It wasn’t easy, but federal policymakers worked out a deal on Wednesday on a giant spending package that would fund the government for a while and prevent a government shutdown. Donald Trump wasn’t directly involved in the negotiations, but he expressed his approval for the result. Indeed, on Wednesday night, he tweeted about his support for the omnibus bill.
And with the president’s blessing, Congress followed suit. As the House and Senate passed the package with relative ease — and with bipartisan majorities — the White House issued this formal Statement of Administration Policy, making a fairly detailed case in support of the proposal. Trump’s communications office sent out talking points touting the bill around the same time.
What about reports from last week that the president wasn’t pleased with the bill because it doesn’t include funding for his border wall? Never mind, people close to Trump said. “The president supports this bill,” House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) told reporters yesterday. “There’s no two ways about it.”
Soon after, White House Budget Director Mick Mulvaney, standing at the White House podium, told reporters that Trump “looks forward to signing” the omnibus into law.
Oops.
President Donald Trump on Friday morning threatened to veto a freshly passed government spending deal — prompting renewed concerns of yet another government shutdown — because the measure doesn’t adequately fund his desired border wall or protect recipients of the DACA program his administration ended.
“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,” Trump tweeted Friday morning.
I guess he forgot his own position again?
There are occasional questions about which presidential tweets were written by Trump and which were written by aides, but in this case, in light of the seemingly random capitalization and casual dishonesty, I think it’s a safe bet the president himself was the author.
So, will Trump follow through on the threat? Given how often he bluffs badly, I’m not inclined to even guess. He’ll apparently let us know soon. But what I like about this story is how it ties together so many recent threads. Trump likes to blindside his own aides? Check. The president and his own White House aren’t on the same page? Check. Trump seems to ignore his own position because of something he saw on Fox News? Check. In other words, today is Classic Trump. Postscript: In the president’s veto threat/tweet, he again points to funding for his border wall. Whether Trump realizes this or not, Democrats already offered to trade wall funding for DACA protections for Dreamers. He rejected the compromise.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past." Recommended
