in-town pool report #10 - POTUS on shutdown/'Democrat programs' (NEWS)
- From
- John Bennett
- Sent
- Tuesday, October 14, 2025, 3:15PM
Below is President Trump’s exchange with your pooler at the Q&A’s session’s end about whether he feels any urgency to end the 14-day-old government shutdown. POTUS said he would present a list on Friday of federal programs to “close up” that are strongly preferred by Democrats. Asked if he, at some point, would move toward cutting a deal, he gave no indication when that might be. Money quote/graph bolded, for emphasis.
Q: “Do you feel any urgency to end the shutdown in the next week, two weeks? Or would you be fine if this stretches into November and then toward the holidays with folks not getting paid?”
TRUMP: “Well, you know, shut down. We've had many, many shutdowns, and this is a shutdown that shouldn't have happened.”
Q: “Is there a point where you would reach out to all parties and try to cut a deal?”
TRUMP: “Honestly? Can I put it in plain words for you? And you're a smart guy, so you’ll understand — but a lot of people don't. The Democrats are getting killed in the shutdown because we're closing up programs that are Democrat programs that we were opposed to. “So we're being … and they're never going to come back, in many cases. So we're being able to do things that we were unable to do before. So we're closing up programs that are Democrat programs that we wanted to close up or that we never wanted to happen, and now we're closing them up and we're not going to let them come back.
“The Democrats are getting killed, and we're going to have a list of them on Friday, closing up some of the most egregious socialist, semi-communist — probably not full communist, we're saving that for New York — but semi-communist programs, and we're closing them up. We’re not closing up Republican programs, because we think they work. So the Democrats are getting killed, but they’re not telling the people about that. I say it. Nobody… Well, I haven’t said it probably as bluntly as I just said it. So we’re going to be closing up Democrat programs that we think, that we disagree with. And they’re never going to open again.
“Thank you very much.”
(Your pooler cannot confirm the president’s “smart guy” assessment. Further reporting is required.)
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John T. Bennett
White House Correspondent & Editor-at-Large
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