President Trump says he is looking to unleash his budget chief, Russ Vought, on key Democratic priorities in order to inflict pain on the opposition party while it blocks a government funding plan. Republicans, meanwhile, say Mr. Vought is the man made to inflict maximum pain. 

The Office of Management and Budget has already started freezing funding for projects in Democratic states. On Wednesday morning, Mr. Vought announced he would block $18 billion in funds for New York City infrastructure projects. Later that day, he said he would freeze $8 billion worth of green energy projects across 16 states, all of which have two Democratic senators who voted to shut down the government on Tuesday night. 

On Thursday morning, Mr. Trump said he would be meeting with Mr. Vought to discuss next steps. He referred to the OMB director as being “of Project 2025 Fame,” in an apparent tongue-in-cheek dig at Democrats. The president had long said he was not associated with the Heritage Foundation-backed plan, despite many of his top advisors doing some work for the policy book. 

“I have a meeting today with Russ Vought, he of PROJECT 2025 Fame, to determine which of the many Democrat Agencies, most of which are a political SCAM, he recommends to be cut, and whether or not those cuts will be temporary or permanent,” Mr. Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on Thursday morning. 

“I can’t believe the Radical Left Democrats gave me this unprecedented opportunity,” he added. “They are not stupid people, so maybe this is their way of wanting to, quietly and quickly, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”

Vice President Kamala Harris, who ran hard against Project 2025 last year, pointed out that this was always Mr. Trump’s intention. 

“This was always the plan,” Ms. Harris wrote on X Thursday. “Project 2025 was Donald Trump’s blueprint to seize unchecked power within the federal government and restrict Americans’ freedoms. And he is implementing it right in front of our eyes.”

Republicans are more than happy to see Mr. Vought go after their political opponents. 

“Russ Vought — the OMB director — has been dreaming about this moment, preparing for this moment, since puberty,” Senator Mike Lee said in an interview with Fox News on Wednesday night. “Russ Vought has a plan and that plan is going to succeed in empowering — further empowering — Trump. This is going to be the Democrats’ worst nightmare.”

Speaker Mike Johnson was less bombastic about Mr. Vought’s role, telling reporters on Thursday morning that the OMB director was doing what was necessary, but was doing it reluctantly. 

“In this scenario, what they have to do is make very difficult decisions,” Mr. Johnson told reporters. “Whoever is seated in the chair at OMB during a shutdown has to do the same thing … Russ has to sit down and decide, because he’s in charge of that office, which policies, personnel, and which programs are essential and which are not.”

“It could end today if the Senate Democrats would come to their senses and do the right thing for the American people, but if they don’t and if they keep the government closed, it’s going to get more and more painful,” the speaker said. 

Democrats, however, say Mr. Vought’s actions in unilaterally cutting funding to Democratic states while maintaining support for Republican states could only make them dig in further. On Wednesday, Senator Chris Murphy and Senator Tim Kaine told The New York Sun that their colleagues — even those who are wary to keep the government closed — want to know that Mr. Vought won’t go about slashing more funds that are appropriated by Congress. 

“That’s one of the real reasons that, for me — the most important thing about this budget negotiation is getting the president to agree that a deal is a deal, because he’s just acting like a king,” Mr. Kaine said. 

Mr. Murphy echoed the line that Mr. Trump was acting like a monarch, rewarding his friends and punishing his enemies. 

“He’s rooting for a shutdown because he thinks he can act more like a king during a shutdown,” the Connecticut senator said. “The news today is that the president is deciding to act illegally and shut down funding for Democratic states and keep money flowing for Republican states.”

“This is not a functioning democracy if the president seizes spending power in order to reward his friends and punish his enemies,” he added.