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The US government is once again headed for a shutdown a week from today, and, instead of working on finding a solution that would prevent tens of millions of Americans from being inconvenienced, both parties are spending their time pointing fingers at each other so that all those annoyed voters don’t blame them.

But whose fault will it be when Congress and the administration aren’t able to reach a deal?

While our headline gives away the answer to that question, it must be said that, because a bipartisan vote is needed in the Senate to avert a shutdown, everybody is to blame.

Democrats, for example, could just roll over, agree to every Republican demand, and bail out the GOP once again without getting anything in return because they believe that the government provides valuable services that Americans should have access to.

Of course, under the Trump administrations, those services aren’t really all that valuable, so why would they do that?

We have no idea… you’ll have to ask Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), who employed this dubious strategy the last time around.

However, since he got significant pushback from the party’s base, which is looking for fighters and not yellow-bellied politicians, we expect that he will not just roll over again this week.

And, apart from Sen. John ‘Trump Isn’t So Bad’ Fetterman (D-PA), it seems as though other Democrats are getting the message as well and won’t sell themselves as cheaply as in the past.

They are making all kinds of demands, primarily related to not wanting millions of Americans to lose their healthcare, which is reasonable but not politically astute.

For the Democrats to win the midterms in the face of Republicans gerrymandering state maps across the country, it would be helpful if Donald Trump’s supporters would get to the “find out” stage of what the kids these days call “FAFO.”

While that isn’t a pleasant thought, we have long believed that GOP voters need to experience the consequences of their actions in a more direct manner, and it is unfortunate that others will feel the pain as well.

Therefore, blunting the effect of something that hasn’t happened yet is less effective than, for example, tying the release of the Epstein files or nullifying Trump’s tariffs to a shutdown vote.

The administration won’t want to agree to either, which would make it much easier to blame Republicans for shutting down the government over their refusal to “extend the Affordable Care Act’s enhanced tax credits.”

And, if this shutdown happens, which currently seems more likely than not, it will be the GOP’s fault, if for no other reason than that they control both the White House and Congress.

Trump and his Republicans have been pushing through a very radical agenda without ever bothering to reach out across the aisle to maybe pass bipartisan legislation.

There was, of course, Trump’s megabill, which is resulting in all of those health insurance cuts. And, earlier this month, Senate Republicans changed the rules on confirming the president’s nominees and can now move them en masse instead of individually.

Therefore, complaining that Democrats won’t help them now rings hollow… especially when they are unwilling to make any compromises in the shutdown fight.

Of course, there is a chance that the two sides can reach a deal. For that to happen, Trump will have to get more directly involved.

While he likes to style himself as a master of the “art of the deal,” the president is actually a shockingly bad negotiator, which is probably why top Democrats demanded a meeting with him.

That is supposed to take place on Thursday, and it certainly seems possible that Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) can flatter and hoodwink Trump into making concessions that they could never get from congressional Republicans, who will then be forced to nod along and say, “Yet another masterful gambit from you, sir.”

Still, our money is on the government shutting down.

If that happens, will Americans correctly blame the GOP, i.e., the party in total control of Washington? We honestly don’t know… because we have long given up on the notion that they will do the right thing.