'Morons': Trump torched after memo reveals plan for mass firings

Russell Vought being sworn in, on July 22, 2020, by Vice President Michael Pence. President Donald Trump looks on, Image via Public Domain.

A White House budget office memo telling federal agencies to brace for mass firings in the event of a government shutdown has, CNN reports, "signaled a dramatic escalation in a funding staredown" and Democrats are not backing down.

The threat of mass firings came as the White House seeks to increase pressure on Democrats ahead of next week’s funding deadline, CNN says.

Trump, for whom a shutdown, some say, would be a welcome distraction from his inability to escape the scandal surrounding the late convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, would take advantage of a shutdown to accelerate his priorities, said CNN.

The shutdown would also be ideal for Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russ Vought, who has long pushed for further workforce cuts.

But despite the memo calling for the mass firings, Republicans are still left in the dark and worried about the repercussions.

“What we don’t know is how long this is going to last, so if it starts to last too long, then we’re going to have to make permanent cuts,” Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH) told CNN."

Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), expressed concern as well, saying, federal employees "should not be treated as pawns” in the funding fight.

GOP strategist Doug Heye said it's going to be brutal. “Trump is going to exert whatever power he can, he’s going to exact whatever pain he can,” he said.

Democrats say they are ready for the fight, with Vought's move hardening "their party’s resolve not to yield to the GOP’s funding plan without a win on health care, according to multiple people familiar with the discussions," CNN reports.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) says the Democrats will not be intimidated by Vought, Trump, or the threats.

"The OMB has been illegally shutting down parts of the government throughout the entire year, and the notion that Democrats are going to be intimidated by this guy, when all he has done is send a message to voters in Virginia and across the country that Republicans are determined to hurt the American people," Jeffries said.

Another Democrat, a senior aide to a "moderate House Democrat" was more blunt.

“If Trump’s master plan is that federal workers will be on Republicans’ side, they’re f—— morons,” the anonymous aide said.

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