Former President Donald Trump in recent weeks has demanded that Republicans in the House of Representatives take the drastic step of shutting down the federal government if they can't pass legislation that would add new restrictions to voter registration.
However, Politico reports that some of Trump's allies have been scrambling to get Trump to back off this demand, as shutting down the federal government one month before a national election is much more likely to hurt Republicans than help their chances.
“There have been a number of people, who’ve talked with the president and said, ‘That’s a really bad idea.’ It’s a bad idea for him, frankly,” Rep. Mike Simpson (R-ID) told Politico. "If you shut down the government a month before the election, that’s problematic."
The history of shutting down the government has typically ended poorly for Republicans, as the tactic often serves to anger voters while at the same time achieving little in terms of extracting concessions from Democrats.
The 2013 government shut down, for instance, did not force then-President Barack Obama to repeal his signature health care law, while shutting down the government in 2022 didn't force then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) to fund Trump's border wall.
Johnson earlier this week tried to pass a continuing resolution in the House that included the voting legislation Trump had demanded, only to be once again derailed by hardliners in his caucus.
Because of this, writes Politico, Johnson "and his GOP leadership team are expected to officially defy Trump’s wishes to play hardball with congressional Democrats," as "the two parties are now in formal talks on a mostly drama-free spending bill that punts the major policy fights until after the election, including a Trump-backed measure that would require proof of citizenship to vote."