Texas Senator Ted Cruz is all smiles as the Trump administration uses the government shutdown as a weapon—not a last resort. In a moment that felt less like governance and more like gloating, Cruz went on Fox Business to openly cheer the idea of mass layoffs of federal workers.
“I think that is fantastic,” Cruz said, responding to Trump budget chief Russ Vought’s plan to turn the shutdown into a purge of federal employees. Vought, a key architect of the far-right Project 2025, has been laying the groundwork for what could become a seismic shift in how the federal government functions—by gutting it.
According to Cruz, Vought’s plan is brilliant.
“President Trump is going to use that opportunity not to tell people ‘you’re furloughed for a few days’ but instead to send pink slips and to get rid of left-wing bureaucrats who are imposing left wing priorities that are contrary to President Trump’s priorities,” Cruz said.
Not temporary layoffs. Not the usual dance of furloughs and back pay. This time, it’s permanent. That’s the point. And Cruz couldn’t contain his excitement at the thought of Democrats melting down over it.
“I cannot wait for the next Democrat lunch when they start screaming at each other when they start seeing pink slips go out at the EPA, at the Department of Labor, at the IRS and suddenly the bureaucrats that they are entrusting to advance their job killing agenda are themselves without a job,” an elated Cruz told host Larry Kudlow.
Let that sink in. A sitting U.S. senator is hyped about career public servants—people who make sure clean water comes out of your tap, who send out your tax refunds, who monitor labor violations—getting axed, not because they’ve done anything wrong, but because they work under departments Republicans want to dismantle.
This isn’t about fiscal responsibility. It’s about raw politics and ideological revenge.
Trump, now fully aligned with Vought despite earlier denials of supporting Project 2025, made it clear he sees the shutdown as a golden opportunity. “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,” Trump posted. He added that he couldn’t believe Democrats had handed him “this unprecedented opportunity.”
Mass layoffs during a shutdown are not standard operating procedure. Typically, workers are furloughed temporarily and receive back pay once the government reopens. That’s the norm—until now.
But the Trump administration isn’t interested in norms. Vought even sent out a memo ahead of the shutdown warning agencies to prepare for permanent layoffs, not just hunker down.
So while government workers brace for pink slips, federal agencies scramble, and states prepare for funding shortfalls, Ted Cruz is out here calling it all “fantastic.” Watch the clip below from Fox Business.
