregious measures taken by the Trump
administration were actions surrounding SNAP benefits.
SNAP, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, is a
federally funded program, formerly known as “food
stamps,” that provides monthly subsidies to low-income
families in order to purchase food. This service is critical
for millions of Americans living paycheck to paycheck,
and even a brief disruption can leave them unable to
support themselves and their families. Programs seen as
essential, such as SNAP, were previously shielded from
government shutdowns through contingency funds or
administrative workarounds. However, in the most recent
shutdown, the Trump administration actively chose to
withhold these backup funds, stating that contingency
funds were reserved for “emergencies, catastrophes, or
war.” The result was that 42 million Americans were
temporarily left without food-based aid.

Doubling down, the president even went on to announce
on social media on November 4th that SNAP benefits
would only be paid after the shutdown ended. Effectively
turning food aid into a political bargaining chip, the
administration indicated that it was willing to go to any
means necessary to assert its political will. This
fundamentally altered how many citizens viewed the
government’s true priorities. It signaled a clear transfer, in
the eyes of many, that the government had become less
concerned with being a reliable provider of stability and
instead was fixated on ideological restructuring at any
cost.

In addition to withholding benefits vital for millions of
citizens, the administrative decision was momentous
because the funding for SNAP had already been legally
appropriated. To be clear, appropriated money is money
that has been legally authorized by Congress for allocation
to specific government agencies. In the case of SNAP,
Congress had already appropriated $4.65 billion to act as
a contingency fund in case of an emergency, such as a
government shutdown. However, the Trump
administration refused to distribute these funds, claiming
they lacked legal authority to do so. Yet simultaneously,
the administration took steps to ensure certain programs
remained funded, directing appropriated money toward
the agricultural sector. Critics were quick to highlight the
double standard: programs tied to key political
constituencies, like farming, received their funding, while
those without direct political utility had theirs withheld.
This decision set a damaging precedent, because if the
government can simply choose to ignore legally
appropriated funds for political gain, it puts into question
the rule of democracy itself. A government that only
chooses to follow the rules when it’s beneficial isn’t a
democracy: it is an autocracy.

The Cost of Dysfunction

When examining the actions taken leading up to and
during the 2025 government shutdown, it is easy to see
why public trust has severely eroded. Unprecedented
power grabs, weaponization of essential aid programs,
and the disregarding legal rulings left Americans
navigating one of the most unstable political climates in
decades. These were not abstract political footnotes;
instead, they are the consequence of institutional failure
at the deepest level.

Where does that leave us? Millions of Americans feel
powerless as they watch their own government make
continued and increasing decisions, both domestically
and internationally, that have no benefit to the average
person. This disenfranchisement, combined with the
rapidly declining trust in the system of government itself,
casts a long shadow on the future of America. The real
question is not whether trust in the government is
declining, but rather whether what remains is enough to
recover from.

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Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. (2025). A Quick Guide
to SNAP Eligibility and Benefits.
https://www.cbpp.org/research/food-assistance/a-quick-guide-tosnap-
eligibility-and-benefits
Jackie Dilworth. (2025). What You Need to Know About SNAP
and WIC During the Government Shutdown.
https://thearc.org/blog/what-you-need-to-know-about-snap-andwic-
if-the-government-shutdown-continues/
Pew Research Center. (2025). Public Trust in Government: 1958-
2025.
https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2025/12/04/public-trust-ingovernment-
1958-2025/
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2025). 2025 federal government
shutdown impact on the Current Population Survey.
https://www.bls.gov/cps/methods/2025-federal-governmentshutdown-
impact-cps.htm