The following article by Elise Viebeck was posted on the Washington Post website August 25, 2017:
President Trump has always been pretty cavalier about shutting down the government. Just go back a few years through his Twitter feed.
As a businessman, Trump provided almost daily commentary as the clock ticked toward the most recent shutdown, in 2013. When the government ultimately closed that year, on Oct. 1, Trump was a steady voice of support for Republicans, who sought to use the situation as leverage against the Affordable Care Act. He also played down the consequences of closing the government. “All essential services continue,” he wrote eight days before the shutdown in a tweet that earned all of 128 likes. “Don’t believe lies.”
Tracing Trump’s historical attitudes is instructive now that he has made clear that he’s willing to close down the government over funding for a border wall. Here is a narrated account of everything he’s ever tweeted about government shutdowns, including a foreboding take on whom voters will blame.
FACT – the reason why Americans have to worry about a government shutdown is because Obama refuses to pass a budget.
Trump first tweeted about the possibility of a shutdown on Aug. 9, 2013, the same day Washington leaders began to respond publicly to conservative lawmakers’ willingness to shut down the government over ACA funding. About 90 minutes after Trump tweeted, President Barack Obama called a shutdown a “bad idea” at a White House news conference. “No one is advocating a government shutdown,” then-House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said that day.
President Trump has always been pretty cavalier about shutting down the government. Just go back a few years through his Twitter feed.
As a businessman, Trump provided almost daily commentary as the clock ticked toward the most recent shutdown, in 2013. When the government ultimately closed that year, on Oct. 1, Trump was a steady voice of support for Republicans, who sought to use the situation as leverage against the Affordable Care Act. He also played down the consequences of closing the government. “All essential services continue,” he wrote eight days before the shutdown in a tweet that earned all of 128 likes. “Don’t believe lies.”
Tracing Trump’s historical attitudes is instructive now that he has made clear that he’s willing to close down the government over funding for a border wall. Here is a narrated account of everything he’s ever tweeted about government shutdowns, including a foreboding take on whom voters will blame.
FACT – the reason why Americans have to worry about a government shutdown is because Obama refuses to pass a budget.
Trump first tweeted about the possibility of a shutdown on Aug. 9, 2013, the same day Washington leaders began to respond publicly to conservative lawmakers’ willingness to shut down the government over ACA funding. About 90 minutes after Trump tweeted, President Barack Obama called a shutdown a “bad idea” at a White House news conference. “No one is advocating a government shutdown,” then-House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said that day.
More than a month later, Trump began responding to shutdown news in earnest, urging on Republican lawmakers:
.@RNC leadership should not be afraid of a government shutdown. They should be afraid of not defunding ObamaCare.
Congratulations to @SpeakerBoehner on standing strong and tying government shutdown to defunding ObamaCare.
Here’s where he starts questioning the gravity of a potential shutdown:
“Here’s the truth, the gov’t doesn’t shutdown” http://apne.ws/16lbI86 via @AP. All essential services continue. Don’t believe lies.
Which he does again, less than 12 hours before the shutdown began:
No one wants the government to shut down, but if ObamaCare is fully implemented then our country will eventually shutdown anyway!
On Oct. 1, the government shut down, and Trump was eager to weigh in:
Obama & the Democrats want this shutdown. They think it helps their electoral prospects for 2014. Don’t believe!
We could see some very similar tweets from Trump if he follows through on his threat this time:
It is crucial for Republicans to remain united during this shutdown
Stocks rose yesterday during the first day of government shutdown. Markets like being left alone for a day.
Seven days in, Trump suggests Obama should be working to end the shutdown:
Government is shut down yet Obama is now harassing the privately owned @Redskins to change its name.He needs to focus on his job!
A few hours later, he’s back to arguing it’s not a big deal:
83% of the government is still running during the shutdown while 41% of nondefense federal workers are furloughed. Room for cuts.
This is one of Trump’s most interesting comments — one that could come back to haunt him if his instinct was right:
My sense is that people are far angrier at the President than they are at Congress re the shutdown—an interesting turn!
With that, Trump ended his commentary on the shutdown, which lasted nine more days.
He returned to the subject again as president, on a morning in April when the government was again on the verge of a shutdown. That week, he had already started to back down on two conflicts that could have resulted in the government closing: funding for a border wall and withholding premium subsidies under the ACA.
When he took to Twitter that morning, he wasn’t so friendly to the idea of a shutdown, and Democrats received much of the blame:
The Democrats want to shut government if we don’t bail out Puerto Rico and give billions to their insurance companies for OCare failure. NO!
I promise to rebuild our military and secure our border. Democrats want to shut down the government. Politics!
As families prepare for summer vacations in our National Parks – Democrats threaten to close them and shut down the government. Terrible!
The next day, Congress approved a one-week spending bill, keeping the government open. Trump didn’t tweet about shutdowns again until May 2, when he said the country needed one:
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!