On Tuesday’s Mark Levin Show, in the last 24 hours, President Trump has ushered in a major peace deal, taken on drug prices, instituted AI-related research to end children’s cancer, and spoke to the generals and admirals about his expectations, etc. During the same 24 hours, the Democrats have insisted they will shut down the government. That says it all! But 83% of the government never actually shuts down. What actually stops during shutdowns are the visible public services. Also, the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) is a Marxist-Islamist entity masquerading as democratic and socialist, with the goal of overthrowing the U.S. government, economy, and culture. DSA supports terrorism, including Hamas and the October 7 attacks, and Zohran Mamdani is a member. He is a radical communist influenced by his Marxist-Islamist father and Qatar-funded mother. Later, young American communists believe that true communism has never been tried, despite its history of causing over 100 million deaths. This is due to ignorance and poor history education replaced by propaganda. Every communist regime has been destructive under tyrannical leaders.
The Hill
The government never shuts down: What actually happens in budget standoffs
PBS
How a government shutdown could give Trump more power
Mike Johnson
Democrats’ $1.5 Trillion Shutdown Scheme: Benefits to Border-Crossers, Americans Abandoned
Fiscal Data
How much revenue has the U.S. government collected this year?
USA Today
Timeline of US government shutdowns over last 50 years
Daily Wire
Utah State University Building Evacuated Due To ‘Suspicious Device’ Ahead Of TPUSA Event
NRO
America’s Young Communists Really Believe True Communism Has Never Been Tried
NRO
Philadelphia Raises Chinese Flag at City Hall
Photo by Tasos Katopodis
The podcast for this show can be streamed or downloaded from the Audio Rewind page.
Rough transcription of Hour 1
Segment 1
Hello, America. Mark Levin here. Our number 877-381-3811. 877-381-3811. Welcome, Mr. and Mrs. America. From sea to shining sea. Fact the whole world out there. Welcome to our program. Trump last 24 hours versus the Democrats. In the last 24 hours, President Trump has ushered in a major peace deal taken on drug prices, instituted age related research to end children’s cancer, and spoke to the generals and admirals about his expectations. It’s unbelievable. During the same 24 hours, the Democrats have insisted they will shut down the government. That says it all. They’ve done anything. Nothing. Except plotting to shut down the government. And what does that mean? Ladies and gentlemen, I told you yesterday, last evening that I’m going to address this. And I am, because all you here are the pom pom Boys and girls in the media say stuff that’s just not true. And then you have the Democrats sloganeering and they’re liars. So we’re going to spend a little bit of time on this. Let’s see here. With the help of some experts. There’s a piece yesterday in the Hill by somebody named Sheryl Kelly. I don’t know her. Apparently, she’s been around various agencies over the years, but that’s not the point. The point is what she wrote is very compelling. And I happen to know it’s true, as somebody who served in the Reagan administration for eight years. She says the government never shuts down. What actually happens in budget standoffs. Congress is threatening another government shutdown, quote unquote, as the September 30 deadline approaches. That would be midnight tonight, Mr. Producer. But here’s what most Americans don’t understand. Government is never shut down, not once. Not once but people call shutdowns affect only the most visible, least essential services. The actual machinery Government continues operating normally during shutdowns. You know, I’ve said this over the decades. You could shut down the entirety of the damn government. If you wanted to. That’s how massive ubiquitous it is. Some were at 3 a.m. this morning. The U.S. drug. The USDA, I should say US Department of Agriculture food Safety inspectors walked into meat processing plants across America. They will examine £37 billion of meat this year, not because politicians told them to do it. And certainly not this week, but because that’s what the permanent government does every year. And windowless rooms at the National Weather Service. Meteorologists are today analyzing atmospheric data that will determine whether your flight gets delayed tomorrow at the USDA’s global intelligence centers. Analysts are tracking crop conditions in 95 countries that could affect American food prices months from now. Nuclear engineers are monitoring reactor cooling systems that can’t take a day off. This will all continue going on and a whole lot more. Regardless of budget negotiations in Congress. This is the government that Americans rarely see but depend on. Absolutely. And reveals why the term government shutdown is fundamentally misleading. Stay with me on this. Because you’ll know something tomorrow. The media plagiarists will regurgitate it. What actually stops during shut downs are the visible public facing services that make citizens feel the political pain. This includes tourist visits to national parks and the Smithsonian and processing of some permits and applications. Here’s what continues Nuclear reactor monitoring, air traffic control, food safety inspection, disease surveillance. Border security. Law enforcement. Military operations, Social Security payments, Medicare processing, Medicaid payments, weather forecasting. Thousands of other essential functions. As Paul Ryan said here in 2010, 83% of the government remains open. In terms of shutdown language, the government consists of 15 enormous agencies that run the country. The government in this sense is very different. It’s separate from politics. Politics is what happens in Congress. The debates, the standoffs, the theater of elected officials. Government is the infrastructure of 2.2 million bureaucrats who maintain complex systems, regardless of election outcomes. This separation isn’t bureaucratic efficiency. It’s a firewall against political, manipulative manipulation of the services. It prevents politicians from weaponizing food safety. Air traffic controller. Nuclear security for electoral advantage. That’s not really why it’s in place. But that’s okay. Each of the 15 cabinet level agencies operates as a scale. Most citizens can’t comprehend. The Department of Transportation’s FAA coordinates more than 44,000 daily flights serving more than 3 million daily airline passengers across 29 million square miles of airspace. Its system is so complex that a single software glitch can ground planes nationwide. The Department of Health and Human Services processes Medicare claims for approximately 63 million Americans, with the program serving nearly everyone over 65 plus younger Americans with disabilities. Now, the Department of Energy manages not just power grids, but the entire nuclear weapons arsenal, warheads, delivery systems and the scientific infrastructure that maintains them. The department’s responsibilities include ensuring that nuclear reactors continue operating safely, regardless of the political standoffs. What does shut down? Theater, actually. Okay. What does shut down theater actually cost? Taxpayers lost productivity. For starters, she explains. Shutdowns also result in special expenses specifically related to preparing for shutdowns. Shutdowns can cause economic disruption. Finally, shutdowns cause a great deal of administrative drama. The government’s actual structure is both simpler and more complex than political rhetoric suggest, simply because just 15 major agencies with clearly defined missions, it’s more complex because each agency is as large as most multinational billion dollar companies, and they operate multiple sophisticated systems that interlock with each other. Department of Agriculture doesn’t just inspect food. It manages global agricultural intelligence, rural banking systems, emergency food stockpiles, scientific research networks, and international trade relationships. When politicians threaten to, quote unquote, shut down the department, they’re really threatening to pause passport applications at our offices while inspectors continue examining meat and intelligence, analysts keep tracking global grain supplies. So understanding the distinction that would make Americans immune to much political manipulation, it can’t be misled about agriculture policy. If you don’t have jobs operating intelligence networks in 95 countries. American government isn’t all broken. It’s just invisible. And she goes on. I’ve read you this not for the politics of it or even her politics, whatever they may be. I read you this because the substance of it is true. 83% of the federal government does not shut down. It almost never shuts down. Almost never shuts down. And then you have certain programs that are specifically. Specifically excluded. They call these essential programs. But you understand the government considers most of the government essential. Veterans benefits continue to be paid, Medicare, Social Security checks continue to go out. Medicare continues to be paid. Border security continues. The military continues. And I go on and on. They’re specifically exempted, whether there’s a budget or no budget. They keep plowing ahead. Here’s how PBS rates it. A fight between Republicans and Democrats could lead to an October one federal government shutdown. Now see what I mean? This is why I led with the other article. I’ve talked about this many, many times, regardless of that article, but I thought the article was very well stated. There is no government shutdown. Aspects of the government discontinue. Some of them are inconvenient and so forth and so on. There is no government shutdown. The government itself, Congress itself has talked about essential and non-essential services. It is determined that 87% of what it does is essential. But it goes on does PBS. Democrats are trying to leverage the must pass bill to extend Affordable Care Act subsidies. Trump administration is tying a shutdown to potential mass federal worker layoffs. Current battle focuses on expiring subsidies for the Affordable Care Act, which is unaffordable. Obamacare. Ask anybody who’s on it. And the and the health care sucks. But that’s much like the Biden presidency. It’s unaffordable and it sucks. Parent battle focuses on that. Democrats will hurt the ability of millions of enrollees to afford insurance. Democrats have also said they want to reverse Medicaid cuts. In other words, they want a fortune in money to go to illegal aliens where you pay for their health care and many of them got better health care than you. Republicans said, no, this is important to know. Now, what they Republicans in the House already did is they passed what they call a clean continuing resolution. No changes, just a continuation of government today. So they finally say a big a big budget for the following year. Democrats are trying to use that doubt on $1.5 trillion. In new spending. Now, when we come back, I’m going to tell you what that $1.5 trillion in new spending. Certainly in a general way that the Democrats want to spend on a continuing resolution that again, has as its purpose to continue current programming and spending, not to increase it by $1.5 trillion. I’ll be right back.
Segment 2
Oh, my God. They’re going to shut down the government. This is what Washington does. This is what the media do. And we’re doing it for so long. Tell me, the government, it’s been shut down over 20 times. I get to that, too. Have any of you suffered as a result of that? Any time over the last 50 years. No. No, you haven’t. Now the speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, who has to deal with these reprobates, these Democrats, as does Thune in the Senate. He put out? What? The Democrats radical counter demands are on this continuing resolution. Now, the Republicans had a clean, nonpartisan, short term measure to keep the government open while Appropriations committees figure they’re finished their hearings. Now with the Democrats want is $1.5 trillion in the short term bill. Bunch of partisan demands for a four week extension in exchange for a four week extension of current spending. They’re saying, okay, but we want $1.5 trillion in some of the most radical things that you and the American people reject and voted against. They want to restore a taxpayer funded free health care for illegal aliens. Which the president and the Republicans cut. Let me repeat this. Taxpayer funded free health care for illegal aliens. How many of you. We’re not on Medicare and Medicaid. But how many of you. Get free health care. You might say in your job, you get health care. I know, but you pay for that. You pay for it either through reduced wages or you pay for it with direct sharing of expenses. But why should we give illegal aliens free health care? They’re not even supposed to be here. Now that will break the system. And it certainly encourage more illegal aliens to come into the United States of America. So the Democrats are constantly talking about the cost of health care. So ask Bernie Sanders as Hakeem Jeffries. Ask all of the Marxist Islamists. Well, if you’re giving free health care to illegal aliens, that increases the price of health care to you, puts a greater demand on health care services and takes more money out of your pocket to subsidize people who aren’t even citizens. So the Democrats want free health care for illegal aliens. What else do they want? They want to keep able bodied non-working adults on taxpayer funded health care programs. So let’s say it’s a 28 year old. He’s sitting on a sofa. He drink and soda, eating Cheetos, watching TV all day. They get free health care. The Republicans said, no, you got to show that you’re working 20 hours a week, even volunteering for some organization. If you a few of your mental facilities, faculties, if you have your physical faculties, you need to participate in the work force. You can’t just sit around and get free health care from the people who are working. So they want to keep able bodied non-working adults on taxpayer funded health care programs. That’s number two. And it costs a fortune. They want to permanently extend Biden’s COVID pandemic era Obamacare subsidies. What does all that mean? There were certain programs that were passed with enormous expenses that we were told to get us through the pandemic, heightened expenses. And so the Trump administration and the Republicans said, no, that’s enough. The Democrats want to retain that. These massive excessive spending. On COVID pandemic era. Obamacare subsidies. What else? They repeal $50 billion, they repeal it, and rural health care funding hurting small hospitals and clinics vulnerable to communities. They want all the money for the big cities. Anybody who lives outside the cities, particularly in the rural area, where the population by definition is relatively small. They want to steal money from those little hospitals, which means they will collapse. I’ve got more. I’ll be right back.
Segment 3
So you’re learning more now about government shutdowns than most people will ever learn at watching television or listening to other shows. That’s for sure. Night explained this last night. I’ve explained it for 20 some years. Revenue into the government never stops. It never stops. That’s the other. The other outrageous, misleading nomenclature when they talk about a government shutdown, the IRS and shutdown. And you keep paying your taxes. I’m looking at a site called the fiscal data from the Treasury Department. Oh, yeah. I was up early working on this like two or three in the morning When? When my mental juices just keep flowing. In fiscal year 2020. For the last year, we have the overall number for the largest source of source of federal revenue was individual income taxes. Your income taxes. 49.3% so far in fiscal 2025, the largest source of federal revenue is individual income taxes. 50.3% of total revenue. Now that revenue and there’s others and I’ll get to it is used to fund these programs. So the government, the money keeps flowing in. The money keeps flowing in no matter what. And how much money keeps flowing in? A lot. That’s giving your example in 2024. The government collected nearly $5 trillion. It’s going to collect more this year. The government also collects revenue from services like admissions to national parks, custom duties on foreign imports, and of course, tariffs now, which are significant. In the majority. This is used to pay bureaucrats. The buildings, the departments, the functioning of the government. As well as obviously some goods and maintenance and so forth. So the government raised nearly $5 trillion in 2024, but the government spent 6.75 trillion in 2024. The official. Yearly deficit in 2024 was 1.83 trillion. See, that’s the problem. But the money will continue to flow. And you understand? The money will continue to flow in. Now, most of the money the government gets comes from individual taxpayers, small businesses. And corporations through income taxes. Additional sources of tax revenue consist of excise taxes, estate taxes, and other taxes and fees. Now you also pay. Another 34% of what the government takes in Social Security and Medicare taxes. Now most of you pay the Medicare taxes 100%. Social Security is paid in part by you and your employer. So that’s another 34% or 84% of the federal revenue, in many cases, a direct taxation on you. They’ve trillions of dollars, $5 trillion. Now, revenue also comes from payments to federal agencies like the Department of Interior, you know, for leasing land and for herding, for drilling and so forth and so on. Your national park. The fees it charges little stuff. Lister. So you have significant, massive federal revenue and it’s going up and up and up. Almost $5 trillion, but you have significant, massive spending like. Mankind has never known six in three quarters trillion. A lot of that came from the spending by the Democrats and the so-called Inflation Reduction Act, which had nothing to do with it. A massive boondoggle around $2 trillion. That blew up the budget, blew up the economy with inflation and is still lingering. It’s still lingering. Now this federal. In fiscal 2024, federal revenue was equal revenue revenue was equal to 17% of the total gross domestic product. Well, how much was the gross domestic product? It was 28.9. 5 trillion. In other words, $29 trillion. That’s a lot. 17% of the government’s revenue. Excuse me, the government’s revenue. 17% of that came straight out of the economy. Straight out of the economy. Massive. And that means that spending. Of the gross domestic product is around 19%. So what does that mean? That just rounded off the 20%. That means of all the money spent in the United States, the federal government. Out of every dollar spent about $0.20 of every dollar. Spent $0.20 of every dollar. And the Democrats wanted to spend more. They want $1.5 trillion more in one four month period, America in one four month period. What will that do to inflation? What will that do to the value of our currency? It’ll tank them. And for what? Illegal aliens. Their health care. Come on, stick with me. This is a do nothing Democrat Party that wants to sink this country financially by revolution with these Marxist Islamists. How can you look at this and say they love America? How can you. He can’t. In my opinion. It’s why I wrote the book The Democrat Party Hates America. You know why? Because the Democrat Party hates America. Shutdowns over the last 50 years. And. And yet we survived. How is that possible? How is that possible? 1976, the government shutdown under Gerald Ford and the Democratic Congress for 11 days. 1977 under Jimmy Carter, 12 days. 1977 again under Jimmy Carter. Eight days. 1977. Again under Jimmy Carter. Eight days. 1978. Under Jimmy Carter. 17 days. Hello. 1979. Under Jimmy Carter. 11 days. 1981. Under Reagan. Two days. 1982. Under Reagan. One day. 1982. Again. Under Reagan. Three days. 1983. Under Reagan. Three days. 1984. Under Reagan. Two days. Another 1984. Under Reagan. One day. 1986. Under Reagan. One day. 1987. Under Reagan. One day. 1990 under George H.W. Bush. Four days. 1995. Under Bill Clinton. Five days. 1996. Under Clinton. 21 days. 2013 under Barack Millhouse Bonito Obama 17 days. There was the filibuster led by the great Ted Cruz tried to stop him from this Obamacare 2018 under Donald Trump. Three days now between Obama notice and Trump. George W Bush did nothing. To try and stop the profligate spending. Nothing. Because he and his buddy Karl and all were so afraid politically of a government, quote unquote, shutdown, which we know is not a shutdown. 2018 under Trump, one that lasted several hours, 2019 under the president. President Trump. 35 days. And that’s the last of it. And we’re here. We’ve survived. We’re here to talk about it, Mr. Producer. We’re here to talk about it because, you know, and you’ll be able to tell your neighbors, your friends, your coworkers. The government never shuts down little aspects of it. Some of it hurts certain people. Most of it hurts nobody. And the. The government itself tries to make it hurt as much as possible, of course. The government so-called shutdown, the Democrats will force it. Because they want to pay for their illegal alien constituency. The same people he led in, they led into the country, the same people they refused to deport from the country. And now they want to make sure they have free health care, which, of course. Weaken our health care system, reduce what’s available to you. Longer lines, longer waiting periods for critical medical services, and you’re paying for it. That’s the position of the Democrats. Only then will they not, quote unquote, shut down the government. So the shutting down of the government is not the end of the world because most of it doesn’t shut down the media. And the Democrats and some Republicans will pretend that it does. The Democrats and the bureaucrats will try to make it as painful as possible. But they only have so much to work with. All true and all to blackmail the president. For programs that are outrageous and will bankrupt the country down the road like health care for illegal aliens. Like able bodied young men and young women doing no work and getting free health care from all of you who do work. Why should you pay for illegal aliens getting health care? Or fellow Americans who sit their fat asses on a sofa, watch TV all day and don’t even try to get a job, even a voluntary position for 20 hours a week. 20 hours a week? The Democrats want to reverse that requirement that the Republicans put back in because Biden and Obama took it out some minimum work requirement. Oh, that’s just too much. You must be against people having health care. And that’s the way that goes. That propaganda. So the money keeps flowing in to the feds. About $400 billion a month. While they cry. They’re broke. The essential services of the government Pay attention to this point. It’s important. We’ll be paid. The $5 trillion will continue to flow into the government. But they’ve spent. Way beyond that. And they want the money to continue to spend way beyond it. But Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, veterans benefits, law enforcement, military, all these other things, they continue to to march along. They continue to march long. I do love what the president wants to do and is going to do. He’s going to punish the big government Democrats. Obviously he’s going to say, well, since you’re. You’re not passing a budget. I can’t spend money. I can only spend money. To the level in which the money comes in. But all this other money I can’t spend, all this deficit spending and so forth, therefore at the fire people. And now what we’ll do is we’ll target certain agencies, certain programs and so forth and so on. Most of them radical. Most of them, I mean, nothing to do it. Nothing. Many of them counterproductive, if not outright problematic. And what cut them. Thank you for the opportunity. That’s the genius of this president. I’ll be right back.
Segment 4
So what? What’s the key to everything I’ve been talking about on this? The so-called government. Shut that. Relax. Relax. You’re going to be fine. You’re going to hear the fearmongering, the scare mongering, the threats. Relax. You can’t let the Democrats. If $1.5 trillion, much of it, to their buddies, break our health care system, you’re going to hear nothing but lies, what I call negative language to support agitprop. Our friend Jimmy Agitprop Lenin 1902. Now it’s relevant. That’s what you’re going to hear. You’re going to hear lies and just. If you don’t have a pair of earplugs, go buy a pair of earplugs or put some headphones on ear bugs and or whatever. Just. Just put the TV on. Watch the gym Shopping Network. I always enjoy that myself. It’s a relief. Well, we do have a breaking story here that I want to bring to your attention from our friends at The Daily Wire. Utah State University. That is where Charlie was assassinated. Right. Which. The building was evacuated due to suspicious device ahead of a TPUSA event. Authorities issued an emergency evacuation order at Utah State University in Logan, Utah, Tuesday. That would be today after a suspicious device, quote unquote, was found just hours before a turning point USA event was scheduled to take place on campus. TPC founder Kirk was supposed to peak there. We know what happened on September 10th. He was assassinated. And this was the first turning point USA. Hosted event in the state since the assassination. Utah State University’s run 120 miles. It’s a different university actually. It’s yeah that correction Utah Valley’s where Charlie Kirk was assassinated this is 120 miles north of that. In a video posted on social media by local news outlet KSL TV, Police are heard yelling Fire in the hole before a loud explosion is heard. That is, they’re blowing up the device. The building that was evacuated was not where the turning point event was set to take place. It was at the university. A different university, but a new town nonetheless. I’m telling you what, it is crazy out there. It is dangerous. Absolutely dangerous. And. 90% of it, if not more, is going one way to the left. I don’t care what these other morons have to say. That’s what it is. You see the speech by the president of United States with the generals and the applause is very supportive, said, I’ll have your backs. You see The Hague speech to there was unbelievable. This is really remarkable administration. It really is. I just think the cabinet is second to none. Young, vigorous, motivated. They think outside the box. You don’t even have to agree with everything. But look what the president has done just today. Just today. Addressing the generals and admirals in our country, addressing childhood cancer and tying it to a I advancements, addressing the prices of drugs. Whether you agree with what he’s doing or not, he’s is jumping in. He’s having to deal with this potential government issue. And, of course, he just came off this this peace deal in the Middle East one day.
