President-elect Donald Trump is at risk of becoming the first American president to be inaugurated with a shut-down federal government, according to a report from Politico. The decision by Trump and his ally, X owner Elon Musk, to derail the bipartisan funding deal to keep the government open has left the president-elect in what Politico describes as a “big mess” just as he hoped to start his second term on strong footing.
“Two shocks to the system this week have cast Washington into chaos as Republicans scramble to avoid a self-created looming government shutdown and weather a market slide at the peak of the holiday season,” Politico writes, outlining the disarray that has followed Trump and Musk’s intervention.
The report continues to explain that while American consumers wrapped up their highest-spending season of the year, the Federal Reserve’s decision to cut interest rates caused the markets to slide, compounding the chaos.
At the same time, Musk, a mega-ally of Trump, targeted a spending bill supported by House Speaker Mike Johnson, ultimately sinking the bill with a barrage of posts on X, where he threatened that any GOP lawmaker who backed it should face a primary challenge.
This move has left Republicans in a difficult situation, with many cheering the prospect of a month-long shutdown. However, Politico points out that government shutdowns have historically been unpopular with voters and have never benefited the party seen as responsible for them.
As Republicans wrestle with the looming shutdown, Democrats are watching from the sidelines. Politico reports that Democrats are “watching their colleagues squirm,” with White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre condemning GOP lawmakers for “playing politics.”
In a statement Wednesday evening, Jean-Pierre said that a shutdown would “hurt hard-working Americans and create instability across the country,” signaling that Democrats are not inclined to bail out the GOP in this crisis.