President Donald Trump reportedly views the possibility of a government shutdown favorably, telling aides he believes that taking a hard stand against the immigration concessions that would avert a shutdown will ingratiate him with his core supporters.
Trump has stressed the importance of appearing tough on immigration over the past 10 days in order to win back supporters he alienated by negotiating with Democratic leadership on immigration in September, two people who spoke with him told The Washington Post.
Trump reportedly believes he can blame the shutdown on Democrats, many of whom have said they would vote to oppose any government spending bill that does not include a provision addressing the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which Trump phased out in September. (RELATED: Prominent Dems Willing To Shut Down Government For Dreamers)
One week before the Dec. 8 shutdown deadline, Republicans are pushing a short term spending bill that would fund the government through Dec. 22.
White House Legislative Affairs Director Marc Short dismissed the idea that Trump is angling for a shutdown to score political points.
“He’s not advocating for a shutdown in any way. We want to make sure our military is funded. We want to make sure our priorities are funded. That’s why we invited [Democrats] over to have a conversation about a deal,” Short told reporters Thursday evening.
Trump’s recent public admission that he “doesn’t see a deal” to be made regarding the inclusion of an immigration provision in the spending bill seems to contradict Short’s assurances.
Meeting with “Chuck and Nancy” today about keeping government open and working. Problem is they want illegal immigrants flooding into our Country unchecked, are weak on Crime and want to substantially RAISE Taxes. I don’t see a deal!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 28, 2017
Trump issued the tweet hours before he was supposed to meet with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi to discuss immigration related provisions to the spending bill. Schumer and Pelosi responded to the tweet by refusing to show up at the meeting. They justified their absence by saying that if Trump was not willing to negotiate they would deal directly with GOP congressional leadership.
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