One wave is unsettled, another wave rises again.
Just as the resurgent Israeli war, the shaking of the ceasefire agreement, sparked widespread international concerns, the long-lasting Russian-Ukrainian conflict is also spreading new trends, and the United States is also playing a new phenomenon.
At the critical moment, three things worthy of attention happened in the United States.
First, the US military fired three shots in 24 hours, but only one person survived
The situation in Venezuela is unprecedentedly tense, the U.S. military has sent aircraft carrier strike groups and strategic bombers to its surrounding waters, and missile destroyers have also arrived in ports near Trinidad and Tobago to prepare for joint military exercises.
On the 28th, U.S. Secretary of War Hagersyth announced that the U.S. military had launched a strong strike against drug trafficking terrorist organizations in the eastern Pacific. According to the Associated Press, on the 27th, the U.S. military launched three attacks in the international waters of the eastern Pacific Ocean, sinking four "drug trafficking ships", killing 14 people and surviving one. It was the first time that the U.S. military announced multiple attacks in a single day.The Washington Post pointed out that this is a major upgrade in the United States 'campaign to crack down on "drug traffickers in the Western Hemisphere."
U.S. Defense Secretary Hegseth responded on social media on the 28th that the sunken ship was a terrorist organization recognized by the United States, carrying drugs and traveling along drug trafficking routes. He also released video of the attack, which showed two ships sailing in the water, one of which was carrying a large number of packages, before the two ships exploded and burst into flames. The third attack targeted two ships parked side by side on the water.
In order to fight drugs, Trump launched a “drug war”, but the Naval Air Force’s operation far exceeded the scale needed to fight drugs and has sunk several drug ships, which is more like a military operation in the eyes of the outside world.
The Wall Street Journal quoted the Pentagon as saying that one survivor of the attack fell into international waters on the Pacific Coast of Mexico, and the U.S. Coast Guard was coordinating rescue with the Mexican military, but has not been found so far.
Mexico’s President Simón Bolívar opposed the U.S. military attack on Monday and has asked the Foreign Ministry and the military to meet with the U.S. ambassador to Mexico.
Reuters broke the news at this time, which made the real intention of Trump's "drug war" more and more confusing. It is said that, The U.S. government has asked officers and men to sign confidentiality agreements related to Latin American missions, and the number of signatories is still unclear because it involves national security secrets. This move caused widespread doubts, and the outside world speculated that the United States might launch a military invasion of Venezuela.
While American soldiers are attacking Latin America, situations are also happening in the United States.
The second thing, 54 votes in favor and 46 votes against, the "shutdown" of the US government is still going on
A few days ago, the U.S. Senate voted on the government appropriation bill for the 12th time. The result was 54 votes in favour and 46 against.Having failed to reach the 60 votes in favor required for passage of the bill, The US government’s “stop” continues.By then, the federal government’s “stop” has entered the fourth week. House Speaker Mike Johnson said the “stop” could be the longest-lasting in U.S. history.
The official website of the White House on the top of the "government shutdown" theme page has a "shutdown timer", as of the issue, the shutdown timer shows that this round of government shutdown has continued. 26 days and 22 hours.
It should be noted that three Democratic senators voted against the Republican Party, but still did not reach 60 votes.Therefore, whether the bill was proposed by the Democratic Party or the Republican Party, it would require at least 10 lawmakers to push the bill to pass. From the current situation of tensions between the two parties in the United States, it is obviously very challenging to resolve the "closure" situation facing the US government.
At 0:01 on October 1st, due to the expiration of the last round of appropriation bill, federal agencies that relied on congressional appropriations were shut down. According to the current situation, this "closure" may last until November. In the history of the United States, the government has "shut down" many times, with the longest record being 39 days, and it happened during Trump's first term. Now Trump is in power again, and the government is in a stall again, this time the stall is long or innovative high.
As the "stop-down" continues, the negative impact is gradually evident, ranging from short-term output losses to long-term expected interference, and multi-field pressure.
Economically, many federal agencies such as the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics have been shut down, key data such as employment reports and consumer price indices have been delayed, market uncertainty has increased, corporate investment confidence has been frustrated, and economic decision-making has faced "data loss." If it continues, the economy will be hit hard.
In addition, the impact of the shutdown quickly spread to people's lives, with many public services suspended, and vulnerable groups and international tourists greatly affected.
The government’s “stop-down” was seen as an opportunity for the U.S. government to deepen cuts. About 200,000 federal employees have left since Trump’s second term.The White House administration and budget office, which previously implemented the cuts, acted more aggressively after the “stop-up” and is expected to cut another 10,000 federal jobs.
The main reason why the U.S. government has repeatedly "shut down" is the game between the two parties.The Democratic and Republican governing ideas and funding bills focus differently.When Obama was in power in 2013, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives refused funding for the Obama Medicine Reform Act, and the two parties stalled the government for 16 days.
In the end, the Republicans failed to cut funding for medical reforms, instead of working with the Democrats to develop plans to restart the government and raise the debt ceiling.
During Trump's second term, the "health insurance" issue has become a spark again, with Democrats demanding an extension of Obama's medical reform subsidies, withdrawing the Republican legislation to cut medical subsidies, while Republicans have rejected the subsidy's automatic renewal.
On the surface, the two-party dispute focuses on medical spending: Democrats support the continuation of medical subsidies for low-income groups, while Republicans advocate cuts.
But in the depth of the "closed doors" crisis is difficult to solve, arising from the two parties in the governing philosophy and social thinking game, involving medical, immigration, politics and society, etc. In short, this crisis is essentially the interests of the two parties, both parties are not willing to give in, consensus is difficult to.
In addition, during the “closure” of the government, Trump sought to use the opportunity to cut or cancel Democratic-related projects, this move is nothing but to exacerbate contradictions, Democrats will resist, and the Republican solution to the “closure” crisis will be more difficult.
However, just as the two parties in the United States were fighting and the situation continued to be tense, Trump got another bad news.
Third thing, Trump "is not at home", 25 states sued the federal government
According to the news agency, on October 28, local time, the U.S. federal government "stop" for four weeks, during which time President Trump is visiting Asia. The U.S. largest food subsidy program, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) funds are almost exhausted, about 42 million Americans are in trouble because of the inability to buy enough food. U.S. 25 states and the capital Washington have jointly sued the federal government to enable emergency funding to ensure SNAP welfare in November. The New York State Attorney General noted that the U.S. Department of Agriculture "has money but is not issued", millions of Americans will face hunger.
At present, Trump has not responded to this issue.
It should be noted that the total population of the United States is approximately 340 million, and this plan covers approximately one-eighth of it. Therefore, if the plan is "stalled", tens of millions of Americans will be affected, and large-scale protests may break out again in the United States.
The lawsuit was jointly initiated by Massachusetts, California, Arizona, Minnesota and Washington DC Attorneys General and filed in the Boston Federal Court. The states accused the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) of refusing to make use of the November subsidies, in violation of the legal obligation under the Food and Nutrition Act that “the government should assist all eligible families.”
Facing the lawsuit, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Rollins responded on the 28th that the Department of Agriculture lacked US$9.2 billion in funds. She criticized the blue state that filed the lawsuit and asked the Department of Agriculture to find money, but blamed the Democratic Party for the "shutdown", saying that "it was the Democrats in Congress who voted to keep the government shut down." The Ministry of Agriculture's website also issued a statement: "Senate Democrats voted 13 times to refuse funding for SNAP, and the benefit will be suspended on November 1."
25 Democratic-dominated states joined forces to prosecute Trump, appearing to be opposed to the White House policy, in fact, is a game-to-play between the United States and the two parties.
In addition to the SNAP welfare impact, the federal government "stop" has also caused 1.3 million active military personnel, millions of federal employees pay off, and many other government services and subsidy programs are affected.
So far, however, there are no signs of compromise between the two parties.