--- title: Donald Trump's Government Shutdown Tweets Contradict Stance description: Over the past five years, Donald Trump praised government shutdowns as a legislative tactic and even argued they are good for the country. canonical: https://time.com/5109760/government-shutdown-donald-trump-tweets/ author: Alix Langone article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-01-19T17:27:19.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T18:56:19.089Z article:section: Politics og:title: President Trump Is Against the Government Shutdown. But He Encouraged Them in the Past og:description: From 2013 all the way to last year og:url: https://time.com/5109760/government-shutdown-donald-trump-tweets/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd09168dd91a60bfb/6988f842e76ad274ad6309f7/donald-trump-daca.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: President Trump Departs White House For Florida og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: President Trump Is Against the Government Shutdown. But He Encouraged Them in the Past twitter:description: From 2013 all the way to last year twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd09168dd91a60bfb/6988f842e76ad274ad6309f7/donald-trump-daca.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Trump Is Against the Government Shutdown. But He Encouraged Them in the Past > Sponsored content. 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Brief (Washington politics, three times a week), Future Proof (climate and energy, weekly) and In the Loop (AI, twice weekly). All are free at time.com/newsletters and together reach more than 1.1 million engaged readers. #### Which TIME newsletter should I subscribe to? It depends on what you follow. For a daily briefing, The Brief. For health, Health Matters. For Washington politics, D.C. Brief. For AI and technology, In the Loop. For climate and energy as a business story, Future Proof. For culture recommendations, Worth Your Time. For how TIME's journalism gets made, Inside TIME. Readers can select any combination at time.com/newsletters. #### Are TIME's newsletters free? Yes. All seven TIME newsletters are free to join at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes TIME's newsletters? TIME journalists write them. Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. by [Alix Langone](https://time.com/author/alix-langone/) ## Alix Langone Jan 19, 2018 5:27 PM UTC  President Trump departs the White House September 14, 2017 in Washington, DC. Trump is scheduled to visit Florida today to view relief efforts in the wake of Hurricane Irma. Trump also spoke on reports from a meeting with Democratic leaders last night about a proposed deal on DACA and potentially delaying negotiations on his efforts to build a wall on the U.S. border with Mexico. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images) President Trump departs the White House September 14, 2017 in Washington, DC. Trump is scheduled to visit Florida today to view relief efforts in the wake of Hurricane Irma. Trump also spoke on reports from a meeting with Democratic leaders last night about a proposed deal on DACA and potentially delaying negotiations on his efforts to build a wall on the U.S. border with Mexico. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images) Win McNamee—Getty Images by [Alix Langone](https://time.com/author/alix-langone/) ## Alix Langone Jan 19, 2018 5:27 PM UTC President Donald Trump is arguing that [a looming government shutdown](http://time.com/5109091/house-vote-government-shutdown-2018/) would be “devastating,” but over the past five years he’s repeatedly praised shutdowns as a legislative tactic and even argued they are good for the country. As part of a fight over how to handle immigration, a measure to keep the government open before a midnight deadline appears likely to fail Friday, leading to a shutdown starting this weekend. Trump has blamed Democrats for the shutdown and argued it will be “devastating to our military,” though members of the [military are largely exempt](http://time.com/5107972/government-shutdown-military-trump/) from shutdowns as they are considered essential services. > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/953987636057821184) But that’s a much different argument than the ones he’s made in the past in support of Republican-led shutdowns under the Obama Administration. In fact, when House Republicans sought to shut down the government in the fall of 2013 as a way to stop the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, Trump was a cheerleader for the effort. > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/380327176676990977) > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/381043541092204544) As with the current shutdown fight, Trump was concerned in 2013 with the military, criticizing the Obama Administration for delays in money to the families of military personnel killed in action and barricades at the World War II Memorial, one of the national park sites that was closed during the shutdown. > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/387905105011691520) > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/388342515134246912) But overall, Trump argued in 2013 that a shutdown was not a big deal because “all essential services continue,” linking to an Associated Press explainer on how shutdowns work, and claiming that it showed the federal government could get by with fewer employees. > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/382226839210434562) > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/387306012979380224) After the shutdown began, Trump noted that the stock market had done well, arguing that closing the government might even be good for the economy. (There’s little evidence for this. In fact, Moody’s Analytics estimated the cost of the 2013 shutdown as [$23 billion in lost economic output](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/federal-eye/wp/2013/10/18/how-much-did-the-shutdown-cost-the-economy/?utm%5Fterm=.f1fce3331175).) > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/385502616337149952) Trump also encouraged Republicans to stay united during the shutdown, telling talk show host Larry King that if Republicans were unified they could win the shutdown fight and he harshly criticized those in the GOP who did not want to continue the fight. “If the Republicans stuck together, which they absolutely not doing, they could actually win,” he said. “But they can’t win with half of them saying we shouldn’t be doing this.” > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/384987984342581248) > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/387317129181032448) > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/388357460412485632) > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/390200652078387201) Trump also argued that the public would blame President Obama for the shutdown, not Congress. He even [called in to _Fox & Friends_](https://www.rollcall.com/news/politics/shutdowns-trump-thought-pressure-president) to argue that the president would be held responsible. “The president is the leader, and he’s got to get everybody in a room and he’s got to lead,” he said. “In 25 years, in 50 years, 100 years from now, when … they talk about the government shutdown, they’re going to be talking about the president of the United States,” he added. “They’re not going to be talking who the head of the House was, the head of the Senate. … I really think the pressure is on the president.” > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/387322936350105600) (He has a point. There is a lot of evidence that the party that controls the White House [suffers the most during a shutdown](http://time.com/5089713/government-shutdown-cost-republican-party/).) As a presidential candidate in 2015, Trump also [backed a strategy](https://www.politico.com/story/2015/08/donald-trump-government-shutdown-planned-parenthood-120981) proposed by Texas Sen. Ted Cruz to attach a rider defunding Planned Parenthood to a spending bill and force a shutdown, arguing that the strategy could have worked in 2013 if Republicans had stayed united. “If they had stuck together they would have won that battle,” he [told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt](http://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trump-government-shutdown-planned-parenthood-2015-8). “I think you have to in this case also, yes.” Trump backed the idea of a government shutdown even after he became president, arguing out of frustration with the Senate rules in May of 2017 that the country “needs a good ‘shutdown.'” > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/859393829505552385) He may get that wish in 2018. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5109760/government-shutdown-donald-trump-tweets/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5109760/government-shutdown-donald-trump-tweets/"},"headline":"President Trump Is Against the Government Shutdown. 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