Smaller government? Some Trump supporters cheer the shutdown

FORT HANCOCK, Texas (AP) — The government shutdown that ended Friday did dramatically shrink the size of government. At least temporarily.

That energized some Republicans who for decades have heard GOP presidential hopefuls vow to abolish the IRS and mothball the departments of Education or Energy or Interior or many other agencies.

But it didn’t repair a decades-long schism within the Republican Party between conservatives, who call for small government but don’t mind creating deficits for things like tax cuts, and libertarians, who want government out of peoples’ lives almost entirely.

President Donald Trump has backed increasing the size of the federal budget substantially, making him no true small-government champion.

Libertarians also note that shuttering the government indiscriminately because of political squabbles did nothing to reduce long-term federal spending or government’s overall scope.