Again - Republicans are small government / small government programs; Dems are not. Shutting down programs - potentially permanently - will hinder Democrat goals FAR more in the future.
“We don’t want it to shut down,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “We can do things during the shutdown that are irreversible, that are bad for them and irreversible by them. Like cutting vast numbers of people out, cutting things that they like, cutting programs that they like.”
“You all know [White House budget director] Russell Vought, he’s become very popular recently because he can trim the budget to a level that you couldn’t do any other way. So, they’re taking a risk by having a shutdown. Because of the shutdown, we can do things medically and other ways, including benefits, we can cut large numbers of people out. We don’t want to do that, but we don’t want fraud, waste and abuse,” Trump said.
The president did not elaborate on what benefits and programs would be cut. Earlier on Tuesday, he said there may be “a lot” of layoffs in the federal government during a shutdown after his budget office directed agencies to prepare for mass firings.