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Deepfakes, insults and job cuts: A US government shutdown like no other
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Shutdowns are always unpleasant affairs, but US President Donald Trump has used his power in aggressive and strikingly personal ways.
PHOTO: PETE MAROVICH/NYTIMES
Erica L. Green
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WASHINGTON – When then President Bill Clinton’s staff relegated speaker Newt Gingrich to the back of Air Force One on an international trip, it went down in history as an epic taunt that triggered a government shutdown.
Mr Gingrich was fuming after the long flight from Israel, during which the two never got to discuss their budget impasse, and after which he was made to disembark from the plane down the back stairs. His admission that the snub factored into his decision to shut down the government in 1995 earned him a cover of The Daily News, which depicted him as a diaper-clad toddler throwing a tantrum with the blaring headline CRY BABY.
