President Donald Trump had pivoted to a lighter public schedule since the government began a partial shutdown last week, with few signs that he is trying to win over Democrats to reopen the federal apparatus.
On Monday, the president engaged with reporters in the Oval Office, taking questions on the shutdown and a host of other topics. He said he was willing to cut a deal with Senate Democrats on the health insurance tax credits at the center of the current fight, but it would have to be the “right” plan. The current subsidies are too expensive, he said during an impromptu gaggle in the Oval Office.
“If we made the right deal, I’d make a deal, sure,” Trump told reporters, returning to his near-daily habit of taking questions from behind the Resolute Desk. But he declined to say whether he has had any new direct talks with congressional Democratic leaders in recent days.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Monday that Trump had “not to my knowledge” contacted any Senate Democratic moderates to try to broker some kind of deal to end the impasse, a break from how previous presidents have operated in similar situations. She also did not mention any planned meetings with Democratic lawmakers when she previewed his schedule for the balance of the week during a press briefing.
But when Trump has spoken publicly, he has raised the stakes on his determination to use U.S. military forces from sea to shining sea in American cities as part of what he asserts is a crackdown on crime and illegal immigration that Democrats warn is unconstitutional.
“Portland is on fire. Portland has been on fire for years,” Trump said Monday. “I think that’s really criminal insurrection.”
Trump sidestepped a reporter’s question on whether he would consider invoking the 1807 Insurrection Act to unlock presidential authorities in those cities, saying that so far that has not been necessary.
In his scant public remarks since the government’s funding lapsed on Oct. 1, Trump has also escalated his rhetoric against the minority party.
“We have to take care of this little gnat that’s on our shoulder called the Democrats. They want to give all of our money to illegal aliens that pour into the country,” the president told Navy personnel Sunday aboard the USS Harry S. Truman. “I have a bigger heart than they do. But the problem is, when you do that, they come in by the millions. Everybody wants that, so you can’t do it.”
The commander in chief also talked about the sailors and officers aboard the aircraft carrier as political loyalists, something previous presidents have shied away from to ensure the ideological independence of the armed forces.
“The U.S. Navy always stands for America. As your commander in chief, I will always stand for you. I promise you that. You know that. That’s why you voted for me in numbers that nobody’s ever seen before,” he said. “And I want you to know that despite the current Democrat-induced shutdown, we will get our servicemembers every last penny. Don’t worry about it.”
Monday began with no events on the daily White House guidance that lists Trump’s public events each day. That has been the case most days since the lights went off in many federal offices.
The president golfed on Saturday at his course in Sterling, Va., and did not take questions from reporters, though he did on Sunday. On Friday, Trump was out of public view despite a pattern of flooding the zone at the end of each week in an attempt to get the last word heading into the weekend and the Sunday morning political talk shows. The lone item on his Thursday public schedule was an 11 a.m. intelligence briefing, which is always closed to the media. And in a second term peppered by lengthy exchanges with reporters in the Oval Office, Trump signed executive orders Wednesday afternoon — his most recent such event — without summoning the day’s press pool.
The lighter schedules of late are reflective of a trimmed White House staff, which has become a skeleton crew with nonessential employees having been placed on furlough during the third government shutdown on Trump’s watch. (The others occurred in January 2018 and one that bridged December 2018 into January 2019.) The current standoff also comes as recent polls suggest majorities of Americans blame Trump and congressional Republicans for the shutdown more than Democrats.
‘Hasn’t done it’
A number of Democrats in Congress have questioned why Trump has not done more to first avert and then end the federal shuttering, with some of his closest aides and surrogates telling reporters last week that he was not reaching out to Democratic moderates in the Senate. If a handful more would join Republicans and other existing aisle-crossers, the chamber would have the 60 votes to advance a House-approved stopgap funding measure.
“We’ve had six months, plus this time, for them to bring us together. The president hasn’t done it. The president himself, who said it’s the president’s responsibility to … bring the parties together and get a budget passed,” New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker told ABC News’ “This Week” on Sunday. “They control the House, the Senate, and the White House, and the president hasn’t done that.
“They need Democrats,” the senator added, “which means come to the table.”
Booker’s call for Trump to begin bipartisan talks to end the stalemate came a few days after House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries took a verbal jab at the president over his lighter public schedule.
“Everything that President Trump has done after Monday has been unhinged and unserious. In fact, Donald Trump is in the presidential witness protection program,” the New York Democrat told MSNBC.
“No one can find him when it comes to the government shutdown issue because he knows he’s responsible for having caused it,” Jeffries added. “The erratic behavior that we’ve seen is further confirmation of that unfortunate fact.”
Asked later Friday about Jeffries’ quip, Leavitt fired back — with a noticeable smirk.
“That’s just more ridiculous fodder from Hakeem Jeffries. As you all know, because you’re here every day, the president is literally working around the clock right now,” Leavitt told reporters. “Hakeem Jeffries [and] the Senate Democrats should get back to work.”
Trump is slated to get a bit busier later this week, with visits from the leaders of Canada and Finland on Tuesday and Thursday respectively. It was not immediately clear Monday, however, if the media would have access to Trump during either White House huddle.
One Democratic strategist said Trump — and he alone — might have to rally his own loyalists soon, should public opinion continue to mount against the GOP, especially among crucial independent voters.
“Republicans are getting restless — and only the big guy might reassure them,” strategist Brad Bannon said in an email. “[Independents] are twice as likely to blame Republicans than Democrats for the closure.”
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