The OMB director says that if Democrats don't cave,??? he will do mass layoffs.??? Imagine that.??? ??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

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****SEPTEMBER 25, 2025****

****On the

**Prospect??**website****

[link removed]

Workers Demand Justice for Immigrants as More Die in ICE Custody [link removed]

Elected officials learned two more people died in federal immigration detention this week, bringing the total number of deaths to at least 16.

**BY WHITNEY CURRY WIMBISH** [link removed]
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Conservative Dem Compares Ad About Her Corporate Donations to 'Political Violence' [link removed]

Assemblymember Jasmeet Bains took PAC money from 53 corporations that also donated to the incumbent Republican she's running against. She said a progressive challenger pointing that out is a form of violence.

**BY DAVID DAYEN** [link removed]
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Michelle Wu, the Boston Beacon of Progress [link removed]

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu's first-term achievements shine, but numerous challenges persist after her re-election.

**BY NAOMI BETHUNE** [link removed] [link removed]

****Cooper on TAP****

**Russ Vought's empty shutdown threat**

**The OMB director says that
if Democrats don't cave, he will do mass layoffs. Imagine that.**

The Trump administration is careening toward a government shutdown in its usual hyper-erratic fashion. Under the current Senate rulebook, government funding bills need 60 votes to overcome the inevitable filibuster, meaning at least seven Democrats are needed.

Here's the situation: House Republicans have passed a party-line funding package, while Senate Democrats put up a counterproposal rolling back the cuts to Obamacare and Medicaid in the "Big Beautiful Bill." Both failed. Then, as my colleague **David Dayen explains** [link removed], Trump first agreed to have a meeting with Democratic congressional leaders, then abruptly pulled out at the last minute, by way of a traditional incoherent wall of text posted on Truth Social. This made it crystal clear who is responsible for the
shutdown: Donald Trump.

Now the Trump regime has a new tactic: Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought **recently threatened** [link removed] that if the government shuts down, he will permanently lay off any of the affected workers he doesn't approve of, rather than just temporarily furloughing them.

There's just one problem: This threat makes no sense.

[link removed]

First, the Trump regime has

**already** been doing tons of mass layoffs, as part of Elon Musk's DOGE and other efforts. The idea that Democrats should leap to attention over some

**new**layoff threat is absurd.

These firings have consistently been found to be illegal, as in a **recent decision**
[link removed] reversing the mass firing of "probationary" employees-which included not just new hires, but people who had recently been promoted.

Alas, as usual with Trump and the legal system, the judge didn't actually force the workers to be rehired. However, DOGE's illegal layoffs have been so comically incompetent, performed by wet-behind-the-ears fascists with no government experience whatsoever, that the administration has been forced to hire **hundreds of laid-off people back** [link removed].

So there is every reason for Democrats to think that these layoffs will be found illegal, and even if they aren't, the administration will be forced to reverse course eventually. None other than Senate Minority Leader Chuck
Schumer (D-NY) pointed this out in a statement. "Donald Trump has been firing federal workers since day one-not to govern, but to scare ... This is nothing new and has nothing to do with funding the government. These unnecessary firings will either be overturned in court or the administration will end up hiring the workers back, just like they did as recently as today."

More fundamentally, the Trump regime has displayed an utter contempt for law as such, as well as bargains of any kind, since its first day in office. The president is a man who thinks he is above the law-and has been confirmed as such by his corrupt lackeys on the Supreme Court-and glories in betrayal for its own sake. Everyone from **large media conglomerates** [link removed], to elite **Ivy League universities**
[link removed], to foreign **allies** [link removed] and **adversaries** [link removed] alike, has found this out the hard way.

It follows that even if Trump agrees to some deal with Democrats, they should expect him to break his word for no other reason than he enjoys doing so. They should stick to their demand for major concessions, and some mechanism of enforcement stronger than trusting the world's least trustworthy man. Until that time, the shutdown is entirely on Donald Trump and his party.

**- RYAN COOPER**

Follow Ryan Cooper on Bluesky
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