President Donald Trump has strongly indicated that he is ready to play hardball with Democrats ahead of a fast-approaching potential government shutdown at the end of the month, if a short-term funding bill isn't passed through the Senate by then.

Yet, while Senate Democrat leaders have refused to budge from their demands for a compromise deal, other Senate Democrats are quietly signaling that they are prepared to vote for the Republican-backed measure to avoid the probable pain of a shutdown, according to The Hill.

However, the depth of that rift within the Senate Democratic Caucus remains unclear, and at least eight Democratic senators would likely need to cross the aisle and vote with the largely united GOP for the House-passed bill that would extend current funding levels for another couple of months.

Shutdown to trigger mass firings

Government shutdown showdowns ahead of funding expiration deadlines are nothing new, but this current one appears to have been elevated to a new level under President Trump, who has made it clear that he has no intention of giving in to the typical pressure exerted by Democrats and the media.

The biggest issue causing some Senate Democrats to waver in their opposition is the overt preparations being made by the White House to take full advantage of a shutdown to conduct mass firings of unnecessary bureaucrats, rather than just temporarily furlough and later bring back those non-essential workers, according to Politico.

A memo was recently sent to all federal agencies with instructions for them to prepare plans for a substantial "reduction in force" of federal employees who fall under a set of defined circumstances, including for programs, projects, and activities with lapsed funding and no alternative revenue source, or that don't align with the president's policy agenda.

Those RIF plans would not be implemented, however, if the Senate can pass the "clean" Continuing Resolution previously approved by the House that extends the current Biden-era government funding levels through the end of November.

Make the shutdown as painful as possible ... for Democrats

In addition to the apparent threat of mass firings of government workers if the funding bill isn't passed by the end of the month, The Hill reported separately earlier this week that President Trump and Republicans have expressed their intent to make a potential shutdown as painful as possible for the Democrats.

Part of that includes borrowing a page from former President Barack Obama's playbook during the 2013 shutdown, in which he used his discretion to shutter popular attractions and cut off certain services in a purposeful effort to hurt the American people and blame Republicans for causing the pain.

In this case, Trump could conceivably target the shutdown effects on blue cities and states, pick and choose which employees and services are deemed "essential" or not, and repeatedly bash his Democrat opponents as being solely responsible for the pain and suffering felt mostly by their own voters.

Meanwhile, Trump has also refused to meet with Democratic Party leaders to discuss a possible compromise deal to avert a shutdown, and instead has loudly blasted them for their "unserious and ridiculous demands" that, for the most part, are completely antithetical to Trump's agenda or rollback achievements he's already won.

"Small handful" of Democrats want to avoid shutdown

According to The Hill, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has played tough, refused to back down from his demands for concessions, and dismissed President Trump's threats of mass firings and targeted pain as empty rhetoric.

Yet, some centrist and moderate Democrat senators, as well as a few facing impending retirements, are reportedly considering breaking away from Schumer and other hardline Democrats to instead side with their Republican colleagues in voting to keep the government funded and open for the next couple of months.

"There is a small handful of intelligent Democrats who don’t want to see the government shut down [and] are working behind the scenes," an unnamed Senate GOP aide told the outlet. "I know Democrats have spoken with Republicans."

That aide made sure to emphasize that, at least at this point, Republican leadership had no intention of making any major concessions to try to appease Democrat leadership or solidify the crossover votes of the potential rogue liberal senators.