Posted on 09/25/2025 9:28:54 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Donald Trump just pulled off a political maneuver that has Democrats reeling — and, frankly, they should be. With a potential government shutdown looming on September 30, the Trump administration has made it clear that if Congress can’t pass a clean Continuing Resolution to keep the government running, federal workers could be facing mass firings. Not furloughs. Firings. Real jobs on the line.
For years, Democrats thought they could weaponize shutdowns as a way to extract concessions from Republicans. Now, Trump has flipped the script by putting the pressure right back where it belongs: on them.
The House passed a stopgap to fund the government through November 21, but Senate Democrats won’t move it forward. Why? Because they’re holding out for a laundry list of demands, from making Obamacare subsidies permanent to funding transgender surgeries for minors and free health care for illegal immigrants. Essentially, they’re trying to hold government funding hostage in return for policy demands the voters rejected.
And Trump isn’t having any of it.
The Office of Management and Budget issued a blunt memorandum spelling out how the administration will deal with a shutdown. The message was unmistakable: Democrats are blocking a straightforward funding bill, and if they insist on playing chicken with the budget, their allies inside the federal bureaucracy will pay the price.
The memo makes it clear that agencies must prepare for mass layoffs, and employees working on programs not aligned with Trump’s priorities are especially vulnerable. Translation: there will be no shelter for the pet projects of the left. Programs that didn’t get automatic funding boosts under the law are first on the chopping block, leaving the bloated progressive agenda exposed.
What makes this gambit so devastatingly effective is that essential services remain untouched. Social Security checks will still go out. Medicare continues.
(Excerpt) Read more at pjmedia.com ...
Not everyone in the Democratic Party is on board with this recklessness. Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman has broken ranks with his colleagues, calling it exactly as it is. “It is absolutely the wrong thing for a lot of reasons that we’re going to shut our government down,” he warned, explicitly condemning Democrats for playing partisan games That kind of candor is rare these days, and it leaves Schumer and Jeffries looking even more isolated.
The memo leaves Democrats a clear choice: pass a clean continuing resolution before the September 30 deadline, or trigger a shutdown that would unleash thousands of layoffs in the very federal workforce they claim to protect. Democrats now must weigh their obsession with expanding government handouts against the livelihoods of the bureaucracy they champion. This is Trump at his political sharpest, turning a Democrat tactic into a weapon against them.
Prog-woke Fed.gov in DC has been a non-stop gravy-train for employees, and especially cronies, for the last 90 years
It needs to be taken down a few notches.
Why hasn’t this always been the case when shutdown looms?
It has been the case, but we’ve always had Republicans who were afraid of looking like bad people, doing so.
And tomorrow morning there will be an injunction telling Trump he cannot fire those employees.
Why do we want to prevent a shutdown?
But I saw this post from Mike Johnson today, and nearly fell out of my chair:
Astonishing. I can only conclude the Leftists WANT government to "shut down" because they think it will harm Republicans. But as you stated, those other components will continue to run, so...what is their game here?
They are so lost in the woods one might pity them...but I sure won't.
Hail to our outstanding Chief, President Donald Trump.
This is Trump at his best.
Just get those appropriations bills through on reconciliation and ignore the Democrats.
What if they closed the gummit and nobody noticed.
I need to contact my traitor senators and tell them to shut the government down. I would be happy with the government losing a bunch useless waste of workers. I finally can see how they will be useful senators. Yes I think they are that stupid.
Thanks for the article, and my compliments to Matt Margolis for his article. I predict more good things from his keyboard.
“Let’s see what fabulous prizes the Democrats have won behind door number 3!….”
Let the Pink slips flow.
“Why hasn’t this always been the case when shutdown looms?”
You know the reason
a former federal employee, when thee times came, I had a choice of using my personal leave time (if any), or stay home with no pay. At that time, an employee could hold no more than 240 hours of personal leave time on the record. Of course, 240 hours/8=30 days leave time.
From the earlier thread: https://freerepublic.com/focus/news/4342646/posts?page=15#15
-PJ
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.