The Democratic party faced criticism after organizing a shutdown livestream that attracted only a small audience, while Donald Trump continued to mock liberal leaders.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries initiated the 11-hour stream to share the Democrats’ perspective on the serious consequences of the government shutdown, but the broadcast received minimal attention.

‘At times, just a few dozen viewers were watching the YouTube stream,’ Politico reported. 

‘Later in the evening, Democrats said some 35,000 people tuned in to watch Jeffries. But on YouTube, Democrats peaked at around 1,000 viewers.”’

The Democrat’s YouTube stream was roundly beaten by the White House’s competing video which peaked at over 100,000.

‘Meanwhile, @WhiteHouse is [smashing] Democrats on the viewer count,’ White House Communications Director Steven Cheung said. 

More liberal viewers, however, flocked to another stream from socialist Bernie Sanders that peaked at over 90,000 viewers, Politico reported. 

A spokesperson for Jeffries claimed that separate livestreams on X drew far more viewers and they ‘still have more coming.’ 

‘As Leader Jeffries has consistently said and done, Democrats are in a more-is-more environment,’ said Christie Stephenson. ‘Apparently for some, that means more is more snark.’ 

On Wednesday, the U.S. Senate adjourned with no resolution on how to reopen the government. 

Meanwhile, Trump reiterated the Republican Party’s steadfast refusal to give in to Democrat demands as the shutdown headed toward a second day. 

The president shared a post on his social media account of a MAGA fan telling liberals: ‘Cry all you want, he’s doing exactly what I hired him for.’  

Ultimately, both sides were blaming each other on the first day of the shutdown. 

Vice President JD Vance and Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt’s opening statements at a press conference Wednesday assigned blame to Democrat lawmakers who refused to pass a stopgap funding plan. 

‘President Trump and the Republicans will not force American taxpayers to pay for free healthcare for illegal aliens,’ Leavitt said. 

Vance echoed her statements, saying: ‘What [democrats] have done instead, is shut down the government because we won’t give billions of dollars to healthcare funding for illegal aliens.’ 

The VP particularly blamed the shutdown on the progressives, ‘Chuck Schumer/AOC wing’ of the Democrat party.

At issue are tax credits that have made health insurance through the Affordable Care Act more affordable for millions of people since the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The credits are set to expire at the end of the year if Congress doesn´t extend them – which would more than double what subsidized enrollees currently pay for health insurance premiums, according to a KFF analysis. 

Senate Majority Leader John Thune says that his message for senators trying to cobble together a bipartisan solution for funding the government is ‘when you have critical mass, come and talk to me.’

That means any bipartisan fix will need support from at least eight Democrats.

Thune, a South Dakota Republican, gave no sign a negotiation was happening among leaders and appeared resigned to allowing the funding bill to sit in the Senate for at least several days.

The government shut down Wednesday at 12:01 a.m. after Democratic senators voted against a Republican bill to extend funding for seven weeks. They argue it should include funding to extend health care subsidies.

Rep. Mark Pocan, a progressive Democrat from Wisconsin, is urging fellow Democrats and activists on the left to aggressively call out Republicans for falsely saying that the shutdown is about whether to give health care benefits to people in the U.S. illegally.

It has been a longstanding federal policy that immigrants without legal status are ineligible for federally-funded health care coverage.

‘Call it out,’ Pocan said, using an expletive to characterize the attacks by Trump, House Speaker Mike Johnson and other GOP members of Congress.

Pocan said states policies like those in California extend some Medicaid coverage to residents regardless of their immigration status.

‘That´s not federal dollars,’ he said, emphasizing that federal law bars federal money from Medicare, Medicaid or the Affordable Care Act from going to people without legal status.

The White House has targeted numerous Democratic-leaning states for a pause or cancellation of infrastructure funds on Day 1 of a government shutdown.

OMB Director Russ Vought said on X Wednesday that roughly $18 billion for New York City infrastructure projects had been put on hold to ensure funding wasn´t flowing to ‘unconstitutional DEI principles.’ 

Later, he said nearly $8 billion in clean energy funding ‘to fuel the Left´s climate agenda is being cancelled.’ He listed 16 states as impacted.

Democrats said the White House was attacking the jobs of thousands of hard-working Americans across the country. 

‘This is a job killing administration,’ Jeffries said when asked about Vought´s tweets. ‘Job creation is down, but you know what´s up? Costs.’

The White House´s budget director, a chief architect of Project 2025, told House Republican lawmakers that federal reductions in force – which are essentially layoffs and firings – could come in the next couple of days.

That´s according to a person familiar with the private conference call but unauthorized to discuss it.

Senators will return Friday, after a break for the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur, to vote again on a GOP measure to extend federal funding for seven weeks.