President Trump and GOP lawmakers are itching to make a potential government shutdown as painful as possible for Democrats as negotiations show few signs of progress with less than a week to go before the deadline.

Republicans and Democrats have talked past each other for weeks, with each side refusing to pivot from their calls for a seven-week “clean” stopgap package and for protecting Affordable Care Act subsidies, respectively. 

But with the high-stakes deadline approaching, Republicans are warning members of the minority party that if a shutdown comes to pass, Trump will make life incredibly difficult for them. 

“I’d be much more worried if I were a blue state. The president has a lot of discretionary power on what he declares is … essential,” said Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) when asked about a shutdown’s impact on his state. “We do not want a shutdown.”

For the first time in a while, Republicans believe they have the wind at their sails heading into a shutdown fight. The party has been largely united behind the seven-week continuing resolution (CR) push, with Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) and Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) heading the efforts.

They also have additional tools in their toolkit they appear ready and willing to wield if the government’s lights go dark some of which have been used against them in the past.

A number of Republicans have cited the impact of the 2013 shutdown, which then-President Obama and then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) used to pillory the GOP when conservatives were attempting to defund ObamaCare. 

Democrats at the time went so far as to close off popular attractions, such as the World War II Memorial on the National Mall and the Smithsonian museums. A photo of a young child dressed as a monkey at the closed-off National Zoo gates went viral, underscoring the shutdown’s impact. 

There are more acute levers that Trump can pull too, including being able to force government workers to continue showing up for work without potential scheduled pay and, perhaps more importantly, the ability to shutter parts of the government. This could leave the phones unmonitored at key departments and agencies, including Health and Human Services, Veterans Affairs and the IRS. 

“Once you enter a shutdown, the A-block is, more times than not, the effect of the shutdown rather than what the party is trying to get out of it,” one Senate GOP aide said. 

There are also actions GOP leaders on Capitol Hill can take. Thune is expected to bring the “clean” CR up for a vote when senators return early next week. He could hold repeated votes on that measure, along with others aimed at targeted reopenings and paying the military, to name a few.

Democrats have remained largely united, but there are questions as to whether that can keep up, especially if there remains no resolution closer to the deadline or past it.

Some in the party are also wary of crossing the shutdown Rubicon and believe Democrats are not in a strong enough position going into next week.

“I don’t believe Democrats are truly prepared for what they’re walking into, because there’s no exit strategy. When you’re the party who believes in government and, more specifically, the good that government can do through funding, you’re already at a disadvantage,” a former senior Democratic aide said, adding that they wouldn’t be surprised if Trump were to cut off major services and blame Democrats for what happens.

“His microphone is a lot bigger than Democrats’ right now. … That is my concern,” the aide said. “This is a high-stakes game of poker, and Trump would go in with like a 2-7, but it just so happens that I think he has a stronger hand. I feel as though Democrats have walked into this without looking at their cards.” 

Right on cue, Trump tossed fresh uncertainty on the spending process Tuesday by canceling a planned meeting with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.). 

The move came after a call Monday night where Johnson and Thune talked to Trump about the “clean” CR through late November after news of the planned meeting emerged and laid out what Democrats were proposing. 

Johnson questioned Monday morning whether the meeting was even necessary, with other Republicans warning Democrats that even if they got a presidential sit-down, it may not go as they hoped. 

“I think they better be careful what they wish for,” Marshall said. “On more than one occasion, I’ve seen someone go into the White House [and] the Oval Office, think they’re really going to tell the president how the hog eats the cabbage, and they leave without one of their organs.”

Trump, on his way to give remarks at the United Nations General Assembly, canceled the meeting after he had reviewed the demands of Democrats to prevent a government shutdown. The Democratic stopgap measure includes a permanent extension of the expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies, overturning the GOP’s Medicaid cuts via the “big, beautiful bill” and a restoration of rescissions cuts.

“I have decided that no meeting with their Congressional Leaders could possibly be productive,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, adding that Democrats are “threatening to shut down the Government of the United States” over “free healthcare” for migrants, “transgender surgery” for minors, allowing Medicaid for “dead people,” and open borders, among other issues.

The president quipped that “there are consequences to losing Elections but, based on their letter to me, the Democrats haven’t figured that out yet.”

The White House did not respond to a request for comment on if Trump will speak to lawmakers before the shutdown deadline. Press secretary Karoline Leavitt suggested Monday that Trump had spoken to Democrats about government funding, telling reporters, “Discussions are ongoing with both Republican and Democratic members of Capitol Hill.”

Jeffries, meanwhile, attempted to place the blame on the GOP for a potential shutdown in a “Dear Colleague” letter to Democrats.

“Donald Trump has now chickened out and cancelled the meeting. Clearly, GOP extremists want to shut down the government because they are unwilling to address the Republican healthcare crisis that is devastating America,” he wrote.

“Equally revealing, House Republicans have made the stunning decision to cancel votes on Monday and Tuesday of next week, notwithstanding the fact that funding to keep the government open expires at midnight on September 30. This is the height of irresponsibility and further evidence that Republicans are determined to shut the government down,” he added.

The White House, meanwhile, had pushed the messaging that Democrats would be at fault in the event of a shutdown earlier this week.

“We want a clean funding extension to keep the government open. That’s all we’re advocating for,” Leavitt said.

“If the government is shut down, it’s only going to be it would be the fault of the Democrats and it will only hurt the most vulnerable in our country, our seniors, our veterans, our military families and increasing security for members of Congress, which is something this White House and the administration supports.”