Trump went on to say that Project 2025 mastermind Russell Vought, who now serves as director of the Office of Management and Budget, will use a shutdown to "trim the budget to a level that you couldn't do any other way."

"Because of the shutdown, we can do things medically, and other ways, including benefits. We can cut large numbers of people out," Trump said, appearing to catch himself realizing that deliberately cutting medical benefits to Americans would be unpopular.

"We don't want to do that," he claimed.

Rather than negotiate with Democrats on a government funding bill, Trump has instead been threatening to cause pain to Americans during a government shutdown.

Democrats want Trump to agree to extend Medicaid subsidies that allow millions of Americans to have health insurance, something the White House said Trump is not inclined to do.

“He read all the shit they’re asking for, and he said, ‘on second thought, go fuck yourself,’” a White House official told Politico of Trump’s feelings on health insurance negotiations.

Already, Trump has threatened massive cuts to the federal workforce—which he was likely going to make whether or not the government shut down.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Monday also said that if the government shuts down, low-income Americans wouldn’t get their benefits—even though contingency funds are available that could fund those programs for one month in the event of a shutdown.

"The overwhelming majority of the American public wants to keep the government open,” Leavitt said. “They want food assistance programs for women and children and impoverished communities to continue going out the door. All of that will come to an end if Democrats vote against this clean CR that Republicans are proposing."

But now, Trump is clearly confirming that he will use a shutdown as a pretext to cut Medicaid benefits even more than he already did when he signed the “Big Beautiful Bill.”

Already, polling shows voters would blame Trump and congressional Republicans—who have unified control over Washington—if the government shuts down.

A New York Times/Siena College poll released Tuesday found that 26% of registered voters would blame Trump and Republicans in Congress for a shutdown, while 19% would blame congressional Democrats.

If Trump decides to use a shutdown to purposefully hurt Americans, the polling could swing even harder against his party.

But Trump is hell-bent on trying to blame Democrats for a shutdown, rather than negotiate.

On Monday, after meeting with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, Trump released a vile deepfake AI video that puts words in Schumer’s mouth and depicts Jeffries in a sombrero.

Don’t be fooled by any of the GOP rhetoric and lies: Trump wants a shutdown so he can hurt poor people and Democrats.