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By Kate Plummer
Senior US News Reporter
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President Donald Trump's previous assertion that a president would be to blame if there was a government shutdown in the U.S. has resurfaced after the country's government shut down at midnight on Wednesday.
Speaking to NBC in April 2011, before he became a politician, Trump said a shutdown would be a "tremendously negative mark on the president"—despite now blaming Democrats for the new shutdown. Clips of the interview have since circulated on social media, with commentators pointing out a disparity between his old and new statements.
White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson told Newsweek on Friday: “Democrats shut down the government and are holding the American people hostage over their radical policy demands like free health care for illegal aliens."
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She added, posting a compilation video of Democrat figures speaking out against shutdowns, "But they know their shutdown is hurting the American people; just listen to them explain it in their own words!"
Why It Matters
After Congress could not agree on a funding measure, the government shut down as midnight passed on 1 October. Since then, Democrats and Republicans have blamed one another for rejecting each other's spending plans.
Democrats want a deal to secure healthcare provisions, while Republicans have raised concerns about costs and the extent to which migrants should have access to healthcare.
Trump's previous statements call into question why he is not taking responsibility for the current shutdown, though the context is different.
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What To Know
Speaking to NBC in 2011, Trump said: "In my opinion I hear the Democrats are going to be blamed and the Republicans are going to be blamed. I actually think the President would be blamed."
He added: "If there is a shutdown I think it would be a tremendously negative mark on the president of the United States. He's the one who has to get people together."
His comments came amid concerns that a shutdown would occur as Democrats and Republican clashed on budget spending cuts during Barack Obama's presidency. But a deal was made after negotiations between Obama, then Republican House Speaker John Boehner and the Democratic leader in the Senate, Harry Reid. The Republicans secured $39 billion in spending cuts, $6 billion more than the Democrats had originally wanted.
What People Are Saying
Trump said at a White House event on Tuesday: "The Democrats want to shut it down, well when you shut it down, you have to do layoffs."
One X user wrote in response to the 2011 interview: "Trump said a shutdown is the President's fault, he just wasn't talking about himself, he blames everyone bar himself when things go wrong."
At a White House briefing on Wednesday, Vice President JD Vance said: "It's one thing to say that we should solve the health care crisis for Americans. It's another thing to say that we're going to shut down the government unless we give the Democrats every single thing that they want, which, as Karoline says, includes giving billions of dollars of taxpayer funding for health care for illegal migrants."
Mark Shanahan, who teaches American Politics at the University of Surrey in the U.K., told Newsweek: "Trump's strategy has always been to own successes in his orbit and offload failures to others—often without any evidence. A government shutdown is undoubtedly a political failure. However, Trump is a classic unreliable narrator and his positions land on wherever he gains greatest benefit.
"Despite owning all the levers of government, he's blaming Democrat legislators for this governmental paralysis," added Shanahan. "If that fails, GOP legislators will be the next target. In the 'Trump-as-hero' saga he paints, only he will be able to do the deal to break the logjam. The one guarantee in the current narrative is that the president is not to blame for a Congressional impasse. What was said before is merely fake news."
What Happens Next
While betting odds suggest many Americans believe the shutdown could last for weeks, it is unclear how long the shutdown will continue. Multiple agencies have shut down nonessential services until further notice.
Update, 10/03, 4:52 ET: This story has been updated with comments from the White House.
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