Republicans, accustomed to being blamed by the media for federal government shutdowns, should not worry about Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s plan to oppose cloture on the “clean” funding bill Speaker Johnson’s House just passed. There are multiple good reasons why they can relax on this one:

Trump knows how to fight

President Trump was a master showman before he entered politics. He knows how to use branding and understands the power of alliteration to embed expressions in the human mind (e.g., “big, beautiful bill”). The “Schumer Shutdown” will be the name used repeatedly by the president and by those who support Trump, and, thanks to free speech on X, that label cannot be stifled. The power of the corporate media to erect a cofferdam around stories and ideas they want to suppress has ended.

The House vote was “bipartisan.” True, only one Democrat (Jared Golden of Maine, whose district voted for Trump) voted for it, but the funding bill Schumer is trying to stonewall carries the bipartisan brand, and Trump knows how to make a brand stick.

“This CR is not perfect, but a shutdown would be worse,” Golden said, using an abbreviation for continuing resolution. “Even a brief shutdown would introduce even more chaos and uncertainty at a time when our country can ill-afford it.”

Schumer is the perfect opponent for Trump

Schumer is widely understood to be a phony. His infamous “cheeseburger picture” purporting to demonstrate what an ordinary guy he is establishes that perspective indelibly. Its piece of cheese sitting atop a raw patty of beef is gag-inducing.

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If, in an alternative universe, your family had been invited over to your neighbors, the Schumers, for a backyard barbecue and your kids saw that, you’d hastily pull them aside and urgently tell them never, ever to serve raw beef under a piece of melted cheese. (If you happened to be observant Jews, you’d also tell them to stick to the hot dogs because the burgers ain’t kosher.)

Schumer’s phony grin seals the deal.

Trump and DOGE can use the shutdown to accelerate their agenda of slimming down the federal bureaucracy

Ben Domenech provided a priceless TV moment earlier this week on Fox News as he responded to Jessica Tarlov, who pushed the standard Dem talking point that layoffs of federal bureaucrats are a human tragedy (“How many people are enough for you?”):

“I can’t wait to see what DOGE will do when the government is shut down,” he said. “If the government shuts down, I’m out of things that you can do, where the traps just open up where they can just cut even further than they already [have]. You’ll find out, and it’s gonna be a lotta fun.”

Remember that “essential” services continue. No Social Security or Medicare payments will stop. But “non-essential bureaucrats” are furloughed. Permanently. Best of all, Trump will not engage in the stupid game of putting up barriers to prevent the public from entering national parks.

I can hardly wait for Schumer and the Dems to start telling voters that protecting the jobs of non-essential bureaucrats is critical to the health of the Republic.

Oh please, Br’er Schumer, don’t throw Trump in that briar patch!