Trump sees ‘unprecedented opportunity’ to punish Democrats as shutdown enters day two

As the US government shutdown stretched into its second day, Donald Trump on Thursday hailed the funding lapse as an “unprecedented opportunity” to further his campaign of firing federal workers and downsizing departments.

The president announced on social media that he would sit down with Russell Vought, the White House office of management and budget chief, an architect of the mass firings and buyouts of federal workers.

“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,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

“I can’t believe the Radical Left Democrats gave me this unprecedented opportunity.”

The government shut down on Wednesday at midnight, after Democrats refused to support a Republican plan to continue funding unless it included a series of healthcare-focused concessions. Vought has threatened to use the shutdown to conduct further layoffs of federal workers, and on Wednesday announced the cancellation of billions of dollars in federal funding for projects tied to Democrats.

About $18bn was frozen for infrastructure projects in and around New York City over “unconstitutional DEI principles”, Vought said, referring to the diversity, equity, and inclusion policies that Trump has sought to stamp out from the federal government. The projects for which money was held include the Second Avenue subway line in Manhattan and the Hudson River tunnel project connecting the city to New Jersey.

The cancellations sparked a furious reaction from Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries, the top Democrats in the Senate and House of Representatives, respectively, both of whom are New Yorkers.

“Donald Trump is once again treating working people as collateral damage in his endless campaign of chaos and revenge,” they said in a joint statement.

Vought also announced that around $8bn in funds for 16 states – all of which are run by Democrats – was put on hold. Vought did not specify the projects, but called it “Green New Scam funding to fuel the Left’s climate agenda”.

The Democratic senator Adam Schiff, who represents California, one of the states for which funding was slashed, responded: “Our democracy is badly broken when a president can illegally suspend projects for Blue states in order to punish his political enemies. They continue to break the law, and expect us to go along. Hell no.”

Ron Wyden, a Democratic senator representing Oregon, another state that lost funding, said: “Ripping funding away from only blue states will raise utility bills for EVERYONE. It’s not rocket science. Vought is unfit to serve in this or any administration.”

At the White House on Wednesday, press secretary Karoline Leavitt warned that “layoffs are imminent”, but gave no further details. That’s a shift from past shutdowns, when federal workers were furloughed or told to work unpaid, with back pay coming once funding is restored.

The broader effects of this shutdown remain to be seen. Many national parks have remained open, but with reduced services, as have the Smithsonian museums in Washington DC.

There has been no indication of a breakthrough in the funding dispute in Congress, where both parties have refused to back down from their demands in the day since the shutdown began. While a bipartisan group of senators was seen huddling on the Senate floor on Wednesday afternoon, no compromise has yet been announced.

The House remains out of session, with no vote planned in the Senate today due to the Yom Kippur holiday.