President Donald Trump had clear instructions for his fellow Republicans on the first day of the government shutdown: to use it as a chance to cut spending.
The 79-year-old posted the demand in a late-night Truth Social post after spending the day out of the spotlight except for an interview with conservative network One America News, which airs Friday.
âRepublicans must use this opportunity of Democrat forced closure to clear out dead wood, waste, and fraud. Billions of Dollars can be saved. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!â Trump wrote.
He followed that up with several reposts from his supporters, including one about President Joe Bidenâs âAutopen Gateâ and another about Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powellâs âexpiration date.â
Other reposts include a graphic of Trump that simply reads, âWinningâ and a meme of the president signing an order at his desk with the caption, âCry all you want. Heâs doing exactly what I hired him for.â
Trumpâs focus on âdead wood, waste, and fraudâ is reminiscent of the messaging during the presidential campaign that led him to establish the ill-fated Department of Government Efficiency, headed up by Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
In his short tenure as head of the newly established department, Musk wasted some $21.7 billion of taxpayersâ money in a chaotic drive to cut federal spending.
The Republican Party stayed on message in the lead-up to the government shutdown, repeating Trumpâs talking point that Democrats attempting to give free health care to undocumented immigrants were to blame for the shutdown.
The regular invocation of his talking points made his absence from public events on Wednesday all the more apparent, with CNNâs Erin Burnett highlighting the issue on Wednesday nightâs edition of OutFront.
âWe have not seen Trump today. We have not heard from Trump today. We havenât heard his voice,â Burnett said. âOn the first day of a government shutdown, as the Trump administration says layoffs are imminent, there is no sign of the president of the United States. And it is no secret to anyone, anywhere in the world that Trump loves to be seen.â
CNN Chief National Affairs Correspondent Jeff Zeleny suggested that Trumpâs absence from the public eye could be because he doesnât want to be publicly associated with the shutdown.
â[Trumpâs absence] signals first and foremost, he does not want to be out front or the face of this shutdown, at least in its opening day,â Zeleny told Burnett.
âOf course, that could change and likely will change as the hours and days go forward,â he added, with the president proving this to be partly true with his late-night Truth Social edict.
