As Trump bows to billionaire influence with shutdown, Black government workers hang in the balance

Critical services Black Americans rely on could see major cuts with a potential government shutdown and a Republican agenda that includes cutting taxes for the rich and powerful.
After Donald Trump sided with his billionaire ally Elon Musk, urging Republicans to abandon a budget deal with Democrats that would have averted a potential government shutdown, critics warn that the incoming president, seen as influenced by the wealthy class, poses serious socioeconomic harm for Black and other vulnerable Americans. 
“He’s playing a very dangerous game with the livelihoods of a lot of workers, particularly a lot of workers from Black and Brown communities,” Democratic strategist Joel Payne said of Trump, who on Wednesday took to his social media platform, Truth Social, demanding Republicans rescind a deal that would’ve funded the government through March. If Congress is unable to reach a deal by Friday at midnight, the federal government will close, ending funding for critical federal programs and leaving thousands of employees without pay. 
“The government shutdown during the holiday season means TSA agents, it means law enforcement, it means basic necessities, in many cases, get put to the back burner,” said Antjuan Seawright, a strategist who advises top Democrats like Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, the minority leader in the United States House of Representatives. Seawright told theGrio that, as is the case for most national crises, Black Americans will suffer the most if Trump and his billionaire friend Musk get their way.
“When the ‘check engine’ light is on in America, the car is on the side of the road for Black America,” said Seawright. He added, “We always feel the pain more than other constituencies.”
Payne emphasized that most federal employees are “everyday, regular people” who may be government contractors “doing things in their communities related to the government.” He explained, “Many of those are Black and brown individuals who have nothing to do with the [political] food fight” in Washington, D.C. 
Black Americans over-index as federal employees, making up nearly 20% of the workforce despite making less than 13% of the U.S. population, according to data from the Office of Personnel Management.
What’s more, Payne said, Trump backing Musk in the political outrage over the debt ceiling points to the outsized influence of billionaires like Musk, who donated millions of dollars to Trump’s 2024 campaign. He and other Democrats warn that Trump will do the bidding of the wealthy in exchange for slashing funding for critical needs benefiting Black and other disadvantaged groups. 
“Every time he got caught on a hot mic talking to a bunch of wealthy people, he talked about lowering their taxes. He talked about giving them power, giving them influence,” said Payne, who noted that during a trip to the New York Stock Exchange last week, Trump told business leaders he would lower the corporate tax rate in their favor.
When publicly condemning the bipartisan budget deal initially struck on Capitol Hill, President-elect Trump expressed grievances echoed by Musk, calling it a win for Democrats that would “bring the mess of the Debt Limit into the Trump Administration, rather than allowing it to take place in the Biden Administration.” Trump would instead like to raise or eliminate the debt ceiling to essentially rid his incoming administration of the political residue.
Seawright, who runs the political consulting firm Blueprint Strategy LLC, warned that Trump and Republicans are “paving the way” to extend his 2017 tax cuts that expire later next year — as he promised he would do when he ran for president. Economists noted that Trump’s tax cuts legislation increased wealth inequality, with a majority of its benefits going to wealthy Americans and corporations. Eliminating or raising the debt limit essentially allows Trump to extend his tax cuts without a political battle over how to pay for it.
“Republicans are doing the bidding of their billionaire benefactors at the expense of hardworking Americans,” said White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre in a statement after Republicans released a new spending deal Thursday that was quickly slammed by Democrats. The spokesperson for President Joe Biden said the Republican bill paves the way for “tax breaks for billionaires while cutting critical programs working families count on, from Social Security to Head Start.”
She added, “President Biden supports the bipartisan agreement to keep the government open, help communities recovering from disasters, and lower costs—not this giveaway for billionaires that Republicans are proposing at the eleventh hour.”
According to a report by ABC News, Trump’s incoming White House will become “the wealthiest presidential administration in modern history” which includes at least 13 billionaires. That does not include Musk, who will serve in a non-governmental role as co-chair of a White House commission aimed at reducing government spending. The SpaceX and Tesla billionaire spent more than $200 million backing Trump’s campaign for president, including $1 million daily giveaways to registered voters in battleground states.
“When you lay out that kind of money to elect your favorite candidate, you would expect something in return,” Payne said of the world’s richest man, who, to date, has received billions of dollars in government contracts, loans and tax credits. Not to mention, Musk’s net worth has increased by $64 billion since Trump was elected, according to Bloomberg.
Musk’s close ties to Trump and his apparent political influence over the president-elect have led critics to refer to him as “co-president” or “shadow” president of the United States. Seawright said the “co-president model” between Trump and Musk is “not sustainable,” telling theGrio, “You can’t have two bulls in one pasture. It has never worked and will not work.”
Democrats say they anticipate that Trump, who has already walked back his pledge to lower grocery prices — a key campaign promise — will continue to bend to the will of the wealthy class.
As for Black Americans, many fear they will be disproportionately impacted by Trump’s pro-billionaire agenda.
“We are resilient people, and so we have proven time and time again … we will fight, and we’ll get creative in our fight,” said Seawright. “We’re gonna have to use all those tactics and strategies in order to not just thrive for the next four years but survive.
He added, “This is just a sneak preview of what’s to come.”
Gerren Keith Gaynor is a White House Correspondent and the Managing Editor of Politics at theGrio. He is based in Washington, D.C.
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