Politics

Trump’s Grand Plan for a Government Shutdown

The Trump administration might use a shutdown to finish the job that DOGE started.

First published in The Atlantic on September 30, 2025.

by Toluse Olorunnipa, Russell Berman and Jonathan Lemire, The Atlantic

October 2, 2025 | reading time: 9 Min.

During the first eight months of his second presidency, Donald Trump has tried to hollow out the federal workforce by any means possible, including paying more than 200,000 people not to work, disassembling entire agencies via the Department of Government Efficiency, and fighting in court any effort by employees to hang on to their job. This week, Trump could try his most audacious move yet: using a government shutdown to conduct mass firings.