In his Thursday morning Twitter dump, President Donald Trump predicted that a government shutdown would harm the U.S. armed services — even though essential functions of the government such as the military would continue to operate during a shutdown.
A government shutdown will be devastating to our military…something the Dems care very little about!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 18, 2018
Trump, who rejected a bipartisan immigration proposal that could have cleared the way for an agreement on a continuing resolution, has been trying for days to spin a government shutdown as a ploy by the Democratic minority in Congress to hurt the military.
….Because of the Democrats not being interested in life and safety, DACA has now taken a big step backwards. The Dems will threaten “shutdown,” but what they are really doing is shutting down our military, at a time we need it most. Get smart, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 12, 2018
This came weeks after he claimed that House Democrats wanted to shut down the government to “distract” from his “very popular” tax bill.
House Democrats want a SHUTDOWN for the holidays in order to distract from the very popular, just passed, Tax Cuts. House Republicans, don’t let this happen. Pass the C.R. TODAY and keep our Government OPEN!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 21, 2017
But a basic search of his previous tweets reveal his past stances totally contradict his current claims. Indeed Trump supported a shutdown of his own administration as recently as last May as a path to repeal the Affordable Care Act.
The reason for the plan negotiated between the Republicans and Democrats is that we need 60 votes in the Senate which are not there! We….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 2, 2017
either elect more Republican Senators in 2018 or change the rules now to 51%. Our country needs a good "shutdown" in September to fix mess!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 2, 2017
This coincided with his position during the Obama administration that Congressional Republicans should shutdown the government and keep it closed until the healthcare law was repealed.
.@RNC leadership should not be afraid of a government shutdown. They should be afraid of not defunding ObamaCare.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 18, 2013
Congratulations to @SpeakerBoehner on standing strong and tying government shutdown to defunding ObamaCare.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 20, 2013
No one wants the government to shut down, but if ObamaCare is fully implemented then our country will eventually shutdown anyway!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 30, 2013
It is crucial for Republicans to remain united during this shutdown
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 1, 2013
Indeed, Trump claimed in 2013 that the shutdown was actually helping the economy.
Stocks rose yesterday during the first day of government shutdown. Markets like being left alone for a day.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 2, 2013
Most notably, Trump himself dismissed complains that a government shutdown would hurt core services, telling his followers: “All essential services continue. Don’t believe lies.”
“Here’s the truth, the gov't doesn’t shutdown” http://t.co/Ny6RxVYiP0 via @AP. All essential services continue. Don't believe lies.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 23, 2013
Don’t believe lies.