--- title: Donald Trump Threatens Shutdown Over Border Wall description: President Donald Trump demanded billions to build a border wall and said he's willing to shut down the government this month to get it. canonical: https://time.com/5476903/donald-trump-shutdown-border-wall/ author: Brian Bennett article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-12-11T18:15:38.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-12T16:04:50.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: 'I Will Shut Down the Government.' Trump Makes Threat Over Border Wall Funding og:description: “I am proud to shut down the government for border security” og:url: https://time.com/5476903/donald-trump-shutdown-border-wall/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7bdc63ce1ed1a6e1/6989414e86f68e307f6eaf3c/trump-schumer-pelosi-pence-white-house.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5358 og:image:height: 3014 og:image:alt: trump-schumer-pelosi-pence-white-house og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 'I Will Shut Down the Government.' Trump Makes Threat Over Border Wall Funding twitter:description: “I am proud to shut down the government for border security” twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7bdc63ce1ed1a6e1/6989414e86f68e307f6eaf3c/trump-schumer-pelosi-pence-white-house.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 'I Will Shut Down the Government.' Trump Makes Threat Over Border Wall Funding > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: September 2026. ## TIME D.C. Brief: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition D.C. Brief is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. Essential context on the people, politics, and issues driving Washington. D.C. Brief goes beyond the Washington headlines to explain the politics, personalities and power dynamics shaping what happens next. 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In a testy meeting with Democratic leaders in the Oval Office on Tuesday, President Donald Trump demanded billions to build a border wall and said he’s willing to shut down the government later this month to get it._  by [Brian Bennett](https://time.com/author/brian-bennett/)  ## Brian Bennett Bennett is a former senior White House correspondent at TIME. Updated: Dec 12, 2023 4:04 PM UTCPublished: Dec 11, 2018 6:15 PM UTC  by [Brian Bennett](https://time.com/author/brian-bennett/)  ## Brian Bennett Bennett is a former senior White House correspondent at TIME. Updated: Dec 12, 2023 4:04 PM UTCPublished: Dec 11, 2018 6:15 PM UTC In a testy meeting with Democratic leaders in the Oval Office on Tuesday, President Donald Trump demanded billions to build a [border wall](http://time.com/5476520/donald-trump-meet-democrats-shutdown/) and said he’s willing to shut down the government later this month to get it. “If we don’t get what we want, one way or the other through you or the military or anybody else, yes I will shut down the government,” Trump said, sitting next to leader of the House Democrats, Nancy Pelosi, and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer as press cameras rolled. “I am proud to shut down the government for border security.” Pelosi and Schumer arrived at the White House expecting to have a closed-door meeting to lay out how to fund the government before money runs out on Dec. 21\. But the two Democratic leaders seemed to feel ambushed when Trump began making his case for wall funding in front of reporters and reading statistics about the impact of wall construction on illegal border crossings. **Read More:**[_Why Negotiating a Border Wall With Trump Is So Difficult_](http://time.com/5465034/donald-trump-border-wall-negotiations/) “I don’t think we should have a debate in front of the press on this,” Pelosi said. Later, as the back and forth became more forceful, Pelosi told Trump she and Schumer came to the meeting “in good faith and you turned it into this kind of discussion in the public view.” Democratic strategists point to low overall support among voters for closing the government to fund the wall and believe public support will be with them if they hold their ground. If there is a shutdown, the political posturing from Democrats and Republicans will be over who gets the blame. Consequently, Trump’s overt admission then that he would proudly back a shutdown appeared to give Democrats ammunition and backed Republicans into a corner. “We did get him to say, to fully own that the shutdown was his,” Pelosi told her her colleagues during a meeting at the capitol, according to an aide in the room. “This was great for Democrats,” another Democratic aide told _TIME_. “It made obvious Trump’s take my ball and go home approach on the wall.” Overall, Pelosi described the meeting as “wild.” “It goes to show you: you get into a tinkle contest with a skunk, you get tinkle all over you,” she said, according to an aide in the room. “It’s like a manhood thing for him,” she also said. “As if manhood could ever be associated with him. This wall thing.” Republican Senators were less expressive as they headed into their weekly lunch – where the Vice President was expected to brief them about the meeting – with several professing they had yet to watch the exchange. Incoming Senate Majority Whip John Thune threw his hands in the air when asked about a reaction to the White House meeting. “I heard it was very entertaining television,” he said. Alabama Sen. Richard Shelby, who chairs the Senate appropriations committee that is helming negotiations on the spending bills, conceded that the meeting was a “step in that direction,” when asked about the increasing prospects of a government shutdown. “We might come together, we might not. I don’t know,” he said. And Shelby took a long pause when reporters asked him about President Trump expressing pride over backing a shutdown. “I’ve never said that myself,” he said. “I’ve always worked to fund the government.” However, some aides to Trump believe that a shutdown over wall funding would energize his supporters as the 2020 election season kicks off early next year. But such a move is a gamble. An [NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll](https://www.npr.org/2018/12/11/675334306/poll-americans-want-trump-to-compromise-on-border-wall-amid-possible-shutdown) released Tuesday, showed that 57 percent of voters surveyed believe Trump should compromise on the wall to avoid a government shutdown. Thirty six percent of Americans and two thirds of Republicans were willing to see the government shut down over the issue, a reflection of Trump’s willingness to play his base. Trump has previously threatened government shutdowns over immigration in July, but signed spending bills that did not include it anyway. > [](https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/1024347409483292672) Trump wanted to fight harder for wall funding when a spending bill came up in early October but was convinced to hold off on waging another fight while Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination was still pending in the Senate. _With Alana Abramson in Washington_ ## Transcript Some wall has been reinforced by our military. Our military's done a fantastic job. So the wall would get built. I think the American people recognize that we must keep government open. That a shutdown is not worth anything. And that we should not have a Trump shutdown. You have [ CROSSTALK ] Trump shutdown. You have a White House. You have the Senate. You had the House of Representatives. You have the votes. You should pass. No we don't have the votes. Because in the Senate we need 60 votes. No, no but in the House you could bring it up right now today. Yeah but I can't. Excuse me but I can't get it passed in the House if it's not gonna pass in the Senate, I don't wanna waste time. The fact is, you can get it started that way and- In the House can get it passed very easily. Okay, then do it. But the problem is the Senate because we need ten democrats to vote- That's not important, Mister President. The point is is that there are equities to be weighed. And we're here to have a conversation in a prayerful way. So I don't think we should have a debate in front of the press on this. But the fact is the House Republicans could bring up this bill if they had the votes immediately and set the tone for what you want. We thought we were gonna get it passed in the Senate Nancy. We would do it immediately. We'd get it passed very easily in the House. Well that's not Nancy, I'd have it passed in two seconds. It doesn't matter though, cuz we can't get it passed in the Senate because we need ten Democrat votes. That's the problem. Well again, let us have our conversation, then we can meet with the press again. But the fact is is that legislating, which is what we do- Right. You began, you make your point State your case, that's what the house republicans could do if they had the votes, but there are no votes in the house, no majority votes, for a wall, no matter where you start. We need the wall, we need, more important than anything, we need border security. Of which the wall is just a piece, but it's important. Chuck, did you want to say something? Here's what I wanted to say, we have a lot of disagreements here. The Washington Post Today gave you a whole lot of Pinocchios because they say you constantly mistake how much the wall is built, how much of the wall is built and how much, but that's not the point here. We have a disagreement about the wall, whether it's effective or, not on border security, but on the wall. We do not wanna shut down the government, you were called 20 times. To shut down the government, you say I want to shut down the government, we go out, we are going to come into an agreement, if we can come to an agreement, with solutions that will pass the house and senate right now and Do not shut down the government and that is what we are urging you to do. Not threaten to shut down the government, let me finish, because you can't get your way. Let me say something Mr President. You just say my way or we'll shut down the government. We have a proposal that Democrats and Republicans will support. To do a CR that will not shut down the government. We urge you to take it. And if it's not good border security, I won't take it. It is very good border security. And if it's not good border security, I won't take it. It's what the border- Cuz when you look at these numbers of the effectiveness of our border security, and when you look at the job that we're doing with out military. You just said it is effective. Can I tell you something? You just said it's effective. Without a wall, these are only Areas where you have the wall. We wanna do this. Where you have walls, Chuck, it's effective. Where you don't have walls, it is not effective. Let's call halt to this. Yeah. > Let's call a halt to this. We've come in here as the first branch of government. Article I, the legislative branch. We're coming in in good faith to negotiate with you about how we can keep the government open. Open. The- We're gonna keep it open, cuz we have border security. If American- If we don't have border security Chuck, we're not gonna keep them out. I'm with you. I'm with you. We are gonna have border security. And it's the same words. No bragging about what has been done. By us. We wanna do The same thing we did last year, this year. That's our proposal. If it's good then, it's good now, and it won't shut down the government. > > Chuck, we can build a much bigger section with more money. Let's debate in private. We have taken this conversation to a place that is devoid, frankly, of fact. And we can dispell that. We need border security. I think we all agree that we need border security. Is that right? Yes, we do. See, we get along. Thank you, everybody. This is a most unfortunate thing. We came in here in good faith, and we're entering into this kind of a discussion in the public view. But it's not bad. Now you see- No but it- It's called transparency. I know. It's not transparency when we're not stipulating to a set of facts, and when we wanted Have a debate with you about something we confront some of these facts without- You know what, we need border security, that's what we're gonna be talking about, border security. If we don't have border security, we'll shut down the government. This country needs border security. We have to- The wall is a part of border security, let's have a talk. We're gonna get the wall built and we've done a lot of wall already. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5476903/donald-trump-shutdown-border-wall/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5476903/donald-trump-shutdown-border-wall/"},"headline":"'I Will Shut Down the Government.' 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