October 3, 2025 • 12 mins
The United States government has shut down — but not for the reasons you’re being told.
This wasn’t a failure to “agree on a budget.” It was a deliberate strategy by Democrats to block the budget over one issue: taxpayer-funded health subsidies for millions who pay nothing into the system.
In this episode of The Tenth Man, we break down:
- Why the shutdown is entirely manufactured
- How Democrats are using health subsidies as a political weapon
- The myths about federal workers and who’s really affected
- Why less government may actually be better government
- And yes… why the Grand Canyon doesn’t need a bureaucrat to stay open
Forget the spin. This is the story the media won’t tell you.
🎧 Podcast listeners — catch the full-length episode on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen.
👇 Timestamps:
00:00 Cold Open
00:35 The Real Story Behind the Shutdown
02:00 The Subsidy Gambit
03:40 The Freeloader Class
05:10 The Filibuster Twist
06:20 Who’s Really “Hurt”?
07:40 Grand Canyon & Myths
08:30 The Bigger Picture & Outro
🔔 Subscribe for sharp, fact-based commentary that cuts through the noise.
📢 Share this video with a friend who’s tired of the media echo chamber.
Commentary on trending issues brought to you with a moderate perspective.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
The United States government hasshut down, not because
Washington couldn't agree,because Democrats refused to
negotiate on a single narrowself-serving point.
They're holding the entirefederal government hostage to
protect the freeloader class.
They say the Grand Canyon willbe closed.
Really?
You need the federal governmentto keep a hole in the ground
(00:22):
open.
They're counting down the daysof shutdown.
But no one has missed a payday.
Not yet.
This isn't about keeping thegovernment open, it's about
keeping the gravy train runningThe, the United States
government has shut down and themedia want you to panic.
(00:44):
They want you to picturepadlocked national Parks.
Starving federal workers, chaosat the airports and grandmothers
weeping over social securitychecks that never arrive.
But here's the truth, they don'twant you to hear.
This shutdown didn't happenbecause Washington couldn't
agree.
It happened because Democratsrefused to negotiate on a single
(01:07):
narrow self-serving point, onepoint, and they're holding the
entire federal governmenthostage to get their way.
This is the 10th Man, and todaywe're unpacking the real reason
for the 2025 governmentshutdown.
It's not about fiscal gridlock,it's about the Democrat party's
sacred cow, the freeloaderclass.
(01:32):
The headlines say Democrats andRepublicans failed to agree on a
budget.
Sounds like both sides are toblame.
A classic both sides narrative,but that's not what happened.
House Republicans passed ashort-term funding bill, a clean
continuing resolution.
It went to the Senate whereDemocrats filibuster it.
(01:54):
Why?
Because it didn't include apermanent extension of temporary
COVID era health insurancesubsidies and restore Medicaid
scammers to the public roles.
That's right.
A single issue.
Health subsidies for people whoaren't paying.
This is the Hill Democrats choseto die.
(02:15):
They've decided that if theycan't get permanent taxpayer
funded health benefits for thefreeloader class, then no one
gets a functioning governmentand everything that it provides.
That's not negotiation.
That's hostage taking.
Let's break down exactly whatthey're fighting for.
(02:37):
During COVID, Congresstemporarily juiced up Obamacare
subsidies to make premiumslower.
Because somehow Obamacare didn'tdo all that it was supposed to.
In some cases, the premiums wereeffectively free for millions of
people.
These were explicitly temporaryemergency measures.
(03:00):
Everyone knew they'd expire.
Fast forward to now, thesubsidies are set to expire on
schedule.
No one is cutting them.
They're just ending like theywere always supposed to two.
But Democrats treat everytemporary spending increase as
permanent and they call anyexpiration a cut.
(03:23):
They've mastered Orwellianlanguage.
Meanwhile, the real reasonhealth premiums are high isn't
that subsidies are too low.
It's the insured are forced topay for the uninsured.
Hospitals, charge two rates.
One for people without insuranceand a second higher one for
those with insurance to coverthose who don't pay, and the
(03:47):
insurers pass those costs on toyou.
Instead of fixing that system byrequiring people to actually pay
their own way.
Democrats want to double down onsubsidies.
They wanna take your tax dollarsand funnel them indirectly to
people who made the personalchoice not to buy insurance.
This isn't compassion.
(04:08):
It's rewarding freeloaders andforcing working Americans to
pick up the tab.
If you're enjoying thisbreakdown and you're tired of
the media's echo chamber, followthe 10th man on your favorite
podcast platform.
And if you're watching onYouTube later, tap, subscribe
and hit the bell so you don'tmiss the shorter video versions
(04:28):
coming up.
Now, America is the only countryon earth where millions of
people get truly freehealthcare, truly free without
paying the taxes that funded.
In Europe, many countries haveso-called free healthcare, but
they also have crushing taxes.
(04:50):
Everyone pays in.
In America, about half thepopulation pays no income tax.
Medicaid, which provides freemedical care to tens of
millions, is funded by thoseincome taxes.
So think about that.
One third of Americans are onMedicaid.
(05:11):
Most of them also pay no incometax.
No other country in the worldhas a freeloader class this
large, and the Democrats know itand they just wanna make it
larger.
They cultivate it, they dependon it because these are the
voters who, people like Kamalaand A OC and Chuck Schumer need
(05:33):
to get in power.
People who get something fornothing.
And reliably vote for the partythat keeps the gravy train
rolling.
And don't forget the otherfreeloaders, illegal immigrants.
Many states give them freehealthcare too.
Money is fungible.
So yes, you pay for that.
(05:54):
The Democrats entire strategydepends on keeping the
freeloader class happy.
That's why they're willing toshut down the entire federal
government to protect thesesubsidies.
Now if Republicans control theHouse and Senate, why don't they
just pass the budget anyway?
One word, the filibuster.
(06:18):
The Senate requires 60 votes toovercome it, and even with the
Republican majority, you stillneed some Democrats, and maybe
you remember a few years ago.
Back then Democrats called thefilibuster racist,
anti-democratic, a relic of JimCrow, and they could have
(06:39):
eliminated it when they heldpower, Republicans dared them to
do so, warning them that they'dbe sorry if they did.
Well, they didn't, and nowthey're using it to block the
budget.
They kept it because theythought it would benefit them
later and well.
It's later and they're notsorry.
(07:04):
So what happens during ashutdown?
First, let's dispel thehysteria.
Because taxes are stillcollected, the military still
operates.
Social security checks still goout.
What does stop is discretionaryspending, non-essential
programs.
And if they're non-essential, weshould all ask why they exist in
(07:25):
the first place.
So about 750,000 federalemployees are being furloughed,
but their income is guaranteedby law.
After 2018, Congress passed alaw guaranteeing back pay for
(07:46):
not working, and many cancollect unemployment too.
In the meantime if they actuallydon't get paid.
We'll talk about that.
So while the media show tearfulfederal workers at food banks,
remember this is basically apaid vacation for anyone who's
budgeted wisely.
(08:07):
Now, compare that to theDemocrat COVID shutdowns when
millions of private sectorworkers lost their jobs
permanently, no guaranteed backpay, no safety net like this
one.
The federal workforce has one ofthe cushiest safety nets in the
country, and while they'recounting the days of the
(08:29):
shutdown, currently we're in daythree.
The countdown that's actuallymissing is the only one that
matters, and that's the paydaycountdown because no one has
missed a payday yet.
Everyone has been paid to date.
(08:49):
Government employees work by themonth or by the two weeks, and
they get paid at the end of apay period, just like all of us.
So the earliest date that apayday may be missed is October
the 10th, but no one is sayingthat No one will have been
working without pay until apayday passes for them, which
(09:12):
whatever their payday might be.
So the workers who have beensent home, they are on kind of a
paid vacation for now, even ifthey didn't budget wisely.
And that's why the scare storiesRing hollow.
Every shutdown brings the sametired examples.
The Grand Canyon will be closed.
(09:34):
Really?
You need the federal governmentto keep a hole in the ground
open.
The Grand Canyon was there formillions of years before the
Park Service, and it doesn'tdisappear when the government
closes.
It actually takes governmentaction to close the Grand
Canyon, not to open it.
(09:55):
And the same goes for all of ourparks, most of our monuments and
tourist sites.
The absence of federalmicromanagement is often a
relief without even getting intoregulations and so forth.
So here's what Democrats areactually worried about.
Many of these furloughs ofgovernment workers may become
(10:17):
permanent.
The Trump administration hasalready cut millions of
ineligible people from Medicareroles.
And shutdowns reveal how manyjobs are not essential.
And these federal employees,they comprise a core Democrat
constituency, often unionizedand reliably blue.
(10:40):
A prolonged shutdown will hurtthem and hurts Democrats
politically.
And even if the media pin blameon Republicans, the people
directly affected know what'sreally going on.
They're being sacrificed, so thefreeloader class can keep its
subsidies.
(11:04):
So why should the rest of UScare?
Frankly, less government isbetter government.
The taxes are still rolling in.
The spending spigot hastemporarily been turned off.
Washington is being forced foronce to live within its means.
We should be asking why thisdoesn't happen more often.
(11:25):
Instead of funding every bloatedprogram, foreign aid scheme and
illegal immigration boondoggle,maybe Congress should look at
priorities.
That is its job, after all.
We're sending billions overseasto places like Ukraine while
Americans face inflation athome.
And we're paying to house, feedand track millions of illegal
(11:48):
aliens.
Okay.
Meanwhile, Democrats areshutting down the entire federal
government just to keepsubsidies flowing to the
freeloaders.
Make no mistake, this shutdownis not a failure of negotiation.
It's a deliberate tactic byDemocrats to protect their most
loyal constituency, the peoplewho don't pay but always
(12:09):
receive.
It isn't about keeping thegovernment open, it's about
keeping the freeloader classsatisfied.
And if that means holding therest of the country hostage, so
be it because that's how theyoperate.
If you enjoyed this episode,follow the 10th man on Spotify
Apple Podcasts or wherever youlisten, and please share this
(12:30):
episode with a friend becausedissent isn't disloyalty, it's
your duty.
The United States government hasshut down, not because
Washington couldn't agree,because Democrats refused to
negotiate on a single narrowself-serving point.
They're holding the entirefederal government hostage to
protect the freeloader class.
They say the Grand Canyon willbe closed.
Really?
You need the federal governmentto keep a hole in the ground
(00:22):
open.
They're counting down the daysof shutdown.
But no one has missed a payday.
Not yet.
This isn't about keeping thegovernment open, it's about
keeping the gravy train runningThe, the United States
government has shut down and themedia want you to panic.
(00:44):
They want you to picturepadlocked national Parks.
Starving federal workers, chaosat the airports and grandmothers
weeping over social securitychecks that never arrive.
But here's the truth, they don'twant you to hear.
This shutdown didn't happenbecause Washington couldn't
agree.
It happened because Democratsrefused to negotiate on a single
(01:07):
narrow self-serving point, onepoint, and they're holding the
entire federal governmenthostage to get their way.
This is the 10th Man, and todaywe're unpacking the real reason
for the 2025 governmentshutdown.
It's not about fiscal gridlock,it's about the Democrat party's
sacred cow, the freeloaderclass.
(01:32):
The headlines say Democrats andRepublicans failed to agree on a
budget.
Sounds like both sides are toblame.
A classic both sides narrative,but that's not what happened.
House Republicans passed ashort-term funding bill, a clean
continuing resolution.
It went to the Senate whereDemocrats filibuster it.
(01:54):
Why?
Because it didn't include apermanent extension of temporary
COVID era health insurancesubsidies and restore Medicaid
scammers to the public roles.
That's right.
A single issue.
Health subsidies for people whoaren't paying.
This is the Hill Democrats choseto die.
(02:15):
They've decided that if theycan't get permanent taxpayer
funded health benefits for thefreeloader class, then no one
gets a functioning governmentand everything that it provides.
That's not negotiation.
That's hostage taking.
Let's break down exactly whatthey're fighting for.
(02:37):
During COVID, Congresstemporarily juiced up Obamacare
subsidies to make premiumslower.
Because somehow Obamacare didn'tdo all that it was supposed to.
In some cases, the premiums wereeffectively free for millions of
people.
These were explicitly temporaryemergency measures.
(03:00):
Everyone knew they'd expire.
Fast forward to now, thesubsidies are set to expire on
schedule.
No one is cutting them.
They're just ending like theywere always supposed to two.
But Democrats treat everytemporary spending increase as
permanent and they call anyexpiration a cut.
(03:23):
They've mastered Orwellianlanguage.
Meanwhile, the real reasonhealth premiums are high isn't
that subsidies are too low.
It's the insured are forced topay for the uninsured.
Hospitals, charge two rates.
One for people without insuranceand a second higher one for
those with insurance to coverthose who don't pay, and the
(03:47):
insurers pass those costs on toyou.
Instead of fixing that system byrequiring people to actually pay
their own way.
Democrats want to double down onsubsidies.
They wanna take your tax dollarsand funnel them indirectly to
people who made the personalchoice not to buy insurance.
This isn't compassion.
(04:08):
It's rewarding freeloaders andforcing working Americans to
pick up the tab.
If you're enjoying thisbreakdown and you're tired of
the media's echo chamber, followthe 10th man on your favorite
podcast platform.
And if you're watching onYouTube later, tap, subscribe
and hit the bell so you don'tmiss the shorter video versions
(04:28):
coming up.
Now, America is the only countryon earth where millions of
people get truly freehealthcare, truly free without
paying the taxes that funded.
In Europe, many countries haveso-called free healthcare, but
they also have crushing taxes.
(04:50):
Everyone pays in.
In America, about half thepopulation pays no income tax.
Medicaid, which provides freemedical care to tens of
millions, is funded by thoseincome taxes.
So think about that.
One third of Americans are onMedicaid.
(05:11):
Most of them also pay no incometax.
No other country in the worldhas a freeloader class this
large, and the Democrats know itand they just wanna make it
larger.
They cultivate it, they dependon it because these are the
voters who, people like Kamalaand A OC and Chuck Schumer need
(05:33):
to get in power.
People who get something fornothing.
And reliably vote for the partythat keeps the gravy train
rolling.
And don't forget the otherfreeloaders, illegal immigrants.
Many states give them freehealthcare too.
Money is fungible.
So yes, you pay for that.
(05:54):
The Democrats entire strategydepends on keeping the
freeloader class happy.
That's why they're willing toshut down the entire federal
government to protect thesesubsidies.
Now if Republicans control theHouse and Senate, why don't they
just pass the budget anyway?
One word, the filibuster.
(06:18):
The Senate requires 60 votes toovercome it, and even with the
Republican majority, you stillneed some Democrats, and maybe
you remember a few years ago.
Back then Democrats called thefilibuster racist,
anti-democratic, a relic of JimCrow, and they could have
(06:39):
eliminated it when they heldpower, Republicans dared them to
do so, warning them that they'dbe sorry if they did.
Well, they didn't, and nowthey're using it to block the
budget.
They kept it because theythought it would benefit them
later and well.
It's later and they're notsorry.
(07:04):
So what happens during ashutdown?
First, let's dispel thehysteria.
Because taxes are stillcollected, the military still
operates.
Social security checks still goout.
What does stop is discretionaryspending, non-essential
programs.
And if they're non-essential, weshould all ask why they exist in
(07:25):
the first place.
So about 750,000 federalemployees are being furloughed,
but their income is guaranteedby law.
After 2018, Congress passed alaw guaranteeing back pay for
(07:46):
not working, and many cancollect unemployment too.
In the meantime if they actuallydon't get paid.
We'll talk about that.
So while the media show tearfulfederal workers at food banks,
remember this is basically apaid vacation for anyone who's
budgeted wisely.
(08:07):
Now, compare that to theDemocrat COVID shutdowns when
millions of private sectorworkers lost their jobs
permanently, no guaranteed backpay, no safety net like this
one.
The federal workforce has one ofthe cushiest safety nets in the
country, and while they'recounting the days of the
(08:29):
shutdown, currently we're in daythree.
The countdown that's actuallymissing is the only one that
matters, and that's the paydaycountdown because no one has
missed a payday yet.
Everyone has been paid to date.
(08:49):
Government employees work by themonth or by the two weeks, and
they get paid at the end of apay period, just like all of us.
So the earliest date that apayday may be missed is October
the 10th, but no one is sayingthat No one will have been
working without pay until apayday passes for them, which
(09:12):
whatever their payday might be.
So the workers who have beensent home, they are on kind of a
paid vacation for now, even ifthey didn't budget wisely.
And that's why the scare storiesRing hollow.
Every shutdown brings the sametired examples.
The Grand Canyon will be closed.
(09:34):
Really?
You need the federal governmentto keep a hole in the ground
open.
The Grand Canyon was there formillions of years before the
Park Service, and it doesn'tdisappear when the government
closes.
It actually takes governmentaction to close the Grand
Canyon, not to open it.
(09:55):
And the same goes for all of ourparks, most of our monuments and
tourist sites.
The absence of federalmicromanagement is often a
relief without even getting intoregulations and so forth.
So here's what Democrats areactually worried about.
Many of these furloughs ofgovernment workers may become
(10:17):
permanent.
The Trump administration hasalready cut millions of
ineligible people from Medicareroles.
And shutdowns reveal how manyjobs are not essential.
And these federal employees,they comprise a core Democrat
constituency, often unionizedand reliably blue.
(10:40):
A prolonged shutdown will hurtthem and hurts Democrats
politically.
And even if the media pin blameon Republicans, the people
directly affected know what'sreally going on.
They're being sacrificed, so thefreeloader class can keep its
subsidies.
(11:04):
So why should the rest of UScare?
Frankly, less government isbetter government.
The taxes are still rolling in.
The spending spigot hastemporarily been turned off.
Washington is being forced foronce to live within its means.
We should be asking why thisdoesn't happen more often.
(11:25):
Instead of funding every bloatedprogram, foreign aid scheme and
illegal immigration boondoggle,maybe Congress should look at
priorities.
That is its job, after all.
We're sending billions overseasto places like Ukraine while
Americans face inflation athome.
And we're paying to house, feedand track millions of illegal
(11:48):
aliens.
Okay.
Meanwhile, Democrats areshutting down the entire federal
government just to keepsubsidies flowing to the
freeloaders.
Make no mistake, this shutdownis not a failure of negotiation.
It's a deliberate tactic byDemocrats to protect their most
loyal constituency, the peoplewho don't pay but always
(12:09):
receive.
It isn't about keeping thegovernment open, it's about
keeping the freeloader classsatisfied.
And if that means holding therest of the country hostage, so
be it because that's how theyoperate.
If you enjoyed this episode,follow the 10th man on Spotify
Apple Podcasts or wherever youlisten, and please share this
(12:30):
episode with a friend becausedissent isn't disloyalty, it's
your duty.
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