Roughly 750,000 federal workers – 40 per cent of the workforce – are expected to be furloughed as result. “We’ll be laying off a lot of people,” Trump told reporters. “They’re going to be Democrats.”But experts told The i Paper that Trump could further exploit the situation, using it as a pretext to clamp down on political opponents. Meanwhile this weekend, Trump ordered the national guard to be deployed to Portland, Oregon, to suppress protests targeting immigration detention centres. “With regards to permanently firing federal workers, Trump has more credibility because so many workers have been fired due to the work of Doge.