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Obama wanted shutdown pain to be felt by Americans, while Trump kept focus on Washington, experts argue
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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.
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President Donald Trump and former President Barack Obama handled their respective shutdowns differently, though healthcare proved to be a common thread in both. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images; Debra L Rothenberg/WireImage)
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.»
donald trump,barack obama,government shutdown,health care healthy living,politics
INTERNACIONAL
Qué sabemos realmente sobre la electricidad estática y por qué aún asombra a la física moderna
La electricidad estática se manifiesta en situaciones tan cotidianas como el cabello erizado al frotar un globo o el leve chasquido al tocar una manija después de caminar sobre una alfombra. Bajo esa apariencia cotidiana, la triboelectricidad —el intercambio de cargas opuestas entre materiales— representa un desafío persistente para la física experimental, que aún no ha logrado desentrañar plenamente su funcionamiento.
Este fenómeno ocurre cuando dos materiales entran en contacto y luego se separan, generando cargas opuestas en cada uno. Aunque la explicación completa de su mecánica sigue sin resolverse, la física ha reconocido la triboelectricidad como un proceso en el que abundan las incógnitas.
Mientras la mayoría de las personas vincula la electricidad estática a simples curiosidades domésticas, los científicos la identifican como un fenómeno en el que los mecanismos fundamentales permanecen en gran parte desconocidos.
Incertidumbre sobre el mecanismo de la triboelectricidad
Durante aproximadamente los últimos tres siglos, la física experimental ha intentado establecer qué ocurre exactamente cuando dos materiales se ponen en contacto y después se separan. Está confirmado que uno de ellos adquiere una carga positiva y el otro, una carga negativa. Sin embargo, los detalles sobre el proceso —el “cómo” y el “por qué”— siguen sin respuesta clara, a pesar de la ubicuidad cotidiana del fenómeno.
En el centro del interés científico reside la siguiente cuestión: ¿qué es lo que realmente se transfiere entre los materiales? Algunas de las principales hipótesis, formuladas por investigadores en física de materiales, sugieren la transferencia de electrones, iones e incluso fragmentos microscópicos de materia. Sin embargo, experimentos llevados a cabo bajo condiciones idénticas pueden mostrar resultados diferentes o contradictorios, lo que indica la posible existencia de factores desconocidos.
Los expertos han denominado este proceso triboelectricidad, término derivado del griego por “frotar” y “ámbar”. A pesar de contar con tecnología de última generación en laboratorios especializados, los físicos no han logrado ofrecer una explicación universal.
Avances recientes y factores que influyen en la carga eléctrica
Investigaciones recientes lideradas por equipos de física de materiales han comenzado a aportar claridad. Un descubrimiento relevante, demostrado por el físico del Instituto de Ciencia y Tecnología de Austria Scott Waitukaitis, mostró que dos objetos idénticos pueden cargarse de manera distinta dependiendo de cuántas veces han interactuado entre sí anteriormente. Este hallazgo respalda la hipótesis de una cierta memoria superficial en los materiales.
Otro descubrimiento proviene de investigaciones que identificaron cómo partículas invisibles pueden adherirse a las superficies de los materiales. Estas diminutas moléculas ricas en carbono, presentes en el aire, pueden modificar la dirección del intercambio de carga. Al eliminar estas moléculas mediante calor, se observó que el comportamiento eléctrico cambia significativamente, mostrando que los factores ambientales pueden ser determinantes.
Además, las investigaciones han comprobado que variables como la velocidad del contacto, el área de impacto o la ruptura de enlaces químicos juegan un papel fundamental. En ciertas colisiones, la creación de condiciones químicas propicias permite el intercambio de electrones. Aunque estas novedades no resuelven todas las incógnitas, han permitido enriquecer la comprensión de la triboelectricidad.
Un estudio publicado por el propio equipo de Waitukaitis reveló que, al modificar las condiciones superficiales y ambientales, como la presencia de moléculas contaminantes o la humedad, se pueden obtener resultados radicalmente diferentes en experimentos idénticos. Este hallazgo obligó a reconsiderar la idea de que el comportamiento eléctrico depende únicamente de la naturaleza intrínseca de los materiales.
Desafíos en la comprensión y aplicaciones tecnológicas
Lejos de simplificarse, el conocimiento sobre la electricidad estática ha demostrado que su comportamiento varía en función de numerosos factores y condiciones. La antigua noción de una “serie triboeléctrica” fija ha sido puesta en duda. Cada interacción resulta de una combinación compleja de variables.
El interés por descifrar completamente estos mecanismos tampoco es exclusivo del ámbito académico. Una comprensión profunda podría transformar tecnologías emergentes, como el desarrollo de nanogeneradores triboeléctricos, que convierten el movimiento en electricidad y permitirían alimentar sensores y dispositivos portátiles sin baterías convencionales. Además, este conocimiento es esencial para mitigar descargas peligrosas en entornos industriales o para explicar fenómenos eléctricos en otros planetas, como las tormentas de polvo en Marte.
Origen histórico y evolución científica del fenómeno
La historia de la electricidad estática se remonta a la Grecia antigua, cuando se advirtió que el ámbar frotado atraía objetos ligeros. A lo largo de los siglos, este fenómeno ha acompañado a la humanidad como una curiosidad recurrente. Por mucho tiempo, la electricidad estática fue considerada una rareza doméstica, hasta que los avances científicos la transformaron en objeto de estudio especializado.
Actualmente, la electricidad estática ocupa un lugar de permanente interés en la física experimental, donde cada avance abre nuevas preguntas y amplía el alcance de la investigación científica.
electricidad,estática,energía,conexión,manos,dedos,interacción,chispa,física,corriente
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White House slams ‘trash reporting’ over claims ICE chief hospitalized for stress, yelled at by Trump admin
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The White House pushed back hard Friday amid a news report that Todd Lyons, the acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), has been hospitalized at least twice for stress-related issues with the Trump administration that left him visibly upset and strained.
The pushback came following a Politico report that said Lyons was hospitalized at least twice for stress-related issues while carrying out President Donald Trump’s immigration agenda.
The stress has left Lyons unable to carry out key decisions, the report states, citing two current and two former administration officials, who were unnamed.
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ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons was reportedly hospitalized at least twice amid pressure from the Trump administration to ramp up deportations of illegal immigrants, according to a Politico report. (Suzanne Kreiter/The Boston Globe via Getty Images andJohn Moore/Getty Images )
«He would be visibly upset and struggling to make the decisions that were needed to be made by the director,» one former unnamed official told the news website.
«Trash reporting from a trash «reporter» pushing tabloid b*******in an attempt to divide and distract. Todd Lyons is an American Patriot,» the White House Rapid Response X account said in response to the story.
The episodes were attributed to pressure from above for Lyons to ramp up deportations and from top adviser Stephen Miller, who allegedly yelled at Lyons during morning phone calls with administration officials, Politico reported.
«This is b******* and more of the trash that Daniel Lippman has peddled over the years in the name of clicks and clout,» Miller’s wife, Katie Miller, wrote on X in response to Politico reporter’s story.
White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said Politico was given «on record» denials prior to the story being published.
WHITE HOUSE BLASTS TOP HOUSE DEMOCRAT AS A ‘BUFFOON’ AFTER JEFFRIES BRANDS STEPHEN MILLER A ‘HATEFUL BIGOT’
White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Stephen Miller speaks during the inaugural Americas Counter Cartel Conference at the US Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) headquarters in Doral, Florida, on March 5, 2026. (Eva Marie UZCATEGUI / AFP via Getty Images)
«Shame on Politico for publishing such inaccurate trash,» Jackson wrote on X. «Todd Lyons is an American patriot who has worked tirelessly to undo Biden’s disastrous immigration policies that wreaked havoc on American communities. And the American people are deeply appreciative for his hard work making our country safer. Despite multiple on record denials and sources refuting their pathetic ‘reporting’ and *still* ran with this absurd article.»
The reported hospitalizations took place over several months. In one incident, Lyons was driven to a hospital by his security detail and he was admitted overnight.
In September, Lyons became distressed that ICE agents were unable to locate an illegal immigrant in Los Ángeles during a ride along with top administration officials.
One of his bodyguards took a portable defibrillator from a nearby government office to Lyons in case he needed medical intervention, the report said.
Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons speaking at a press conference at the John Joseph Moakley U.S. Courthouse in Boston on June 2. (Suzanne Kreiter/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
After heated calls with Miller, Lyons expressed frustration that the White House was often mad at his agency, according to the current official and former official who heard such comments.
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«Todd, Stephen, and the entire White House team have a great working relationship and coordinate closely to deliver on the president’s many promises,» White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said in a statement. «Todd Lyons is an American patriot who has worked tirelessly to undo Biden’s disastrous immigration policies that wreaked havoc on American communities.»
Fox News Digital has reached out to ICE and Politico.
white house, police and law enforcement, us, border security
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