Could a government shutdown affect the Trump inauguration?

Donald Trump is set to be the oldest toddler to ever serve as president of the United States with his upcoming second term.

Proving that he never matured beyond his adolescent years, Trump is throwing an on-brand tantrum at the thought of not getting his way, and the bootlickers in Congress are indulging his outburst like an overwhelmed mother caving to her 2-year-old’s demands. The 78-year-old already holds the record for the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, but he’s looking to beat his own tarnished legacy with a renewed push to grind governmental procedures to a halt.

Trump wants to enter his next term as a king rather than a president, and he needs Congress to help make that a reality. So he’s demanding a removal — or at least a massive raise — of the debt ceiling for at least his first two years in office, and the heartless henchmen who helped get him elected are scrambling to make it a reality. Their first attempt already suffered a massive defeat, and unless Congress can agree on a new measure — which is extremely unlikely, given Trump’s interference — we’ll be headed into the holiday season on a government shutdown.

Trump’s even advocating for things to remain stagnant until he enters office on Jan. 20. That would leave us without a functioning government for more than a month, something that will inevitably have widespread effects across the country. Those effects could even hit Trump himself, which is the single surefire way to force the president-elect to actually do something about it.

Could a government shutdown affect Donald Trump’s inauguration?

If there’s one thing Donald Trump cares about, it’s crowd sizes. From his very first day in office, Velveeta Voldemort was ranting about the unprecedented size of his inauguration crowd, a trend that would become an overarching norm across his presidency and re-election campaign.

Trump is no doubt hoping for a much more impressive crowd this time around, but his own urging to shut down the government could throw a snag into the works. Barely over one month ahead of his first day in office, Trump’s “landing teams” were getting started on briefings related to Trump’s transition, which puts them way behind schedule already. If the government shuts down, the workers aiding the Trump team will be furloughed, throwing yet another wrench into the works.

The Trump team is already in the “danger zone,” with its inauguration and transition planning, Ann O’Leary told Politico, due to several factors, including their decision to “use private emails and devices,” reject “federal cybersecurity support,” and their operation out of Mar-a-Lago. A government shutdown would only slow things down further, and could “add to the chaos and the vulnerability to the U.S. government.”

Trump doesn’t care at all about the government workers who, following a government shutdown, would be headed into the holiday season without pay. He doesn’t care about any of the typical downsides of a government shutdown, nor about the human effect his actions could cause. But he does care about crowd sizes, and if there’s one thing that may convince Trump to actually help — instead of hinder — the government funding endeavors, it’s a risk to his precious optics.