Shut It Down • The West Wing "Separation of Powers" 

From a writing perspective, you have to admit that President Bartlett’s position and decision have merit. They had an agreement, they were meeting to sign. The Speaker of the House changed their offer at the last minute expecting capitulation. To put it in different terms, you buy a car, you agree on a price, you get to the check signing part and the price is 4 grand more. You politely say no, not what we agreed on. If they don’t honor the agreement, you walk away.

First rule of negotiation- Always be prepared to walk away at a moments notice.

Good move. Checkmate. This reminds me of a similar situation I had. We were buying our first house decades ago. The seller was an old lady very selfish. We were in our 20's. She wanted us to close on Dec 25, and move in on Jan 1. The dates were ridiculous. You can't get a mover then, and we would have had to pay rent for another month if not moved out by Dec 30 or before. There was still a lot of time for her to move out. We had decided on an earlier date, and we were at the closing table with attorneys present. And she had changed the dates at the last moment. I was so furious. Without consulting my husband, I said no. Vehemently no. If she changed the dates, there would no closing, no moving, and NO SALE. I got up and was ready to walk away. My husband got up too and played along. I refused to be a patsy and jerked around by this woman. What else would she pull? I also said, I would sue her for my closing costs, new rental, and moving expenses for packing. Since this was winter, I knew that house would sit on the market for months longer. The attorneys would not get paid if the sale did not go through. So I held the cards. There was a last minute frantic discussion between her and her attorney. He came back to us with better dates. So the sale went through. Later my husband asked if I was serious? I said, of course. You have to be prepared to walk away in any negotiation.

“You will be held responsible” Says the guy shoe horning in a change at the last minute

I always get chills at the percussion after "then shut it down."

Only the West Wing could make a partial-closure of the United States Federal Government into a dramatic cliffhanger.

Fun fact:Both the President and the Speaker played Robert F. Kennedy.

One thing I never liked is that the Speaker saw that the President was standing up but did not stand with him. It's subtle but it speaks to Haffley's character.

2:27 When the president stands nobody sits

“That wasn’t part of the deal!” “I am altering the deal, pray I don’t alter it any further.” 👿

The unsteady camera work is brilliant in this scene - speaking to the CR deal teetering on the brink.

The *GREATEST* show in the _HISTORY_ of television.

Bartlett is a true man of honour he means well

To put it in simple terms : The Speaker came in with BullS**T and met Backbone!

lol! the epic movie trailer ending. Like a budget negotiation is an action center piece.

Always negotiate from a position of strength. Without strength, your enemies will triumph an inch at a time.

LOVE that scene. Biden should do the same thing the next time this unrealistic demand occurs. Hold the line!!!!

Josh wouldn’t have let it get to this point. He’d have mocked the Speaker as he’s essentially saying making a deal with him is pointless as he doesn’t have the respect of his members of the house, and then made it clear that he’d bring bait and switch to the press

One thing I loved about this show was that they made Republicans actually feel like they were fighting for something that they actually believed in. They still called them idiots a bunch in the series but the Republicans genuinely felt real. Minus when the speaker became President. I hated that guy.

perfect example of negotiating in bad faith

I didn't realize D'Angelo Barksale's mom worked at The White House.

Back at it again in 2018.

Everything I need to know about our federal government I learnt from The West Wing.

Brilliant scene

Doesn't congress tells the president what to spend on? How can the speaker claims that congress have to vote to keep footing the bill? It's your bill!

Very nice..

You can hear the hard breath of the speaker. He ´s telling NO to the president. Amazing detail from the series.

I've been watching clips of this show and now am sorry I didn't watch it all while it was on TV. I may have to see if it's on DVD.

Do you remember when the government used to actually do a budget? (a real one hasn’t been done since GWB / close to 20 years)Do you remember when each side would at least pretend to care about the deficit/debt when the other side was in charge?

*Why isn't Robert at the McCann Erikson offices on Madison Avenue???*

Hahaha ... this was back when republicans claimed to be concerned about spending and deficits. As we all know now, that was just smoke and mirrors.

We didn't get a tax-cut to help the economy, we got a tax cut to aid the already wealthy!

With that three percent they should buy a more stable camera.

i just finished 6th run thru...

Didn’t Trump pull this to attempt to get a wall?

While I agree that reducing government spending is needed, that was pure dirty politics to pull out that demand at the very last moment.

"America does not deal with theorists" you threatened them and was surprised he says no

It was on this episode....the speaker knew....he fucked up

Presidents Bartlett and Kennedy in the same room

If I were Battlett I would have done the same thing. Then gone on every news program and blasted the speaker for pulling that. Sure they would try the same, but my shouting is louder.

President Obama has worn out his copy of this section on DVD :)

This is what Biden should do with the debt ceiling.

This is the standard for television dramas. Do we understand this?

THAT president doesn't exist.

The presumptive GOP nominee makes me long for Nixon...

And I said no

The 24-esque handheld camera action made me hate this season!!

isnt this appropriate today.

Even on a television series .. gummint must move on getting bigger ..

Joe ain't no Jeb Bartlett

Boenher

About to happen again...in real-life...

imho, this scene would have been more effective without the use of the handheld cameras. The picture bouncing up and down is very distracting, especially in the closeups. I usually like the informality of the handheld shots but this particular scene would have been more dramatic if the camera had been still.

Then shut it fark down.

The people who fail trying to blame the guy who signs the done deal.

Ron Swanson likes this video

An Asian President won't shut it down regardless. We open for Christmas! FIX EVERYTHING!

Royce is a very admirable character

A liberal President would never agree to this....

Welcome to 2019 where Trump shuts it down so he can play golf and create a diversion from the dozens of lawsuits he faces.

Having big balls is easy in a tv show. Not realistic

Societal Lesson 101. People in suits and ties making decisions for the rest of us is ridiculous.

Why is the camera shaking so bad....wtf

Shutdown. The negotiation tactic so nice Trump did it thrice.

That was the good old times - where the world respected the functioning free government with checks and balances, with peaceful transfer of power. Sigh. Gone.

Viewers - omg such a powerful president Also viewers - omg I can’t believe trump shut down the government what a horrible president

What's funny is the party like "likes" Jeb, hates Government shutdowns, but the party from the other dude loves it.... But they make it look like shutting the Federal Government would be the end of the world. 😹 Only for fat lazy Government employees.

I miss fondly when the white house of any political party had done enough for the people to see the government shutdown as a bad thing. Now I hope that the budget negotiation(which has to be done all the time because the government spends like a spoiled teenager) fail so that maybe this time the shutdown will wake up even more people to the uselessness of the government and how much we don't miss them when it goes down.

Trump moment. Shut it down!

this is all pardon my french .... BULL SHIT !!!!!!! I don't think any person living in the United States within the last 60 years has ever asked themselves .... Why is congress always talking about a "BALANCED BUDGET " and not a paid off budget ??????????????

We had a deal at 1%/a wall! Well it's going to have to be 3%/ a fence in El Paso. How many rounds do we go Nancy? Then shut it down.

Ahh to look back on when we actually had a federal budget. Now we have an administration that adds 5 trillion of debt in a single year. Though it would be fun to watch a president call a special session through Article 2, section 3 and tell them they aren't going home until a budget is done.

Pulling s president trump

The republicans should have closed the government to get a complete reduction of the deficit.

Slash it slash it. 50% is to low.

Back when liberals made the argument that shutting down the government was a point of pride and principle.

Most Americans wouldn't understand the federal budget if you put it in a school house rock video. Bullshit about having to explain to constituents is just that, bullshit.

You can tell it's fiction because the Democrats have actual spine.

Socialists be like "of course we have to keep on spending!"

Aaron Sorkin's liberal thought went into every ep of this show. The "merciful, brilliant" liberal Democratic president stands up to the "merciless, uninformed" conservative Republican members of Congress. Now, with the same "buy now, pay later" attitude in our government, we've surpassed $30 TRILLION in national debt...and nobody is even talking about addressing it.