California Governor Gavin Newsom launches new international climate partnerships as President Donald Trump unleashed an unhinged rant at the United Nations: NAJ screen shot

By Glynn Wilson –

COULTERVILLE, Ca. – The Trump administration embraced the government shutdown on Wednesday and a senior White House official said there are no plans to negotiate with Democratic leadership in the House and Senate to get it back open again.

“We’re going to extract maximum pain,” said the official, speaking anonymously to Politico to discuss political strategy, and claimed that Democrats “will pay a huge price for this.”

While the White House and Republicans in Congress think Democrats will be blamed for the shutdown and its ripple effects, including more mass layoffs across the federal government, that’s not what public opinion data shows historically.

Democrats believe the White House is bluffing about its sweeping layoff plans, and insist Republicans will bear responsibility for a shutdown in the public eye because the American people know the Republicans control all three branches of government right now, and at least the ones who are independent minded and not blatantly and ideologically aligned with Donald Trump, know they are to blame for this.

“Historically, it’s the aggressor that always loses,” the senior White House official told Politico. “And quite simply, their constituencies and their priorities are all going to get chewed up, and ours, not so much.”

We will see.

It is being reported that the Office of Management and Budget is instructing federal agencies to prepare reduction-in-force plans for mass firings during a government shutdown, specifically targeting employees who work for programs that are not legally required to continue.

Democrats are demanding that Republicans negotiate a bipartisan stopgap spending measure. Among their asks is to extend some Affordable Care Act subsidies, which were expanded by Congress in 2021 and are due to sunset at the end of the year.

Trump blamed Democrats for making “unserious and ridiculous” demands.

“He read all the shit they’re asking for, and he said, ‘on second thought, go fuck yourself’,” the president said according to the White House official.

Administration officials believe that once a potential shutdown starts, Democrats won’t be able to hold out “very long” and that Republican allies on the Hill are aligned.

They “are strapped in for a fight,” the senior official said. “They’re gonna make them vote five-plus times.”

The president, who canceled a planned meeting with Democratic congressional leaders this week, is also attempting to tie Democrats to what he believes are unpopular policies, accusing them on social media of wanting to “force Taxpayers to fund Transgender surgery for minors” – a charge that puzzled even some Republicans.

Democrats maintain that Trump must change his strategy if he wants to keep the government open, noting that any funding bill needs their votes to clear the Senate filibuster.

“In what world do you ask people for their votes without sitting down and having a conversation with them,” said Shalanda Young, who served as OMB director under former President Joe Biden.

Every Senate Democrat, except for Pennsylvania’s John Fetterman, voted last week to reject a clean, seven-week funding bill spearheaded by Republicans.

“We’re bracing for impact,” the White House official said.

Reaction

According to his reaction to the shutdown, California Governor Gavin Newsom issued a press release saying “Trump and his lapdogs in the majority in both the Senate and House are shutting down the federal government because they do not want to extend health care funding that makes it affordable to get support and care. Trump’s team literally told POLITICO that Democrats can “go fuck themselves.”

As President Trump and his Republican enablers in Congress — who hold the majority — prepare to shut down the federal government, Newsom said, impacting nearly 40 million Californians’ daily lives, he highlighted how severe and damaging this “extreme, selfish, and politically motivated this shutdown is for Americans.”

“Trump is shutting down the government — making monthly health care costs jump hundreds of dollars for millions, putting food assistance for people in need at-risk, and making troops go without pay,” he said. “It’s despicable and it’s completely MAGA made!”

New analysis has found that if Trump and Republicans do not extend the current support provided that is set to expire at the end of the year — as Democrats are asking for — Californians would see an average premium cost among enrollees with financial assistance increase by 97 percent, he said.

Ten ways Californians may be impacted by a MAGA meltdown in Congress

* Thousands of Californians no longer paid: Non-essential federal government employees could be furloughed — putting paychecks at risk as California is home to more than 150,000 federal workers.

* Cuts to schools: Education programs like Head Start are at-risk of not being funded, harming our youngest students.

* Mass firings: The White House is threatening mass firings of federal workers in the event of a shutdown — adding to a growing unemployment rate!

* Delays at Social Security: Customer service at the Social Security Administration could be impacted.

* Economic harm: The Bureau of Labor Statistics would stop collecting critical data on the nation’s economy — creating unnecessary uncertainty for small businesses and consumers.

* No new flood insurance: As the wet season begins, the National Flood Insurance Program cannot write new or renewal policies, potentially putting homeowners in jeopardy.

* More hungry families: Federal food assistance programs could be depleted, leading to delayed food aid for those Americans in need.

* Harming victims of disasters: Disaster payments could be delayed after natural disasters like wildfires — further delaying recovery and rebuilding of these communities.

* Flight delays: Flight delays, long TSA lines, and a $1 billion hit per week to the U.S. travel economy.

* Parks closed: National Parks could be thrown into peril, close, and NPS employees could be furloughed.

Newsom called it a “bad faith argument” by the Trump White House and MAGA Republicans.

“The subsidies Democrats are looking to extend — to keep health care costs manageable — do not go towards undocumented people,” the governor said. “This is just another example of their attempt to sow fear, ‘dehumanize’ communities, and create division — even when the facts are not on their side.”

Previous Shutdown Impacts

In 2013, a two-week government shutdown reduced fourth quarter GDP by an estimated $2 to 6 billion and led to 120,000 fewer private sector jobs in the following month. In 2018-19, a five-week shutdown reduced fourth quarter GDP by an estimated $3 billion, while delayed government spending on goods and services further lowered spending by $9 billion.

“No matter how short-lived the shutdown is,” Newsom said, “Americans will face economic losses in the billions — something totally unnecessary if Trump and his MAGA minions had taken proactive action that protects Americans.”

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