President Trump and GOP lawmakers are itching to make a potential government shutdown as painful as possible for Democrats as negotiations show few signs of progress with less than a week to go.

Republicans and Democrats have talked past each other for weeks, with each side refusing to pivot from their calls for a seven-week "clean" stopgap package and for protecting Affordable Care Act subsidies, respectively.

But with the high-stakes deadline approaching, Republicans are warning the minority party that if a shutdown comes to pass, Trump will make life incredibly difficult for them.

"I'd be much more worried if I were a blue state. The president has a lot of discretionary power on what he declares is ... essential," said Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) when asked about a shutdown's impact on his state. "We do not want a shutdown."

For the first time in a while, Republicans believe they have the wind at their sails heading into a shutdown fight. The party has been largely united behind the seven-week continuing resolution (CR) push, with Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) and Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) heading their efforts.

They also have additional tools in their toolkit they appear ready and willing to wield if the government’s lights go dark — some of which have been used against them in the past.

A number of Republicans have cited the impact of the 2013 shutdown, which former President Obama and then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) used to pillory the GOP when conservatives were attempting to defund ObamaCare.

Democrats at the time went so far as to close off popular attractions, such as the World War II Memorial on the National Mall and the Smithsonian museums. A photo of a young child dressed as a monkey at the closed-off National Zoo gates went viral, underscoring the shutdown’s impact.

There are more acute levers that Trump can pull too, including being able to force government workers to continue showing up for work without potential scheduled pay and, perhaps more importantly, the ability to shutter parts of the government. This could leave........

© The Hill