Gift to Trump

A government shutdown would be a gift to the administration: Yesterday, the Trump administration told government agencies they should consider who to lay off in the event of the federal government shutting down on September 30. But this isn’t just standard furloughing, where employees will necessarily be rehired whenever the shutdown lifts: President Donald Trump has asked agencies to look at more permanent reductions in force, using this as an opportunity for agencies to ask themselves which services are truly essential and whether their activities are aligned with the administration’s broader policy agenda.

If a budget deal can’t be reached by the end-of-month deadline, contingency plans are being made: “The White House Office of Management and Budget called on Congress to adopt a short-term measure that would preserve existing funding levels into November,” reports The New York Times. “Such a move would buy time for Democrats and Republicans to negotiate a longer-term agreement, which would fund the remainder of the 2026 fiscal year.”

You’re not alone in thinking this feels the tiniest bit reminiscent of the Department of Government Efficiency, which fell far short of both its goals and potential. But it is still refreshing for the White House to be sending memos asking agencies to consider whether they have “the minimal number of employees necessary to carry out” essential functions, and whether those functions are in keeping with the purpose for which the agency was designed.

Meanwhile, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D–N.Y.) called such memos an “attempt at intimidation.” But why would anyone who is actually doing important government work (forgive the oxymoron) and doing it well be intimidated? The only people who should be afraid are those funded by taxpayers who would themselves be appalled by their role or time management—in other words, by their poor stewardship of the responsibility and federal funds they’ve been given.

Interestingly, “the concession that Democrats actually need in order to declare victory and keep the government open is an extension of the Obamacare premium subsidies due to expire at the end of the year,” reports Intelligencer. “There’s significant Republican interest in addressing that issue out of fear the GOP will be blamed for a huge spike in health-insurance premiums for millions of middle-class people. But Republican congressional leaders fear that any talk of a deal on subsidies will trigger a revolt among House Freedom Caucus types for whom anything related to Obamacare is an abomination.” (That last sentence is rather uncharitable, but let’s let it slide.) Basically, Democrats have been wanting to meet with Trump because they seem to believe he’s less ideologically opposed to Obamacare than other conservatives and could simply demand that they fall in line.

“In addition to the Obamacare subsidies extension, Democrats are demanding that Trump and GOP Republican leaders roll back the massive Medicaid cuts in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” reports Punchbowl News. “They also want the White House to forgo any more rescission packages and restore hundreds of millions of dollars in public broadcast financing. Most of these asks are non-starters.” In other words, Democrats are making big asks, and it looks likely that the government will shut down mid-next week in lieu of Republicans acquiescing.

Scenes from New York: 

I love learning facts from old police reports. In 1912 New York City saw it first female detective. They also saved a lot of money by not outsourcing horseshoeing. pic.twitter.com/42ss42Hj5R

— Peter Moskos (@PeterMoskos) September 16, 2025

QUICK HITS

• Robert Munsch, the Canadian children’s book author, has been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease and dementia. He has chosen to use Canada’s Medical Assistance in Dying law to end his own life when his condition gets to a point deemed sufficiently bad. The paradox is that he only wants to go when he’s incapable of rational thought, but that he must give his final sign-off while he still has some amount of rational thought and ability to consent. (Given that the man spent seven years earlier in life studying to be a Jesuit priest, I think this decision is rather odd; that said, he also suffered from depression and addiction for much of his life. He contains multitudes.)
• “In the second debate, Kat Rosenfield of the Fem Chaos podcast and Kate Lindsay debated whether ‘cheating’ with an AI really counts as cheating,” recounts Sam Buntz, talking about the sex debates recently held by Substack in Chicago. “Cheating with AI can’t be cheating because AI isn’t a sentient being—granted. But it functions, as Rosenfield argued, as an excuse for denying intimacy to one’s partner. This reminded me of the position taken by the blogger The Last Psychiatrist, who has always maintained that people watch porn in order to deprive their partners of intimacy.” (I’d posit that it’s cheating because the person conversing with the AI is engaged in some amount of intimate disclosure that violates the relationship regardless of who the recipient is, and that it makes them more desensitized to future violations.)
• Spaghetti Western queen Claudia Cardinale has died at 87.
• “The U.S. is currently in negotiations for a $20 billion swap line with Argentina’s central bank and stands ready to do what is needed to support the South American country, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Wednesday in a post on X. Bessent said the U.S. is prepared to purchase Argentina’s U.S. dollar-denominated bonds and will do so as conditions warrant. The U.S. is also set to deliver significant standby credit via the Exchange Stabilization Fund,” per Bessent, reports Reuters. “Bessent also said the U.S. is ready to purchase secondary or primary government debt and is working with the Argentine government to end the tax holiday for commodity producers converting foreign exchange.”
• “New-home sales in the US unexpectedly surged in August to the fastest pace since early 2022, likely lifted by builders’ rampant price cuts and sales incentives,” reports Bloomberg. “Sales of new single-family homes increased 20.5% to a 800,000 annualized rate in a broad advance, according to a government report issued Wednesday.”
• I, for one, don’t mind this hilarious pivot and think ignoring Greta Thunberg is the polite thing to do:

It is interesting that Greta Thunberg went from TIME Person of the Year to a Gaza protester the media politely ignores.

— David Weigel (@daveweigel) September 24, 2025