# Trump's Shutdown **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 11, 2019, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-shutdown/827577 "2019-01-11T06:18:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 144
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2019, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-shutdown/827577/144 "2019-01-15T15:13:53Z")
> [@Leaper](#): > > I read somewhere (I forget where) that some Trump official implied that this whole thing would show the nation how little they needed large portions of government, and that a lot of positions lost now would never return…? > > I’m not sure that’d turn out the way they think, or that they weren’t just scrambling to make up an ex post facto justification. > [@Monty](#): > > I saw that also. The funny thing is of course you don’t need so many people to do the job when the job’s not getting done because of no funding for the bloody job! > [@Broomstick](#): > > Honestly, that was something that occurred to me from the get go. This is Trump trying corporate downsizing on the Federal government. You read it here: > [@Stupid Republican idea of the day](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/40116): > > [**‘Senior Trump Official’ On Shutdown: ‘We Do Not Want Most Employees To Return’**](https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/senior-trump-official-anonymous-daily-caller-op-ed-shutdown-federal-workers) > > > [@](#): > > > > An unnamed “senior official in the Trump administration” wrote in an anonymous Daily Caller op-ed Monday that the record-breaking 24-day partial government shutdown “is an opportunity to strip wasteful government agencies for good.” > > > > While it’s unclear how “senior” this administration official is — many senior Trump officials are still being paid, while the author claims to be “one of the senior officials working without a paycheck” — the op-ed could offer a window into another goal of this shutdown, in addition to using federal workers’ paychecks as leverage in an attempt to extract border wall funds from Congress: starving the government. > > > > The op-ed’s author wrote that “many federal agencies are now operating more effectively from the top down on a fraction of their workforce” and that “we do not want most employees to return, because we are working better without them.” > > > > … > > > > “Now that we are shut down, not only are we identifying and eliminating much of the sabotage and waste, but we are finally working on the president’s agenda,” the official wrote, adding in conclusion: “Wasteful government agencies are fighting for relevance but they will lose. Now is the time to deliver historic change by cutting them down forever.” > > … > > My emphasis. > > … --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-shutdown/827577)._