Liberals are to blame: it’s an old Intelligencer argument. For example, readers may not know this but liberals intimidated the West Virginia's legislature (see here) back in 2016 and they also attempted to shut down the government earlier this year (here). Accordingly, if the government does shut down tomorrow, readers will need to forget that the Republican Party controls the presidency and both houses of Congress, for it’s those dozen or so crafty liberals who are once again to blame. From this morning’s Intelligencer editorial:

To avoid shutting down some non-essential functions of government this weekend, Congress must pass a spending bill by the end of the day Friday. Conservatives want the measure to kill both the medical device and employer-provided health insurance taxes.

Liberals are blocking the way.

The editorial does not explain how.

The Boston Globe would seem to have a better understanding of what’s going on (i.e. reality):

Anticipating the public backlash, Trump and some other Republicans are trying to divert blame to the minority Democrats. . . .

The real problem seems to be that GOP factions — deficit hawks, military hawks, Tea Party zealots, pro- and anti-immigrant legislators, President Trump’s various personalities — can’t agree on a deal among themselves. The president appeared to endorse a plan to include immigration measures in the bill last week but then reversed himself on Thursday.

Democrats and Republicans both say they want to keep the government open. But only the GOP has the power to do so.

Of course, that's a reality-based argument.