If it weren’t so serious, it would be a good joke to see the President of the United States serving 300 Big Macs to a group of college football champions during their reception at the White House. But on Monday Donald Trump ordered in and pay for this fast food because his catering staff have been laid off thanks to the US government shutdown.

Likewise Canadian air traffic controllers have been sending pizzas to their American colleagues, who along with 800,000 other US public workers are currently going unpaid, though air traffic controllers and others, including Secret Service personnel, are obliged by law to stay at their key posts.

This, the longest government shutdown in US history is the result of the showdown between Trump and the now-Democrat controlled House of Representatives. The Democrats have refused to sanction $5.7 billion for Trump’s promised border wall with Mexico, so the President has refused to sign the appropriations into law. The resulting freeze on payments affects a quarter of all Federal government employees.

At the moment, polls appear to show that voters are blaming Trump for the standoff. But polls, especially those commissioned by media which support the liberal establishment against an incumbent whom it hates, almost beyond reason, may not be an entirely reliable reflection of public opinion. The administration is arguing that the wall to stop illegal migration, as well as drug smuggling from Mexico, was a key plank of the Trump presidential campaign. The Democrats counter this by pointing out that two years into this presidency, popular support is falling away, as evidenced by the Republican loss of the House. This analysis does not, however, completely stand up, given that at the mid-term elections, Republicans actually won extra seats in the Senate.

Surely, what the current political impasse demonstrates is that the United States is a deeply divided country. But it has to be wondered if bringing any part of the business of government to a grinding halt via the blunt weapon that is this budgetary maneuver is really the best way to bludgeon a result. This is the fifteenth time in 38 years that confrontation between the legislature and the executive has forced a government shutdown.

The result is not simply a loss of important federal services and unpaid government servants and private contractors. There is also an economic cost. However, the current appropriations row actually only affects about a quarter of government activity and economists are estimating that it is only costing the economy around $1 billion a week. Moreover, after past shutdowns, federal workers have generally received their back pay. Meanwhile, those hardest hit have been able to turn to welfare payments, which they do not normally have to reimburse when they finally get their salaries. Thus, despite the inconvenience, shutdowns can actually be financial good news for some.

Nevertheless, to outsiders, this seems a poor way to run a country. Democrat opposition to Trump’s Mexican wall is an article of faith for the liberal establishment with its globalist agenda. Equally, for the silent, albeit narrow majority who voted for Trump, the wall is a way to protect US jobs and wage levels while fighting international crime and boosting internal security. For most US legislators, supporting those aims ought to be a no-brainer.