By Arpita Ghosh

Copyright timesnownews

The first US government shutdown in nearly seven years has taken on a tone unlike any in recent memory, with President Donald Trump mixing personal attacks, mockery and sweeping federal cuts in ways that historians say have no precedent. Shutdowns are often bitter, but this one has been marked by insults and digital manipulation. Trump mocked Democratic leaders by posting AI-generated videos – including one depicting House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries wearing a fake mustache and sombrero – that critics called racist and bigoted. The White House went further by looping the clips in its briefing room. At the same time, Trump has used the shutdown to slash funding in Democratic-led states. The Energy Department this week cancelled more than $7.5 billion in awards, most of them in states with Democratic governors or senators. “I can’t believe the Radical Left Democrats gave me this unprecedented opportunity,” Trump wrote on social media, calling some federal departments “Democrat Agencies” and signaling both temporary and permanent cuts. “This is about power, and policy is very much secondary to that,”, Brent Cebul, a University of Pennsylvania history professor, told The New York Times. He described the moment as “rancorous politics that are also about retribution.” Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, whose standoff with President Bill Clinton led to two shutdowns in the 1990s, said Trump’s approach is different. “Trump is taking apart the world of the left. I mean, this is a very methodical, aggressive cultural and political and economic offensive,” he told The NYT. Gingrich added, “Clinton and I sat together for 35 days, and the only four balanced budgets in the last century came out of our ability to fight in the morning and cooperate in the afternoon.” Patrick Griffin, Clinton’s legislative affairs director, said the contrast is stark. “The fundamental difference is the hostility and vitriol that are behind all of this. It feels very different,” he told The NYT. On Thursday, Trump signalled the shutdown fight is far from over, writing that he would meet with his budget director “to determine which of the many Democrat Agencies, most of which are a political SCAM, he recommends to be cut.” Get Latest News Live on Times Now along with Breaking News and Top Headlines from US News and around the World.