Donald Trump said there is no end in sight to the record-setting government shutdown he triggered last month, and it is hitting his own supporters the hardest.
On Saturday, the shutdown that began just before Christmas reached into its third week, setting the record for the longest shutdown in the history of the United States. This has left national parks devoid of employees and filled with garbage, federal departments empty, and government workers without a paycheck. And as Axios reported, it is supporters of Trump that are being hit the hardest.
As the report noted, six of the 10 states with the most affected federal employees per capita were those that went strongly for Trump in the 2016 election — Alaska, Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota, Idaho and West Virginia.
“Trump’s hard line over wall funding could end up hurting some of the people who put him into office,” the report noted.
The shutdown was triggered by Trump’s demand for funding to build a wall at the U.S.-Mexico border. In the days before the shutdown, Trump had signaled to lawmakers that he would sign a temporary measure, but after it passed with bipartisan support, Trump abruptly changed course. In the weeks that followed, there has been no progress made, as Democrats continue to tell Trump that they will not offer any funding for the border wall and Trump has not offered any concessions or attempts at cutting a deal.
As Trump said on Saturday, the shutdown could continue on for a very long time . In a tweet, Trump attacked congressional Democrats for leaving Washington for the weekend, ensuring that no deal would get done until at least next week (Republicans went home as well).
“We will be out for a long time unless the Democrats come back from their ‘vacations’ and get back to work,” Trump wrote. “I am in the White House ready to sign!”
Trump may be fighting an uphill battle, as polls showed that a majority of Americans place the blame on Trump for the shutdown. Part is likely his own doing, as Trump had bragged in a public meeting with Democrats before the shutdown began that he would shut down the government and would take credit for it.
Despite the shutdown, federal employees are staffing the National Park Service site in Trump Hotel. We’ve requested documents. https://t.co/vcifVrGkPs
— Citizens for Ethics (@CREWcrew) January 12, 2019
Donald Trump had also floated the idea of declaring a national emergency in order to take the funding needed to begin construction of the wall, though he has appeared to back off this threat later in the week.
