It puts them in the tough spot of declaring Doge essential. That gives a huge opening for the Democrats to attack, when 80% of the government is shut down, that there is meaningful fraud in what Trump kept open. It’s also going to be hard to get someone to come in to unlock things when they aren’t getting paid. Even essential employees don’t get paid in a shutdown, they get back pay after like everyone else when Congress approves it.
There’s a win if the Democrats really want one. Shutting down the government stops Doge, and cuts more than musk could ever dream of. They can frame it as Republicans trying to spend money and Democrats being about responsibility. Make it about a failure of Trump’s leadership.
It’s a tough line to walk, because a prolonged shutdown would possibly backfire, but it’s probably worth the risk. Shutdowns do tend to hurt the party in power more than the opposition.
This is a way to slam the brakes on Trump and be an opposition party if they have the spine for it.
There isn’t management for these jobs though. The people are the management. Both sides of the table are the same in the public sector.