Thune Betrays MAGA, Begs Trump Not to Lay Off Government Employees During Shutdown, Wastes Once-in-a-Lifetime Opportunity
Are they tired of winning?
According to a Wall Street Journal exclusive, Senate Majority Leader John Thune and other top Republicans are warning President Donald Trump not to cut jobs or slash entitlements as the government shutdown drags on into its second week.
Trump, who predicted during his 2016 campaign that Americans would be tired of winning once he was president, made it clear late last month that a government shutdown would present an “unprecedented opportunity” to drain the swamp, courtesy of obstinate Democrats who were holding out for more spending on health care for illegal immigrants.
“When you shut it down, you have to do layoffs. So we’d be laying off a lot of people that are going to be very affected, and they’re Democrats,” the president said as the midnight deadline approached on Sept. 30.
Trump doubled down on the message on Truth Social after the deadline came and went. “Republicans must use this opportunity of Democrat forced closure to clear out dead wood, waste, and fraud. Billions of Dollars can be saved. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” Trump posted on Oct. 1.
Besides potentially removing thousands of useless government workers permanently from the payroll as initially promised, Trump needled his opposition by adding that he would be “cutting Democrat programs,” the president said during a Cabinet meeting Thursday.
“We will be cutting some very popular Democrat programs that aren’t popular with Republicans, frankly,” the president said.
The stage has been set for Democrats to reap what they sow, and the circumstances couldn’t be more advantageous to Republicans.
“The only reason we are forced to have these conversations is because the Democrats shut down the government,” White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson told the Journal.
Still, Thune and other squishy GOP lawmakers, who perhaps suffer from a sort of PTSD from years of being the losing party, can’t seem to get out of the way and let Trump deliver this delightful payback that comes but once in a lifetime.