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The government shutdown over Trump’s border wall cost a staggering $11 billion. That estimate includes not only the economic slowdown caused by federal workers’ lack of income (and therefore spending), but also the businesses that those workers patronized, as well as the economic impact of slowed or lost government services.  Some of that financial loss can return. But, as Vox points out, up to $3 billion dollars has vanished from the economy, never to return. The national parks suffered tremendously during the shutdown. The damage from the off-roading, vandalism, and littering in Joshua Tree may take three centuries to undo.

Trump lost this showdown with the Democrats, but he tried to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat by declaring a national emergency. The House of Representatives, however, blocked it. The Senate will likely do the same.

But, inexplicably, Trump is attempting to secure wall funding again. Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California and Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic minority leader, issued a joint statement: “Congress refused to fund his wall, and he was forced to admit defeat and reopen the government. The same thing will repeat itself if he tries this again. We hope he learned his lesson.”

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