Many Democrats believe the White House is bluffing and insist Republicans will bear responsibility for a shutdown in the public eye because the GOP controls the government.

The Trump administration is expecting a government shutdown come Wednesday and there are no current plans to negotiate with Democratic leadership, according to a senior White House official.

“We’re going to extract maximum pain,” said the official, granted anonymity to discuss political strategy, adding that Democrats “will pay a huge price for this.”

The comments underscore the White House’s belief that Democrats will be blamed for a shutdown and its ripple effects, which could include mass layoffs across the federal government.

  • ceenote@lemmy.world
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    13 days ago

    I say this as a government employee: shut it down. I don’t want to be looking for a new job in Trump’s economy, but we’re long past the point where we can fight this authoritarianism without risking anything.

    • DrPop@lemmy.world
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      13 days ago

      Me too, as hard as a government shut down will be on my family it’s necessary to preserve liberties.

  • Kühlschrank@lemmy.world
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    13 days ago

    The Democrats messaging, as always, has been abysmal on this. They should have been hitting the airwaves since the last vote preparing public for this to happen and - rightly - putting the responsibility on the GOP who owns both sides of congress and the presidency.

      • Kühlschrank@lemmy.world
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        13 days ago

        Of course, and yet SOME effort from the Dems would not go unnoticed. Politics today is so overwhelmingly based on vibes today and to not try to influence that is political malpractice.

  • ThePantser@sh.itjust.works
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    13 days ago

    Shut it down! It’s not functioning correctly. Let’s spin up a new one while the old one reboots.

  • inclementimmigrant@lemmy.world
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    13 days ago

    If Democrats are smart they would be out there 24/7 telling the public that Trump has refused to work with the Democrats and remind them that Republicans have the votes to go out alone per Trump’s orders.

    And then let Republicans Mike pence themselves in a lose lose scenario and then go back on the air 24/7 doing the Scrubs I told you so dance.

    Because right now, I literally have conservatives at work saying to everyone, including government people, about the pending Democrat shutdown.

  • Deflated0ne@lemmy.world
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    13 days ago

    Let’s be real. They likely will blink. The dems almost as a rule always have just enough turncoats on hand to ensure the Rs get everything they want and they themselves can’t ever get anything done.

    I expect nothing from them. But im open to being surprised.

  • ceenote@lemmy.world
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    13 days ago

    If Chuck Schumer blinks, he loses the right to ever say “TACO Trump” again.

    • blave@lemmy.world
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      13 days ago

      Trump is using more layoffs during the shutdown as a threat to get rid of employees that don’t “align with his political agenda“.

      But this isn’t much of a threat to the Democrats, especially because they all know he’s gonna do some bullshit like that anyway, and appeasing him now will just embolden him.

      • jacksilver@lemmy.world
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        13 days ago

        Yeah, he’s already played the mass RIF hand. He’s going to try to make it happen with/without a shutdown.

        Also, anyone slightly aware of things knows a shutdown doesn’t cause mass layoffs, that’s all Republicans.

    • Ironfist79@lemmy.world
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      13 days ago

      The cognitive dissonance is almost unbearable. I thought conservatives hated the government? Shouldn’t they be celebrating a shutdown? They are literally getting what they want.

  • Treczoks@lemmy.world
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    13 days ago

    While the Democrats surely will be blamed (they have proven time and again that they are too incompetent to spin this correctly), falling flat will have worse consequences.

  • WraithGear@lemmy.world
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    13 days ago

    he thinks they will blink because Shumer told him if they don’t talk about it before hand he would start crying.

      • WraithGear@lemmy.world
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        13 days ago

        ok? not sure what you are getting at.

        my point being that the democrats are either spineless, or complicit. that chuck recently went on tv. The reporter, who was only desperately trying to get him to show spine and use leverage against republicans, ultimately failed in the most pathetic whimpering since shumers “nasty” letter pointing at trumps low numbers when democrats were even lower.

        what a fucking joke.

  • kreskin@lemmy.world
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    13 days ago

    I dont think anyone will beleive that they are worthy of blame. Dems can barely accomplish anything even when they are in power. Painting them as a powerful boogieman enemy now is not going to work.