Signage indicates the closure of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, on Sunday. Aaron Schwartz/Reuters

The government shutdown is barreling forward, with few signs of a resolution over the weekend.

It’s normal for these shutdowns to feel intractable, right up until the moment one side suddenly caves. But the dynamics here are unusual and suggest this one could last longer than usual.

With that in mind, here are the ways it could ultimately come to an end.

The Democrats fold

This might be the most likely outcome, for a few reasons.

The first is that it’s generally how shutdowns end; the side that makes demands rarely gets what it wants, because the American people overwhelmingly don’t like using shutdowns as leverage .

The second is that we’ve already seen some crack

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