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Velshi shares lessons from the late John McCain

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Ali Velshi on John McCain’s Lessons for the Government Shutdown

The MSNBC host and Citizen board member recounts how the late U.S. Senator from Arizona stood for regular order in 2017, and how his example applies to our government shutdown today

Listen

Ali Velshi on John McCain’s Lessons for the Government Shutdown

The MSNBC host and Citizen board member recounts how the late U.S. Senator from Arizona stood for regular order in 2017, and how his example applies to our government shutdown today

BY Ali Velshi

Oct. 06, 2025

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Four days into a government shutdown, congressional Republicans are refusing to negotiate, doing away with “regular order” in a bid to help President Trump use the shutdown as an excuse to punish his “enemies” and advance his agenda. Ali Velshi reminds Americans who these “enemies” actually are, and how the late great U.S. Senator and presidential candidate John McCain showed us what real leadership — and representation of the people — really looked like the last time Republicans did away with regular order.

Though he had campaigned against “Obamacare,” McCain admonished the leaders of his own party for their effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act without even considering what would replace the law that provided insurance for, at that time, more than 10 million Americans, back in July of 2017. McCain, having just had surgery for glioblastoma, would save the act with a single vote, on the principle that Republicans were thwarting the regular order of the legislative process.

Velshi sees lessons from that dramatic moment that can apply to the government shutdown of 2025. Trump is using the current shutdown to attack institutions that support and protect the American people, in line with the goals of Project 2025 (told you so).

Infrastructure funding, transit funding, environmental projects, mass government agency layoffs, all in Democratic-majority states, are being canceled during the government shutdown to punish the Democratic party for not aiding the GOP effort to again end affordable healthcare for tens of millions of Americans. It is we, Americans across the nation, who are suffering from Trump’s attacks on his “enemies.”

It is long past time our leaders took John McCain’s example and returned to the regular order of things, or our government simply cannot stand.

LISTEN: VELSHI ON JOHN MCCAIN’S PLEA FOR REGULAR ORDER

 

WATCH: VELSHI ON TRUMP’S ABUSE OF OUR GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN

 

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