President Donald J. Trump on Thursday reportedly openly declared that the ongoing government shutdown, triggered earlier this week by Democratic opposition to a short-term spending measure, offers him an “unprecedented opportunity” to slash federal agencies he derided as partisan and wasteful.
“I have a meeting today with Russ Vought, he of PROJECT 2025 Fame, to determine which of the many Democrat Agencies, most of which are a political SCAM, he recommends to be cut, and whether or not those cuts will be temporary or permanent,” Mr. Trump wrote on Truth Social. “I can’t believe the Radical Left Democrats gave me this unprecedented opportunity. They are not stupid people, so maybe this is their way of wanting to, quietly and quickly, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! President DJT.”
The comments marked a sharp escalation in the standoff, one that has already shifted the balance of power toward the White House.
By refusing to pass a continuing resolution, Democrats set in motion a shutdown that, according to even sympathetic voices in the press, may be politically disadvantageous.
In a Wednesday editorial, The Washington Post warned Democrats they “may have walked into a ‘trap’ laid by Trump — the same one acknowledged by the president himself on Thursday.”
“Left-wing Democrats, like the Freedom Caucus before them, enter this shutdown in a position of weakness,” the paper observed. “President Donald Trump and his budget director, Russell Vought, now have extraordinary authority to choose which agencies to close, what spending to prioritize and even which government workers to lay off.”
That newfound authority could reshape not only the immediate standoff but the broader structure of the federal government. Mr. Trump and Mr. Vought, a longtime conservative budget hawk, have long spoken of their desire to dismantle what they see as entrenched Democratic power centers in Washington. Now, they may have the leverage to follow through.
“Expect him to follow through in a way that maximizes pain for Democrats, who will probably face pressure from their allies in government labor unions after employees are fired and others are forced to work without pay,” The Post continued.
For Democrats, the unity that so far has held in Congress may soon be tested. Their demand that Affordable Care Act subsidies set to expire at year’s end be extended has, until now, been their central rallying point. Yet as the shutdown drags on, the prospect of federal workers — many of them aligned with Democratic constituencies — losing jobs or paychecks could fracture that solidarity.
While Mr. Trump’s rhetoric is blunt, his strategy reflects a broader conservative critique of Washington: that bloated bureaucracies, often staffed by career Democrats, serve political ends under the guise of neutral governance. By calling them “political SCAMs,” he has signaled his intent not merely to use the shutdown as leverage but to treat it as a rare chance to fulfill long-promised reforms.
Whether the cuts he envisions are temporary or permanent, as he suggested, could determine the scale of the showdown. But for now, it is the president, not his opponents, who appears to have the upper hand.
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