Republicans fear Trump's demands will lead to 'galactically stupid' consequences

Former President Donald Trump has repeatedly demanded that House Republicans shut down the federal government unless they get the Democratic-held Senate and White House to sign off legislation that would make providing proof of citizenship a prerequisite for registering to vote.

However, NBC News reports that Republicans in the House don't believe that a government shutdown would be at all wise for the former president and his party.

"“It’s, in my opinion, galactically stupid to do a government shutdown even after an election," Rep. Mike Garcia (R-CA) told NBC.
"Before an election, it’s even worse. It’s self-immolating as a party if we do that right before an election."

However, Garcia demurred when asked if Trump's demands were making it harder to avoid a shutdown.

"The dynamics of all that, it’s between [Trump] and the speaker,” he said. “And the speaker’s got to call his play.”

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Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE) expressed a similar sentiment.

"Shutting down the government is bad politics, bad governance," he told NBC News.

While House Speaker Mike Johnson's continuing resolution to keep the government open would likely sail through the House on a bipartisan basis were the vote held right now, that could change if Trump once again demanded a government shutdown.

Johnson has met recently with Trump to try to talk him down from his shutdown demands but the former president hasn't yet given a signal publicly one way or another.

"“I’ve had a lot of conversations with President Trump,” Johnson told reporters recently. “I won’t divulge all of that, but he understands the situation that we’re in. He is doggedly determined to ensure that election security remains a top priority, and I am as well, which is why I put the SAVE Act with the CR.”