SAD TRUMP HAS SHUT FIT
Even GOP pols rip Prez for budget tweet threat
WASHINGTON — Stung by Democrats’ claim of victory in negotiations to keep the government funded, President Trump threatened a future government shutdown.
“The reason for the plan negotiated between the Republicans and Democrats is that we need 60 votes in the Senate which are not there! We ... either elect more Republican Senators in 2018 or change the rules now to 51%. Our country needs a good ‘shutdown’ in September to fix mess!” Trump tweeted Tuesday morning.
Trump may be the first President in history to demand a government shutdown, a move that has proven deeply unpopular with voters. And it didn’t sit well with members of Congress, who are still working towards passing a bipartisan bill to avoid a shutdown this month.
“I really do wish somebody would take his iPhone away from him,” Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) told reporters, saying there’s no appetite in the Senate to change its rules to get rid of the 60-vote threshold for most legislation and that there’s no such thing as a “good government shutdown.”
“It’s probably best if the President lets Congress deal with those issues themselves,” he said.
Sen. John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) advice: Ignore Trump’s big mouth.
“I’ve learned one lesson and that is to pay attention to what the President does rather than pay attention to what he says,” he told the Daily News.
Trump’s tweets show how irritated he is that the bipartisan deal is being portrayed as a win for Democrats, given how little actual leverage they had in the debate.
The deal, which has yet to pass through Congress and still needs to be signed by Trump, includes more money for some Democratic priorities, like funding Planned Parenthood and federal medical research. While Trump got some money for investments in the military and border security, he was blocked from using any cash to start building a wall along the Mexican border.
The tweets left his own administration scrambling to explain his comments.
“Right now, I’m not worried about September, I’m worried about this deal that’s in front of us,” budget director Mick Mulvaney told reporters .
He said Trump was “frustrated” that Democrats “spiked the football and tried to make him look bad” after the deal was reached, warning that a future shutdown was possible if Democrats don’t “behave.”
“They’re walking around looking like they pulled one over on the President and I just won’t stand for it,” he said, insisting it was a major win for Trump.