President Donald Trump’s renewed calls for a government shutdown over border wall funding is the latest in a series of months long threats which he has not followed through on in the past.
Workers in El Paso Texas, in the US, replace a section of the Mexico-US border fence next to the international border bridge “Paso del Norte” as seen from Ciudad Juarez, in Chihuahua state, Mexico, on September 26, 2018. HERIKA MARTINEZ/AFP/Getty Images
Trump and Republican leaders are demanding $5 billion in funding for the border wall with Senate Democrats saying they will provide no more than $1.6 billion. The fight was scheduled to come to a head this week, but has been temporarily offset by the death of former President George H.W. Bush.
The president told reporters over the weekend that he would consider a proposal from Congress that would keep the government temporarily open for another two weeks as the nation grieves the former president.
Trump has staunchly declared he means business with respect to his 5 billion dollar demand, telling Politico Wednesday, “I am firm. We need border security, of which a wall is part of it.”
“But we need border security. All you have to do is look at the borders,” he continued. “We need border security in this country, and if that means a shutdown I would totally be willing to shut it down. And I think it’s a really bad issue for the Democrats.”
US President Donald Trump on Thursday told Mexico’s president to cancel an upcoming visit to Washington if he is unwilling to foot the bill for a border wall. Escalating a cross border war of words, Trump took to Twitter to publicly upbraid Enrique Pena Nieto. “If Mexico is unwilling to pay for the badly needed wall, then it would be better to cancel the upcoming meeting.” AFP / HERIKA MARTINEZ
Trump’s declarations, however, sound familiar to past threats that he did not follow through on. The president repeatedly floated the idea of shutting the government down in September ahead of the 2018 midterm elections.
I would be willing to “shut down” government if the Democrats do not give us the votes for Border Security, which includes the Wall! Must get rid of Lottery, Catch & Release etc. and finally go to system of Immigration based on MERIT! We need great people coming into our Country!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 29, 2018
The president backed away from his July 29 declaration as the midterm elections progressed, admitting to The Daily Caller in an exclusive September interview, “I don’t like the idea of shutdowns.”
“I don’t see even myself or anybody else closing down the country right now,” he said prior to the midterms. (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: Trump Says He’s ‘Amazingly Alone’ In Questioning Defense Pacts)
Trump’s frustration, however, remained on full display with an angry all-caps tweet Sept. 20.
I want to know, where is the money for Border Security and the WALL in this ridiculous Spending Bill, and where will it come from after the Midterms? Dems are obstructing Law Enforcement and Border Security. REPUBLICANS MUST FINALLY GET TOUGH!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 20, 2018
The president made similar threats in March 2018 after the passage of a massive 1.3 trillion dollar spending bill, which did not including funding for his proposed wall along the Southern Border. Trump declared hours before that he may veto the bill for not having border wall funding:
I am considering a VETO of the Omnibus Spending Bill based on the fact that the 800,000 plus DACA recipients have been totally abandoned by the Democrats (not even mentioned in Bill) and the BORDER WALL, which is desperately needed for our National Defense, is not fully funded.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 23, 2018
At the signing ceremony, he seethed with anger noting that he was only doing so in order to keep the military funded.
“There are a lot of things that we shouldn’t have had in this bill,” he said. “But we were, in a sense, forced — if we want to build our military — we were forced to have. There are some things that we should have in the bill.”
“I will never sign another bill like this again,” he vowed. “I’m not going to do it again.”