Anoa Changa, the host of the show "The Way With Anoa," joined Radio Sputnik's Loud & Clear Monday to discuss the recent US government developments.
"So, as a former federal employee who survived the 2013 shutdown… I am really thankful that this 35-day shutdown came to an end for government workers, and hopefully their back pay will be instituted very shortly, if it hasn't already," Changa told hosts John Kiriakou and Brian Becker.
The 35-day shutdown, which began on December 22, 2018, was the longest in the nation's history. Roughly 800,000 federal workers were furloughed, while thousands of others were kept on duty without pay.
On Friday, Trump signed a temporary three-week budget to end the current shutdown after facing opposition from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY).
Over the next three weeks, Trump is expected to continue talks with Democrats regarding his demand for $5.7 billion to construct a wall on the US-Mexico border.
However, the president went out of his way to make it known that his decision to end the shutdown was "in no way a concession" and that he was merely "taking care" of the millions of people impacted by his shutdown.
Trump is not a "rational human being," said Changa. "He is fixated on this wall… he has no problem letting people suffer. We are going to need everyone who already had planned action to continue putting pressure on the House and Senate… to pass a bill… I have no faith in Donald Trump on this one," Changa added.
According to multiple reports, Pelosi won the border battle with Trump by refusing to compromise with him.
"It was almost like [the president] was the bull and [Pelosi] was the matador, and every time she flipped her cape, he went charging by, and she stuck another banderilla in him," Democratic policy aid William Galston remarked, as quoted by the Financial Times.
"It is really serious that we not only focus on what is the political battle between Pelosi and Trump, but what is the real human impact," Changa noted.
