President Donald Trump and former President Barack Obama are polar opposites in many ways, but, as with anyone who has sat behind the Resolute Desk, they do share some similarities.

One thing both have in common is overseeing government shutdowns — one under Obama and two under Trump. And even in that sparse similarity, both men operated differently, particularly in the most recent, 43-day closure.

While both congressional battles were centered on Obamacare, Obama put his shutdown at the center of attention, while Trump kept it at more of an arm’s length.

HOW CLOSED-DOOR NEGOTIATIONS AND A GUARANTEE ENDED LONGEST GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN ON RECORD

Romina Boccia, director of budget and entitlement policy at the Cato Institute, told Fox News Digital that a major difference in the Obama and Trump administrations’ approaches to their respective shutdowns was that in 2013, Obama wanted the pain of shutdown to be felt by Americans, while Trump kept the focus centered on Washington, D.C.

«During the Obama shutdown, it was more to make it extremely visible, shut down beloved functions — even if you didn’t have to — that affect average Americans,» she said.

Boccia at the time worked for the conservative think-tank the Heritage Foundation and recalled the barricades that were swiftly erected around Washington, D.C.’s many national parks.

Those barricades, both concrete and human, spilled out beyond the nation’s capital and were placed around the hundreds of national parks across America as a stark reminder that the government was closed.

Boccia noted that a direct comparison of the two shutdowns would be difficult given the differing lengths, but that the Trump administration, at least early on, sought to inflict direct pain on congressional Democrats and the federal government.

GOP UNITY SHATTERED BY CONTROVERSIAL MEASURE IN GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN BILL

A welcome sign is seen at Yosemite National Park in California on Dec. 13, 2023. (Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu via Getty Images)

That was carried out largely by the Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought, who ordered mass firings of furloughed workers and withheld or canceled billions in federal funding to blue cities and states.

«It’s not that this wasn’t a shutdown, it’s just that the choices the administration made were an attempt to focus the impacts of the shutdown this round on the government itself,» Brittany Madni, executive vice president of the Economic Policy Innovation Center, told Fox News Digital.

«This was showmanship from President Obama,» Madni continued. «And if you look at what happened over the last 40 something days, it was the exact same playbook by congressional Democrats.»

Madni argued that discussions and debate during the 2013 shutdown were centered largely in Washington, D.C. The latest closure saw some of that, but it also saw Trump continuing to work on trade deals, particularly during his high-profile visit to Asia, which was a point of contention for Democrats on the Hill.

«He was doing his job,» Madni said. «He was doing his job. Meanwhile, congressional Democrats, quite simply, were not.»

Still, there was a shared thread in both shutdowns: Obamacare.

In 2013, congressional Republicans wanted to dismantle Obama’s signature piece of legislation. Fast-forward, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., led his caucus to push extensions to enhanced Obamacare subsidies.

Boccia said that played a large part in why Obama was at the vanguard during his shutdown.

«He was front and center in the media talking about the shutdown, and because it was over his legacy achievement,» she said.

SENATE REACHES TEMPORARY TRUCE TO END RECORD SHUTDOWN, BUT JANUARY BATTLE LOOMS

Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer after a news conference in the U.S. Capitol on Nov. 5, 2025. (Tom Williams/Getty Images)

It was because his key legislative achievement was under fire that Obama took such a central role in the shutdown, Boccia argued, but for Trump, who tried during his first administration to gut and replace Obamacare, it wasn’t a priority.

«The fact that it was over the Obamacare COVID credits, I think, made the president less necessary and perhaps interested in being the face of the shutdown,» she said. «It was really a congressional battle.»

Madni disagreed that the latest shutdown wasn’t a direct bid by congressional Democrats to go after one of his legislative achievements.

Before the climactic failed vote in the Senate in late September that ushered in the longest shutdown in history, Democrats offered a counter-proposal that would have stripped several provisions from Trump’s «big, beautiful bill,» which has so far been the crowning legislative achievement of his second term.

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«It’s really important that everyone remembers the subsidy request was one request in a laundry list of radical, incredibly expensive ideas that added up to $1.5 trillion,» Madni said. «Another item in that list was dismantling key portions of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.»

«If this was really about the subsidies, then the Democrats would have been willing at any point during the last 43 days to adjust their asks and just make it about subsidies,» she continued. «Not once did they.»

President Donald Trump kicked off the week meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and closed the week meeting with New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani. 

He also signed legislation ordering the Justice Department to release files related to the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. 

Here’s a look at what happened this week. 

Epstein files 

Trump announced Wednesday evening that he put his stamp of approval on a bill instructing the Justice Department to release files related to Epstein — after Congress passed the measure Tuesday.

TRUMP SAYS WHETHER HE WOULD SIGN EPSTEIN FILES BILL 

«I HAVE JUST SIGNED THE BILL TO RELEASE THE EPSTEIN FILES!» Trump wrote in a lengthy message on the Truth Social platform. «As everyone knows, I asked Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, to pass this Bill in the House and Senate, respectively. Because of this request, the votes were almost unanimous in favor of passage. 

«At my direction, the Department of Justice has already turned over close to fifty thousand pages of documents to Congress. Do not forget — The Biden Administration did not turn over a SINGLE file or page related to Democrat Epstein, nor did they ever even speak about him.»

Trump’s ties to Epstein had faced increased attention after Trump’s Justice Department and FBI announced in July it would not unseal investigation materials related to Epstein, and that the agencies’ investigation into the case had closed.

TRUMP CALLS ON HOUSE REPUBLICANS TO VOTE TO RELEASE EPSTEIN FILES: ‘WE HAVE NOTHING TO HIDE’

However, Trump announced Nov. 16 that he backed releasing the documents, claiming that he had «nothing to hide.»

Ultimately, the House voted Tuesday to release the files by a 421–1 margin, following pressure for months from the measure’s ringleaders, Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Ro Khanna, D-Calif., and other Democrats.

The Senate passed the measure by unanimous consent later Tuesday.

BIDEN’S SAUDI FIST BUMP DREW HEAT IN 2022 — TRUMP JUST ROLLED OUT THE RED CARPET 

Mamdani meeting 

Mamdani visited Trump at the White House Friday, and the two appeared chummy and ready to launch a fresh start in their relationship. The two said they discussed addressing affordability issues and improving conditions in New York. 

Trump said the two had more in common than he anticipated, and that he would be «cheering» for Mamdani as he leads the city. 

«I expect to be helping him, not hurting him — a big help,» Trump said.

New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani and President Donald Trump take questions from the press following their one-on-one meeting, Friday, in the Oval Office of the White House. (Pool/Fox News)

EPSTEIN REFERENCED TRUMP IN PRIVATE EMAILS TO GHISLAINE MAXWELL AND OTHERS, NEW RECORDS SHOW 

Trump also brushed off Mamdani’s comment labeling him a despot in his victory speech following the Nov. 4 election, with the president claiming Friday he’s encountered worse and that he believes Mamdani will change his tune as the two work together. 

«I’ve been called much worse than a ‘despot,’ so it’s not, it’s not that insulting,» Trump said. «I think he’ll change his mind after we get to working together.» 

Saudi crown prince meeting

Trump also met with the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at the White House Tuesday, an occasion that included a red carpet rolled across the South Lawn, military honor guard, and an Air Force flyover to elevate the formal state-level welcome.

During bin Salman’s visit, the U.S. announced that it would sell F-35 jets to Saudi Arabia, and that it would now be a «major non-NATO ally» to facilitate military cooperation between the two countries. 

«President Trump approved a major defense sale package, including future F-35 deliveries, which strengthens the U.S. defense industrial base and ensures Saudi Arabia continues to buy American,» the White House said in a statement. 

Trump’s reception of bin Salman is a departure from the Biden administration, who said in 2019 during his presidential campaign that he would make Saudi Arabia «the pariah that they are» because of the death of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

President Donald Trump’s reception of Crown Prince and Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Mohammed bin Salman is a departure from the Biden administration. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images)

U.S. intelligence agencies concluded in 2021 that bin Salman gave the green light on the operation that took Khashoggi’s life. Khashoggi, a Saudi dissident, was brutally murdered in Istanbul at the Saudi consulate in 2018.

But Trump defended bin Salman Tuesday, and accused a reporter who asked about U.S. intelligence reports linking the prince to Khashoggi’s death of embarrassing bin Salman.

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«A lot of people didn’t like that gentleman that you’re talking about,» Trump said Tuesday. «Whether you like him or didn’t like him, things happen, but he knew nothing about it. And would you leave it at that? You don’t have to embarrass our guest by asking a question.»

Even so, bin Salman has dismissed the reports as false. When asked Tuesday about Khashoggi, bin Salman said it’s «painful» to hear of the death of anyone for «no real purpose,» and «we are doing our best that this doesn’t happen again.»

JOHANNESBURG: The White House has mounted a new verbal attack on South Africa over the G-20 Leaders’ Summit in Johannesburg this weekend. White House deputy press secretary Anna Kelly hit back at South African President Cyril Ramaphosa after Pretoria refused to allow a U.S. embassy delegation to take part in the summit’s closing ceremony.

The U.S. takes over the G-20’s presidency next year. But Ramaphosa’s spokesperson told reporters here at the summit their president won’t perform the ceremonial handover to a junior diplomat. Washington had asked to send the embassy’s chargé d’affaires to the ceremony.

In what is becoming an increasingly fractious back-and-forth of bitter statements between Pretoria and Washington on several issues around the G-20, Kelly told Fox News Digital, «President Ramaphosa initially declared that he would pass the gavel to an ‘empty chair.’ Now, he’s refusing to facilitate a smooth transition of the G-20 presidency at all.»

WHITE HOUSE SHUTS DOWN REPORTS US BACKTRACKED ON TRUMP’S G20 BOYCOTT

Kelly continued, «This, coupled with South Africa’s push to issue a G-20 Leaders Declaration, despite consistent and robust U.S. objections, underscores the fact that they have weaponized their G-20 presidency to undermine the G-20’s founding principles. President Trump looks forward to restoring legitimacy to the G-20 in the U.S.’s 2026 host year.»

Trump withdrew all U.S. participation in the summit over his claims that some White South Africans were being racially discriminated against.  

Now South Africa’s chief rabbi, Dr. Warren Goldstein, has also lashed out at the G-20, speaking exclusively to Fox News Digital, saying, «How can it be that in the long wish list of items that make up the G-20 Leaders Declaration, there wasn’t space to condemn one of the greatest human rights crises in Africa – the continent wide jihadi war on Christians?»

He continued «How can it be that the first G-20 hosted in Africa by an African government ignores how Africa – from Mozambique to Mali, the DRC, Nigeria, Sudan and so many other countries – has become the central front of Islamist terrorism?

TRUMP PICKS HIS MIAMI DORAL RESORT TO HOST 2026 G20 SUMMIT IN FLORIDA DURING NATION’S ANNIVERSARY YEAR

Members of St. Leo Catholic Church hold a procession to mark Palm Sunday in Ikeja, Lagos, Nigeria, on April 13, 2025. (Adekunle Ajayi/Getty Images)

«Just Friday, more than 300 girls and 12 teachers were kidnapped from a Catholic school in Nigeria,» he added. «Who will speak up for these children and save them? The silence of the G-20 declaration on this and other jihadi atrocities on the continent is a moral disgrace, revealing the gathering to be a heartless charade that history will judge harshly. God’s condemnation of Cain following his feeble defense of ‘Am I my brother’s keeper?’ stands as an eternal accusation against the leaders of the G-20 – ‘What have you done? The blood of your brother calls out to Me from the ground.’»

Forty-two world leaders and major institutions such as the U.N. are represented at the summit. Only one of them, Italy’s President Giorgia Meloni, has addressed the issue of Christian persecution in the last few days – and she did that Friday, before the summit started. Posting on X, she wrote, «We ask the Nigerian government to strengthen the protection of Christian communities and all religious communities and to pursue those responsible for these heinous attacks.»

The White House could question the validity of the Leaders’ Declaration produced at the G-20. Ramaphosa conceivably didn’t realize his microphone was open right at the beginning of proceedings Saturday. Journalists in the media center next door to the main summit hall could hear him telling leaders that the final 122-point resolution was ready for them to endorse – before they had discussed it.

The U.S. flag at the G-20 media center in South Africa on Nov. 22, 2025. (Paul Tilsley for Fox News Digital)

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As it stands, South Africa has officially marked the U.S. as «absent» from this G-20 summit. The only U.S. presence here this weekend was the American flag in the media center.

The final G-20 South Africa Summit Leaders’ Declaration was released on Sunday with the only reference to religion, noting, «We condemn all attacks against civilians and infrastructure. We further reaffirm that in line with the U.N. Charter, all states must refrain from the threat or use of force to seek territorial acquisition against the territorial integrity and sovereignty or political independence of any state and that states should develop friendly relations among nations, including by promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion. We condemn terrorism in all its forms and manifestations.

Fox News Digital reached out to the South African government but did not receive a response.