The federal government shut down at midnight Wednesday. Congress failed to approve an interim funding bill before the deadline. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich appeared on Fox Business to explain what went wrong.

Gingrich spoke with host Larry Kudlow. He laid out why Democrats painted themselves into a corner. The explanation reveals a party trapped by its own base.

“Even if it cripples the Democratic Party, they feel better fighting. I think if Schumer and if Jeffries had tried to cave early—they would have been thrown out, because the base out there wants to fight. They don’t care whether they win or not, they just have to be emotionally involved in fighting Donald Trump. And the result is going to be [that] the country’s watching.”

The American people are watching closely. And they don’t like what they see.

“The country is against closing the government. The country is against raising spending. So the Democrats adopted a two-no strategy. They wanna close the government in order to get more spending. That’s a double negative. It’s not easy to design a strategy where you’re wrong on both sides.”

Gingrich called it a double negative strategy. Democrats want to close the government. They want to raise spending. Americans oppose both things.

It’s hard to be wrong on both sides. But Democrats managed it.

Gingrich praised Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought. He said Vought outmaneuvered Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and progressive Democrats. Vought spent years preparing for this moment.

“Remember that they understand what Democrat Rahm Emanuel said when he said, ‘You should never waste a crisis.’ Well, they’re not gonna waste this crisis. Russ has been thinking about this all through the four years in the wilderness.”

Vought worked with Gingrich at America First Policy Institute. Gingrich called him brilliant.

“We worked with him at America First Policy Institute. He’s brilliant. He understands exactly what he’s doing. And this is why, this is one of those moments where their radical base will not allow them to be rational. They will punish them if they’re rational. They want to see a magic moment of self-sacrifice, and so they want their leaders to stand there.”

Democrats are trapped by their own supporters. Their radical base won’t let them be rational. The base will punish any attempt at compromise.

Democratic leaders must stand firm even when it hurts. They must fight even when they’re losing. Their base demands it.

House Speaker Mike Johnson said Schumer is intentionally pushing toward a shutdown. The goal is satisfying the far-left faction of his party.

President Trump met with congressional leaders in a last-ditch effort. He tried to reach a deal. The talks ended in stalemate.

Democrats held firm on their healthcare demands. Republicans stood by a clean funding extension.

Days earlier, Trump canceled a planned meeting with top Democrats. He dismissed their demands as “unserious and ridiculous.”

Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries pushed for the meeting. Trump said their terms made any agreement unlikely.

Gingrich’s analysis reveals the core problem. Democrats chose a strategy that puts them on the wrong side of public opinion twice. They’re closing the government. They’re demanding more spending.

Americans oppose government shutdowns. Americans oppose raising spending. Democrats are doing both.

The radical base controls the party now. Schumer and Jeffries can’t cave even if they want to. Their supporters would throw them out.

So Democrats must fight. They must lose. They must watch their strategy fail. All because their base demands emotional satisfaction over strategic victory.

Vought prepared for this exact scenario. He spent four years planning. Now he’s executing perfectly.

Democrats walked into a trap of their own making. Their base won’t let them escape. The country is watching. And the country sees Democrats on the wrong side of both issues.

Gingrich called it nearly impossible to design a strategy this bad. Yet Democrats did it anyway. They’re wrong on closing the government. They’re wrong on raising spending.

That’s the double negative. And it’s destroying their position.