The United States will "probably" experience a federal shutdown at midnight, Donald Trump said Tuesday, blaming the failure of negotiations on the Democratic opposition, which he accuses of wanting to "shut everything down."

"They want to shut everything down, we don't want that," the American president assured from the Oval Office.

At midnight on the night of Tuesday to Wednesday, without the adoption of even a temporary budget text, the federal government will enter a "shutdown" situation, resulting in the shutdown of most of its services.

The Congressional Budget Office estimates that some 750,000 civil servants would be furloughed, with deferred pay. Air traffic could be affected, while the payment of many social benefits is expected to be severely disrupted.

According to calculations by analysts at Nationwide insurance company, each week of shutdown could reduce annual US GDP growth by 0.2 percentage points.

Donald Trump has increased the pressure by assuring that the situation could have "irreversible" consequences if the Democrats do not end up accepting the budget wanted by the Republicans.

"We can, during the shutdown, do things that are irreversible, that will be bad for them. Like firing a lot of people," added the American president, threatening to intensify the operations to dismiss thousands of federal employees, already underway with the Doge Commission of his former ally Elon Musk.

- Responsibility -

The last shutdown, from late December 2018 to late January 2019, during Donald Trump's first term, lasted a record 35 days.

Given the highly unpopular nature of such a situation, both Democrats and Republicans traditionally try to avoid this federal paralysis, sometimes at the last moment.

But if it fails, everyone tries to blame the opposing camp.

Donald Trump has already railed against Democratic leaders on several occasions and published on his Truth Social platform a video montage generated by artificial intelligence showing the leader of the Democratic minority in the House of Representatives, Hakeem Jeffries, sporting a long mustache and a Mexican sombrero.

A montage denounced as "racist" by the main person concerned, who also regrets the absence of constructive dialogue with the White House.

Everyone is already thinking about the midterm elections in November 2026, when the Republican majority in Congress will be put back in the balance.

And until the midnight deadline, the lines don't move.

- Dead end -

On the one hand, Republicans are proposing an extension of the current budget through the end of November. On the other, Democrats want to restore hundreds of billions of dollars in health spending, particularly in the "Obamacare" health insurance program for working-class households, which was eliminated by the Trump administration.

While Republicans hold majorities in both houses of Congress, Senate rules require that a budget bill be passed by a majority of 60 out of 100 votes, requiring at least seven Democratic votes.

Donald Trump hosted the top Republican and Democratic leaders of Congress at the White House on Monday, a meeting that only confirmed the impasse in negotiations.

"We have the will and the ability to find a way forward," Hakeem Jeffries assured Tuesday. But "we will not support a Republican-backed bill that continues to dismantle the American health care system, not now, not ever," he added outside the Capitol in Washington.

In March, with the threat of a shutdown already looming, Republicans refused to engage in dialogue about the Trump administration's massive budget cuts and the layoffs of thousands of civil servants. Ten Democratic senators, including Chuck Schumer, reluctantly voted for the Republican bill to avoid a federal shutdown.

Their choice caused a stir in the Democratic camp, with many activists and supporters accusing them of giving in to Donald Trump and his radical agenda.