President Donald Trump isn’t hiding the ball. In a Thursday post on Truth Social, he openly vowed to use the government shutdown to lay off federal workers he believes didn’t vote for him — and said he’s handing over the decision-making to Russell Vought, his budget director and the architect of Project 2025.
“I have a meeting today with Russ Vought, he of PROJECT 2025 Fame, to determine which of the many Democrat Agencies, most of which are a political SCAM, he recommends to be cut, and whether or not those cuts will be temporary or permanent,” Trump wrote.
He added: “I can’t believe the Radical Left Democrats gave me this unprecedented opportunity. They are not stupid people, so maybe this is their way of wanting to, quietly and quickly, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! President DJT”
That “opportunity” is the current government shutdown — which Trump and his allies are framing not as a crisis, but as a once-in-a-generation chance to gut the federal workforce. And they’re not talking about furloughs. They’re talking about permanent layoffs.
Just one day earlier, Trump’s vice president JD Vance laid the groundwork by saying the shutdown means “certain people are going to have to get laid off,” despite the fact that past shutdowns have only temporarily sidelined workers, with back pay typically restored once government funding resumes.
This isn’t an off-the-cuff comment from Trump. It’s part of a broader strategy — led by Vought — to use the shutdown as a weapon against federal agencies and workers viewed as politically disloyal. Vought, who helped design the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 blueprint, has already been taking steps to punish Democratic-leaning states and dismantle programs not aligned with Trump’s agenda.
In a memo sent to agency heads last month, Vought instructed them to submit plans to eliminate “employees in programs, projects, or activities” not funded by Trump’s so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill” or that don’t align with “the President’s priorities.”
And now, he’s acting on it.
On Wednesday, Vought announced the cancellation of $8 billion in climate-related projects across 16 blue states — all of which voted for Vice President Kamala Harris in the last election. The list includes California, New York, Illinois, Colorado, and other Democrat-controlled states.
He also moved to freeze $18 billion in funding for two massive New York infrastructure projects — the Hudson Tunnel and the Second Avenue Subway — claiming the halt is to ensure funding isn’t driven by “unconstitutional DEI principles.” Conveniently, the pause hits the home state of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.
Vought, a longtime right-wing operative and Trump loyalist, is executing a clear strategy: starve Democratic states of resources, cut civil servants he views as hostile, and reshape the federal government around Trump’s ideology.
This is no longer about a budget standoff — it’s about purging the civil service. And Trump isn’t just endorsing the plan. He’s leaving it in the hands of the man behind Project 2025.
