To my mind, the two biggest stories of the week for their domestic impact are Senator Chuck Schumer’s threatened government shutdown and the indictment of former FBI head James Comey. Neither of them bodes well for the Democrats, whose favorability ratings are already scraping bottom. Both revolve around the magic date September 30, that is, this Tuesday. If Congress does not pass a continuing resolution this Tuesday, the government will shut down.

Schumer insists that he won’t vote for a stopgap bill, something centrists in his party like Senator Jeanne Shaheen are seeking. Schumer, along with Congressman Hakeem Jeffries, has said that he will not vote for a continuing resolution unless there’s a restoration of the $1.5 trillion in cuts contained in the One Beautiful Bill enacted into law in July and the rescissions Trump wanted and got.

Unfortunately for the Democrats, Trump is significantly shrewder than they are. He’s made it clear that this will not be the usual performative shutdown and cave. Nope. He will use the shutdown “to justify firing federal employees running programs ‘not consistent with the president’s priorities’.”

Schumer has tried to rally his troops, claiming the president’s threat is a bluff, but I can’t imagine them believing that. Neither does Matt Margolis:

Well, Schumer won't vote for the CR anyway because his vote to break cloture last time all but destroyed him politically. But he’s probably going to have a hard time convincing Democrats on the fence that Trump’s threat is really just a bluff that won’t pan out because they know that the conservative-majority Supreme Court would ultimately side with Trump on this issue.

Eight Senate Democrats who backed the six-month GOP continuing resolution in March remain potential yes votes. That includes Sen. John Fetterman (Pa.), the only Democrat to support last week’s House-passed measure, which failed 44-48. Retiring Democrats like Whip Dick Durbin (Ill.) and Sen. Gary Peters (Mich.), plus Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto (Nev.), Maggie Hassan (N.H.), Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.), and Angus King (I-Maine), are also in play, though some have yet to commit.

In the end, Trump’s strategy is simple yet brilliant: force Democrats to choose between their obsession with expanding government handouts and the livelihoods of the very federal workers they claim to protect. Trump has the Democrats right where he wants them.

The Democrats thought they could hold the government hostage, but President Trump’s masterstroke changed the game: mass federal worker firings if no funding deal passes.

Don Surber also thinks the Schumer threat is risible.

Democrats have no leverage. None.........

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