How Trump rewrote the government shutdown playbook

The current government shutdown is unlike any other because the president has labored to reduce the pain on everyday Americans and put the suffering almost exclusively on federal workers and congressional Democrats’ pet projects.

During the shutdown’s first three weeks, President Trump took steps to shield federal law enforcement officers, military service members and welfare recipients from hardship.

Mr. Trump shifted the burden to civil servants and Democratic-controlled states. He fired thousands of workers and slashed programs that Democrats favor.

On Friday, the White House paused $11 billion in Army Corps of Engineers projects in places such as New York, San Francisco, Boston and Baltimore — all Democratic-led cities in Democratic-led states.

The dichotomy is glaring. Mr. Trump is protecting many who rely on federal services, such as assistance for poor women and children. He is also targeting the pain at Democratic politicians whom he blames for the shutdown.

Previous presidents ensured that as many people as possible felt the pain of government shutdowns to increase pressure on Congress to reopen the government.

In 2013, President Obama reduced government services far and wide beyond the legally required minimums. National parks, museums and monuments were shuttered and operated on threadbare staff.

Park Rangers barricaded open-air memorials such as the World War II Memorial and the Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, even though these sites are usually unstaffed. A private citizen began mowing the lawns and cleaning out the trash bins near the national memorials because National Park Service employees were not doing it.

In an embarrassing public relations spectacle for the Obama administration, a group of veterans stormed the barricades of the World War II Memorial in protest of its closure.

Perhaps more significantly, federal law enforcement officers, including the FBI, U.S. Marshals and Border Patrol agents, stayed on the job without pay to protect the nation.

This time, Mr. Trump maneuvered funds to keep paying federal agents.

FBI Director Kash Patel said Wednesday that Mr. Trump had “found a way” to pay the bureau’s 1,811 special agents during the shutdown. He did not disclose how the president found the funds.

The FBI Agents Association thanked Mr. Trump for paying the special agents, though it noted that the bureau’s civilian employees — including translators, analysts and scientists — were working without pay.

Mr. Trump also redirected $300 million of tariff revenue to a food aid program that helps 6 million low-income women and children. The move will keep afloat the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program for Women, Infants and Children, which was in danger of running out of money because of the shutdown. It also prevents states and local governments from having to step in and cover the program and wait for federal reimbursement.

Mr. Trump directed the Pentagon to use “all available funds” to ensure active-duty U.S. troops are paid during the shutdown. He did not enact the maneuver with any other agency.

Under the directive, Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth was instructed to use any unspent funds appropriated by Congress to pay military personnel.

So far, the moves have been politically popular. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, New York Democrat, said Tuesday that he supported paying military members during the shutdown. House Speaker Mike Johnson, Louisiana Republican, dared Democrats to stop the president from doing so.

Outside the Beltway, political analysts say the moves have helped safeguard the president from political backlash.

In Oklahoma, a deeply conservative state with the 14th-highest number of federal workers, the shutdown hasn’t altered the political calculus.

Pat McFerron, co-founder of CMA Strategies, a polling and campaign consulting group, said some of Oklahoma’s 18,737 military members and their families may be unaware of the political maneuvering to continue their paychecks.

“Voters may not know these changes are happening. The absence of a loss of a paycheck will keep the issue from being elevated,” he said.

Mr. McFerron pointed to Mr. Trump’s endorsement of Republican Rep. Tom Cole’s bid for reelection in the state, which the Cole campaign is touting.

Mr. Cole’s district includes Tinker Air Force Base, the National Weather Center and Fort Sill. Many Federal Aviation Administration employees live there because the agency has a nearby training facility and support center with thousands of government workers.

“If there was any concern of pushback over the president’s endorsement because of the government shutdown, the Cole campaign wouldn’t be touting it,” he said.

If Mr. Trump is making strides to mitigate the damage to the military and law enforcement, he is being punitive to civil servants and Democratic-run states.

The administration has used the shutdown to lay off roughly 4,000 workers from various agencies, though about 700 have been reinstated. A federal judge blocked the layoffs, saying the administration unlawfully used the lapse in funding to justify the terminations.

The White House remains undeterred. Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought said Wednesday that the administration could ultimately fire more than 10,000 employees during the shutdown.

In addition, the Trump administration has slashed funds across various programs. He said the money is being spent wastefully or needs further review.

On Oct. 1, the first day of the shutdown, Mr. Vought canceled the delivery of $26 billion in previously approved funds and a separate tranche of money totaling about $8 billion, which he said was going to fuel “the left’s climate agenda.” The move affected projects in 16 states, most of which are led by Democrats.

Separately, the Trump administration halted about $18 billion in approved infrastructure funding for two transportation projects in New York City, which is represented by Mr. Jeffries and Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, both Democrats who have been heavily criticized by Mr. Trump.