Told ya….
There isn’t REALLY gonna be a ‘Government Shutdown’….
As Washington enters a government shutdown, the Trump administration has erected safeguards to ensure President Donald Trump’s most hardline priorities continue unscathed.
Agencies central to Trump’s agenda are shielding certain programs by declaring the federal employees who work on them essential or sheltering them under already approved funding streams — designations that will allow them to keep running through the funding lapse.
That means offices tasked with immigration enforcement and tariff negotiations, two hallmarks of Trump’s presidency, will retain significantly more staff than they have in prior shutdowns, according to a POLITICO analysis of agency documents submitted to the White House in recent days and interviews with current and former administration officials. That’s even as hundreds of thousands of federal workers are sent home, hampering a variety of government functions including some routine food safety inspections, Social Security benefit verifications and the publication of employment numbers by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The split underscores how Trump hopes to punish Democrats by pinning the fallout on them while ensuring his own priorities continue unimpeded. It’s also the latest example of how his administration uses the levers of federal power in unprecedented ways to enact the president’s expansive policy agenda.
“Remember Rahm Emanuel’s great quote: ‘You should never waste a crisis,’” said former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. “Rahm Emanuel should be proud of the Trump team because they’re prepared to say, ‘Every day this is shut, we will find ways to pay for everything we want. We’ll find ways to eliminate everything you want. And we’ll do it legally.’”
Some of Trump’s pet projects, like NASA’s Artemis moonshot program, will continue during the shutdown. So will some major GOP policy priorities, such as processing Interior Department applications for permits to drill or conduct fossil fuel projects.
One first-term Trump official, granted anonymity to speak candidly, said the administration will be “strategic” in its approach on what to fund….
Note…
One hopes Newsom and other Democrats acing for President in 2028 ARE taking notes on ALL this stuff that people said American President could NOT DO…..