Editorial on Thune shutdown from a South Dakota town named for a war criminal

Editor's note: "Americans now blame Trump and Republicans for the shutdown by 14 points, up from 10 points last week. Trump reaches his lowest economic approval in Navigator tracking since 2018. As SNAP benefits come under threat, Americans look to Trump and Republicans to come to the table to negotiate an end to the shutdown." And. "The WalletHub Economic Index decreased by over 9% between October 2024 and October 2025. This means consumers are less confident about their financial outlook this month than they were at the same time last year."

The following is an editorial in a mal-named South Dakota paper.

Representatives of the government of the United States of America: It’s time to get back to work. 

For over four weeks now, our government has been shut down, to the detriment of the citizens. Things are about to get even worse, as some state agencies report that beginning Nov. 1, EBT cards may not receive new SNAP benefit allotments until the shutdown is resolved. That means people in need could begin to go hungry, including children who have absolutely no control over the situation, or their situation in general. It is 2025. We cannot voluntarily allow children to go hungry at the expense of political theater. Whether you support the program or not, allowing SNAP benefits to expire would be an absolute catastrophe for a number of reasons.

There is not any one member of our government or any one party to blame for what is now one of the longest shutdowns in the history of our government. This brinksmanship could be prevented if both Democrats and Republicans would work together to provide a solution. Instead, it is more important to them to grandstand and point fingers. We send our representatives to Washington, D.C., to operate the government and solve problems for us. We don’t send them there to shut the government down and then wait for the other party to “blink” in the name of gaining some macabre leverage or advantage. It’s just another example of our federal leadership failing us. It’s something that is becoming all too common.

If our “leaders” (and we use that term very, very loosely) have issues they want to get resolved, they should do so under the umbrella of an operational, functioning government. What is going on right now is accomplishing nothing, and more and more people are suffering. Shutdowns are not inevitable, and can be avoided. It takes two to tango. Unfortunately, it seems like our leaders are presently only interested in dancing on our faces. Meanwhile, federal employees are missing paychecks but still expected to show up to work. Local businesses are losing customers, and our public land suffers as well.

Here in Custer County, we have plenty of public land and we have plenty of federal employees. They may not be saying so on the record, but they are feeling the pinch. It is terrible they are put at the mercy of our increasingly petulant representatives.

The centerpiece of the shutdown is a dispute over  healthcare — specifically the fate of premium tax credits under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and cuts to Medicaid. Republicans argue Democrats want to spend millions and millions of dollars on healthcare for illegal aliens. Democrats say that is not the case. The healthcare system is yet another system in the United States that is broken, but that’s another editorial for another time.

Nothing gets solved when both sides take their ball and go home. It’s long past time for our government to reopen and solve these problems for the people of the United States. Nothing gets solved when people refuse to compromise. Unfortunately that seems to be what our government does best—be uncompromising and get little done. Get back to work. It’s the least you can do for us. [War Criminal County Chronicle]