Trump promises firings, cuts to Democrats’ ‘favorite projects’ if shutdown continues
Donald Trump on Thursday said firings of federal workers and cuts to projects could occur if a government shutdown that began Wednesday continues, Reuters reports.
“There could be firings, and that’s their fault,” Trump said of Democrats in Congress, when asked during an interview with OAN television network about a recent memo from the Office of Management and Budget that raised prospects of firings.
“We could cut projects that they wanted, favorite projects, and they’d be permanently cut,” he said, adding: “I am allowed to cut things that should have never been approved in the first place and I will probably do that.”
Key events
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Trump’s goal for 2026, amid political violence: ‘I want to survive’
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Newsom: No state funding for CA universities who sign Trump’s political pledge
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Trump promises firings, cuts to Democrats’ ‘favorite projects’ if shutdown continues
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Senate majority leader Thune says ‘unlikely’ shutdown will end this week
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Jeffries accuses White House and Republicans of wanting the shutdown
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Jeffries says Republicans ‘have shown zero interest’ in talks to find funding deal
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House minority leader Jeffries says Republicans shut down government because they ‘don’t want to provide healthcare’ to Americans
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Hamas to demand key revisions to Trump Gaza plan before accepting, sources say
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Donald Trump declares that US is in ‘non-international armed conflict’ with drug cartels operating in the Caribbean
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Senate to vote again on Friday on reopening government, says majority leader John Thune
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Judge denies Kilmar Ábrego García’s bid for asylum in the US
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‘It’s going to get more and more painful,’ says Mike Johnson, as he claims Trump and Vought making cuts ‘reluctantly’
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‘A tactic to punish’: Trump revives family separations amid drive to deport millions
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White House asks universities to commit to Trump’s priorities in exchange for preferential access to funding
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US government layoffs ‘likely to be in the thousands’, says White House
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Trump will draw red line for any Hamas response, says White House
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Treasury secretary Bessent says GDP could take a hit from government shutdown
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Trump meeting Russ Vought to discuss cutting ‘Democrat agencies’ and whether cuts will be permanent
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Trump tells Republicans to ‘clear out dead wood, waste, and fraud’
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Democrats hold firm on healthcare demands as US government remains shut
Trump’s goal for 2026, amid political violence: ‘I want to survive’
Lauren Gambino
When asked what role he might play in the 2026 midterm elections, Trump said he had “big plans”.
“I want to survive,” he said, again blaming Democrats for fomenting a rise in political violence that has hurt political leaders from both parties. “You look at what’s going on, it’s crazy. You know, the rhetoric that these crazy Democrats are using is very dangerous,” said Trump, who recently told the country’s top military brass that US troops should use “dangerous” American cities as “training grounds” in a fight against what he called the “enemy from within”.
The US president survived two assassination attempts and last month delivered a politically charged eulogy at the memorial of Charlie Kirk, a close political ally.
Trump has made several references to his own mortality of late. In August, Trump told Fox & Friends that his motivation for forging peace between Russia and Ukraine was a fear that he might not get into heaven when he dies.
During the interview with OAN, Trump bragged about having resolved numerous conflicts— seven, by his tally, a misleading and greatly embellished claim. “We put out seven wars,” Trump said. “Now it could be eight … it looks like the Middle East could very well be solved after 3000 years of conflict.”
During his OAN interview, Trump fielded a series of soft-ball questions from the right-wing outlet that has long boosted the president and his agenda.
At the end of the interview, the reporter Daniel Baldwin, who heaped praise on the president and his accomplishments throughout, revealed that he was expecting his first child next year and asked Trump for some parenting advice.
“I always tell my kids. I always told them, no drugs, no alcohol, no cigarettes,” Trump said.
Lauren Gambino
In his OAN interview, which took place on Wednesday, Trump again said that the administration was planning to send troops into Memphis and to Chicago, which he has been teasing for some time. Asked if he had a date for the Chicago deployment, Trump said: “pretty soon”.
“We’ve been there for five months with the FBI, just getting it ready for what we’re going to be doing,” he said.
Chicago’s political leaders, including the mayor, and the governor of Illinois have implored the White House not to send troops into the Democratic-run city, arguing that military troops have no place on American streets.
My colleage Lauren Gambino has another key line from the Donald Trump interview that aired today on One America News:
“A lot of people are saying Trump wanted this, that I wanted this closing, and I didn’t want it, but a lot of people are saying it because I’m allowed to cut things that should have never been approved in the first place, and I will probably do that,” Trump said.
Federal authorities refuse to release a Michigan man in a pending deportation case, despite his life-threatening leukemia and the inconsistent health care he’s received while in custody since August, his lawyer said Thursday, according to the Associated Press.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan is now seeking a bond hearing for Contreras-Cervantes, which could allow him to return to his Detroit-area family and doctors while his case winds through immigration court. He’s currently being held at a detention center about three hours away.
Jose Contreras-Cervantes, a 33-year-old married father of three who has been living in the U.S. for about 20 years, but not legally, was arrested at a 5 Aug traffic stop in Macomb County, near Detroit. He had no criminal record beyond minor traffic offenses, said ACLU lawyer Miriam Aukerman.
Contreras-Cervantes was diagnosed last year with chronic myeloid leukemia, a life-threatening cancer of the bone marrow, said his wife, Lupita Contreras.
“The doctor said he has four to six years to live,” she said.
Trump’s proposed “compact” with nine prestigious universities was offered to schools that were seen by Trump as “good actors”, May Mailman, a senior White House adviser told the Wall Street Journal yesterday, with a president or a board who were, in the Trump administration’s view, “reformer[s]” who have “really indicated they are committed to a higher-quality education.”
The “compact” requires universities to eliminate departments that are seen as hostile or dismissive to conservatives, limit the proportion of international students on campus, accept the Trump administration’s definition of gender, and restrict the political speech of employees.
Among the universities the Trump administration is wooing with promises of preferential federal funding in exchange for compliance with Trump’s values is the University of Southern California, a private research university with an $8.2 billion endowment.
And even putting academic freedom aside, some of Trump’s proposals would be economically challenging for the University of Southern California, the Los Angeles Times reported.
At USC, “26% of the fall 2025 freshman class is international,” the more than 50% of those students come from China or India, the Los Angeles Times reported. The Trump administration’s compact not only limits international student enrollment to 15% of students, but also requires that no more than 5% come from any one country.
“Full-fee tuition from international students is a major source of revenue at USC, which has undertaken hundreds of layoffs this year amid budget troubles,” the Los Angeles Times noted.
In threatening to cut state funding to any California university that cuts an ideological deal with Trump, California governor Gavin Newsom’s office called Trump’s proposed “compact” with nine leading American universities “nothing short of a hostile takeover of America’s universities.”
“It would impose strict government-mandated definitions of academic terms, erase diversity, and rip control away from campus leaders to install government-mandated conservative ideology in its place,” Newsom’s office said in a statement. “It even dictates how schools must spend their own endowments. Any institution that resists could be hit with crushing fines or stripped of federal research funding.”
Newsom: No state funding for CA universities who sign Trump’s political pledge
Any California universities that sign the Trump administration’s proposed “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education” will “instantly” lose their state funding, California governor Gavin Newsom said in a statement.
“If any California University signs this radical agreement, they’ll lose billions in state funding—including Cal Grants—instantly. California will not bankroll schools that sell out their students, professors, researchers, and surrender academic freedom,” Newsom said in a statement.
Trump offered nine prominent universities, including the University of Southern California, the chance to sign his “compact” yesterday, which asked that the universities close academic departments that “purposefully punish, belittle, and even spark violence against conservative ideas,” limit the proportion of international undergraduate students to 15% , and ban the consideration of race or sex in hiring and admissions, in exchange for “substantial and meaningful federal grants”.
Newsom’s office said Trump’s offer to universities “ties access to federal funding to radical conservative ideological restrictions on colleges and universities.”
Trump promises firings, cuts to Democrats’ ‘favorite projects’ if shutdown continues
Donald Trump on Thursday said firings of federal workers and cuts to projects could occur if a government shutdown that began Wednesday continues, Reuters reports.
“There could be firings, and that’s their fault,” Trump said of Democrats in Congress, when asked during an interview with OAN television network about a recent memo from the Office of Management and Budget that raised prospects of firings.
“We could cut projects that they wanted, favorite projects, and they’d be permanently cut,” he said, adding: “I am allowed to cut things that should have never been approved in the first place and I will probably do that.”
Senate majority leader Thune says ‘unlikely’ shutdown will end this week
The government shutdown will likely go into next week, with Senate Majority Leader John Thune telling Politico that it is “unlikely” senators will be in the Capitol voting this weekend.
“They’ll have a fourth chance tomorrow to vote to open up the government, and if that fails, we’ll give them the weekend to think about it, and then we’ll come back and vote on Monday,” the Republican senator said.
Thune also reiterated he will not negotiate the Affordable Care Act tax credits, which has been the point of contention leading to the government shutdown.
Senate Minority leader Chuck Schumer previously said that Republicans need to work with Democrats “to reach an agreement to reopen the government and lower healthcare costs.”
The Trump administration is considering giving at least $10bn in aid to US farmers, as the agriculture industry begins to grapple with an economic fallout due to Trump’s tariffs, the Wall Street Journal reports.
The Journal reports that the Trump administration is considering using revenue from tariffs to fund the aid provided to US farmers and may start to be distributed in the coming months.
The deliberations are reportedly still ongoing and the deal to give billions for US farmers has not been finalized. A potential negotiation with China in the coming weeks may change Trump’s calculation to provide aid to the farmers.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said the Trump administration has done “nothing” to lower the high cost of living for people in the US, while at the same time giving the wealthy significant tax breaks.
“The Trump tariffs are actually making life more expensive,” Jeffries said. “And now Republicans refuse to do anything to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credit.”
