House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries arrives to speak to reporters outside the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on October 23, 2025. Stefani Reynolds/Bloomberg/Getty Images

After the 2013 government shutdown ended, Republican leaders made clear they had only been humoring Sen. Ted Cruz and his plot to defund Obamacare.

“It was not a smart play. It had no chance of success,” then-Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said .

Then-House Speaker John Boehner initially said the GOP had “fought the good fight.” But he would later say the plan “ never had a chance ” and even called the Texas senator “ Lucifer in the flesh .”

This is how shutdowns generally go. The side seeking a concession fights what they view as “the good fight,” and then they give up when it becomes clea

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