NEW: Trump Plans To Use Dems’ Shutdown To Slash The Bureaucracy Even Further

President Donald Trump is telling allies that he has been handed an “unprecedented opportunity” to downsize the federal government due to the Democrats’ unwillingness to negotiate an end to the ongoing shutdown.

Making good on his pre-shutdown promises, Trump posted to Truth Social on Thursday that he is headed into a meeting with Russ Vought, director of the Office of Management and Budget, to identify which federal agencies are ripe with “political scam” that may be cut.

“I can’t believe the Radical Left Democrats gave me this unprecedented opportunity,” read Trump’s post. “They are not stupid people, so maybe this is their way of wanting to, quietly and quickly, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”

Trump told his followers that he’s directed Vought to outline a strategy for trimming the workforces and line items of various departments and to suggest whether the austerity measures should be temporary or permanent.

The federal government entered a partial shutdown on Tuesday night after Democrats rebuffed a last-minute deal by Republicans, who offered a seven-week funding bill to allow for further negotiations. Trump and top Republicans have accused the minority party of seeking to restore healthcare benefits for illegal immigrants, a charge that some Democrats have not outright denied when asked.

As the deadline inched closer, Trump warned that he was prepared to make “irreversible” cuts to federal spending with fresh rounds of layoffs. He insisted that Republicans did not want to see a shutdown occur but that he would make sure some “good” comes of it, Fox News reported.

Vice President J.D. Vance declared on Wednesday that Democratic leaders like U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) are afraid of primary challenges to their left, citing rumors that “Squad” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) is seriously mulling a campaign against him next year.

“But the reality here, and let’s be honest about the politics, is that Chuck Schumer is terrified he’s going to get a primary challenge from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez,” Vance said. “The reason why the American people’s government is shut down is because Chuck Schumer is listening to the far-left radicals in his own party because he’s terrified of a primary challenge.”

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt repeated President Trump’s assertion that the shutdown is about providing Obamacare benefits to illegal immigrants despite the nation’s $37 trillion debt.

“To put this all into perspective, the Democrats refused to keep the government open over healthcare to illegal aliens and now have jeopardized critical health care programs for American citizens,” she said. “Instead, the women, infants, and children program, community health center funding, Medicare treatment options, and other health programs are now all at risk because of the Democrats’ rejecting the clean C.R. [continuing resolution].”