JUST IN: Trump Trolls Dems With Humiliating Leaked Photo As Shutdown Begins

Americans woke up on Wednesday to the first shutdown of the federal government in seven years. To President Donald Trump, it was just another day to troll his enemies.

The Republican hopped on social media with a pep in his step, sharing an unflattering photo of Democratic leaders as they trudged to the White House for negotiations a day earlier.

In it, U.S. House Speaker Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) looks to his left skeptically while Trump smiles and points directly at him. Sitting on the Resolute Desk are two MAGA hats blaring in white font “TRUMP 2028.”

The picture was taken seconds before most of the room “erupted in laughter” at a joke by Vice President J.D. Vance, who responded “no comment” when asked about the meaning behind the president’s perfectly positioned headwear.

Jeffries and U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) found themselves squeezed by Trump, Vance, and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) as the Republicans refused to concede an inch just hours before the government ran out of appropriations. Each Democrat was offered a Diet Coke, Trump’s favorite drink, that was placed right next to a Trump 2028 hat they were allowed to take home as well.

Jeffries disputed the claim on CNN that he was offered some MAGA swag.

“He did not try to hand us the Trump 2028 hat. They just randomly appeared in the middle of the meeting on the desk. It was the strangest thing ever,” the Brooklyn Democrat recalled.

Despite the levity, a lapse in federal funding likely means that tens of thousands of government employees will lose their positions permanently. President Trump has promised to cull the federal workforce by “a lot,” even as public sector unions have urged Democratic leaders to steel themselves for short-term pain.

Only a sliver of the three million federal employees will remain paid as “emergency” workers. The military’s 1.3 million service members will go without pay as well.

Trump on Tuesday sounded optimistic that voters will punish Democrats for intransigence in negotiations.

“We can do things during the shutdown that are irreversible – that are bad for them and irreversible by them – by cutting vast numbers of people out, cutting things that they like, cutting programs that they like,” he said from the Oval Office, according to the Daily Mail.

“A lot of good can come from shutdowns,” he added later in the day.

In one of their final acts on the Senate floor, Democrats defeated a short-term funding bill proposed by Republicans that would have replenished the accounts of all federal agencies.