Trump Threatens Shutdown That Will “Last for a Very Long Time”

After saying he’d “take the mantle” on the shutdown last week, he’s now blaming Democrats.

Chris Kleponis/ZUMA

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.

President Donald Trump on Friday warned Senate Democrats that he was willing to shut down the government “for a very long time” if they did not support a funding bill that included his demands for a $5 billion border wall along the US-Mexico border.

In a string of tweets, the president also praised House Republicans for passing a bill on Thursday that included the $5 billion in border wall funding. “No matter what happens today in the Senate, Republican House Members should be very proud of themselves,” Trump said. He urged Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to fight “as hard as he has fought for anything” to secure enough votes to get the measure passed.

The Senate is widely expected to reject the measure.

After appearing to cave on the border wall earlier this week, Trump on Thursday threw the government into chaos by refusing to sign a stopgap measure that would have kept the government funded until February because it didn’t meet his border wall demands.

On Friday, Trump signaled that he was ready to blame Democrats for a potential shutdown, directly contradicting his public statements last week vowing to own a shutdown over border security. “I am proud to shut down the government for border security,” Trump told Democratic leaders during a televised meeting in the Oval Office last week.

“I will take the mantle. I will shut it down. I’m not going to blame you for it.”

Fact:

Mother Jones was founded as a nonprofit in 1976 because we knew corporations and billionaires wouldn't fund the type of hard-hitting journalism we set out to do.

Today, reader support makes up about two-thirds of our budget, allows us to dig deep on stories that matter, and lets us keep our reporting free for everyone. If you value what you get from Mother Jones, please join us with a tax-deductible donation today so we can keep on doing the type of journalism 2022 demands.

payment methods

Fact:

Today, reader support makes up about two-thirds of our budget, allows us to dig deep on stories that matter, and lets us keep our reporting free for everyone. If you value what you get from Mother Jones, please join us with a tax-deductible donation today so we can keep on doing the type of journalism 2022 demands.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate