December 21, 2018

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

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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.”

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WE'LL BE BLUNT

It is astonishingly hard keeping a newsroom afloat these days, and we need to raise $253,000 in online donations quickly, by October 7.

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Readers also told us to just give it to you straight when we need to ask for your support, and seeing how matter-of-factly explaining our inner workings, our challenges and finances, can bring more of you in has been a real silver lining. So our online membership lead, Brian, lays it all out for you in his personal, insider account (that literally puts his skin in the game!) of how urgent things are right now.

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