Politics is not my forte. I think I speak for many of you readers when I say high-school students just don’t care when it comes to the White House. We leave all that to the adults. We have enough to worry about what with our proms, graduations, clubs and the occasional girl drama to worry about politics (although sometimes politics closely resembles high school drama). I think I can also speak for some of you when I say that sometimes, when the planets align just right, and maybe a blue moon and some flying pigs are thrown into the mix, we hear or see a snippet of what’s really going on both in and around that big white building and realize that something is happening right here and right now that could affect thousands of people. Correction: already is affecting thousands of people.

On the night of Dec. 22, 2018, President Donald Trump officially shutdown the government. For weeks the president had threatened to shut down the government if he wasn’t allowed the funds needed to pay for a border wall between the United states and Mexico. When Congress refused, the government was shutdown.

Many would suggest that a government shutdown is proof of a weak leader. Others would say it proves the lengths the leader will go to keep his country safe. I personally believe it shows that our president has his own agenda, and will do anything to get his “yes.” But is this necessarily a bad thing?

Well, yes and no. It’s more complicated than that. It’s a handy skill to have for a businessman, always getting the “yes.” It can even be the difference between nuclear war and lasting peace when a president can poke and prod at his enemy to get his own way. However, President Trump isn’t fighting a nuclear war but is fighting 69% of the American population.

According to recent polls, 69% of the American public believe that President Trump’s wall isn’t a priority, but he has his own agenda. Instead of listening to the majority of the country he leads, President Trump is moving forward with his own agenda, and he’s sacrificing billions of dollars to get there.

When push came to shove, President Trump forced 800,000 government workers into the longest shutdown in American history. When the shutdown ended, everyone got their paychecks that, although helpful, did about as much good as a late paper being turned in after the grading period is over. But the shutdown came as a surprise to no one.

For weeks the president had threatened to refuse to sign this year’s funding bill until he got the $5 billion he needs for the wall. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called his bluff and pulled the last straw holding the government open by refusing negotiations. After being offered a negotiable deal for the young DACA immigrants, Speaker Pelosi took the fall for the continued shutdown. She stated it was “unacceptable” and did not “represent a good faith effort to restore certainty to peoples’ lives.”

True, Trump’s deal only allowed a partial, temporary solution for DREAMers, but I doubt he would’ve stopped there. Negotiations should’ve been help held to revise, change and compromise the deals until each party is satisfied. But instead, the leaders of the democratic and republican party chose stubbornness instead of compromise. Both Speaker Pelosi and President Trump expected to come out of this with everything they wanted and more, but I honestly can’t remember the last time I got my cake and ate it too.

If President Trump was desperate enough for his wall to shut down the government, he would have compromised even more, and the deals Pelosi could’ve made to provide better situations for DREAMers would have been a no-brainer for Trump who wouldn’t have hesitated as long as he got his wall. But this isn’t about logic anymore. It isn’t “us vs. them” or “nation vs. illegal immigrants” anymore. It’s become “Democrat vs. Republican” “speaker vs. president” and more importantly, “Trump vs. Pelosi.” It’s become child’s play, and 800,000 people, or better yet an entire nation has paid the price for our leaders and their stubbornness.