President Donald Trump has seized on the government shutdown as an opportunity to reshape the US federal workforce and punish detractors.
He met with budget director Russ Vought on Thursday to talk through “temporary or permanent” spending cuts that could set up a lose-lose dynamic for Democratic politicians.
Trump flagged they would determine “which of the many Democrat Agencies” would be cut, continuing their efforts to slash federal spending by threatening mass firings of workers and suggesting “irreversible” cuts to Democratic priorities.
“I can’t believe the Radical Left Democrats gave me this unprecedented opportunity,” Trump wrote on his social media account.
“They are not stupid people, so maybe this is their way of wanting to, quietly and quickly, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
Trump has been very direct about his intentions in saying that he believes the Democrats would get the blame if he chooses to fire people or cut spending as part of the shutdown.
“There could be firings and that’s their fault,” the president said in an interview with One America News set to air Thursday.
“I mean, we could cut projects that they wanted, favourite projects, and they’d be permanently cut.”
The Truth Social post was notable in its explicit embrace of Project 2025, a controversial policy blueprint drafted by the Heritage Foundation that Trump distanced himself from during his re-election campaign.
The effort aimed to reshape the federal government around right-wing policies, and Democrats repeatedly pointed to its goals to warn of the consequences of a second Trump administration.
Vought on Wednesday offered an opening salvo of the pressure he hoped to put on Democrats.
He announced he was withholding $US18 billion ($A27 billion) for the Hudson River rail tunnel and Second Avenue subway line in New York City.
Both have been championed by Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer and House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries in their home state.
Vought is also cancelling $US8 billion ($A12 billion) in green energy projects in states with Democratic senators.
“Trump’s so-called ‘maximum pain’ plan isn’t hurting Democrats — it’s hurting American families,” Schumer said in a statement Thursday.
“He’s snatching pay cheques, threatening jobs, and deliberately inflicting suffering on working people just to score petty political points.”
Meanwhile, the White House is preparing for mass firings of federal workers, rather than simply furloughing it as is the usual practice during a shutdown.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said earlier this week that layoffs were “imminent”.
“If they don’t want further harm on their constituents back home, then they need to reopen the government,” Leavitt said.
The bespectacled and bearded Vought has emerged as a central figure in the shutdown, promising possible layoffs of government workers that would be a show of strength by the Trump administration.
It could also be a possible liability given the weakening job market and existing voter unhappiness over the economy.
The strategic goal is to increase the political pressure on Democratic politicians as agencies tasked with environmental protection, racial equity and addressing poverty, among other things, could be gutted over the course of the shutdown.
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