Politics - News Analysis

Trump Repeatedly Yelled ‘F*ck’ During Shutdown Meeting With Dems, And Referred to Shutdown as a ‘Strike’

Donald Trump tried to rebrand the government shutdown as a “strike” in a White House meeting with lawmakers Friday.

Trump told top Democrats and Republicans that he did not want to call the shutdown a “shutdown.” Instead, he wanted to refer to it as a “strike,” according to the Daily Beast.

About 800,000 employees have been furloughed or are working without being paid.

The government has been shut down since Dec. 22, when Congress and the president failed to agree on spending over Trump’s proposed border wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. Trump has threatened to not sign any spending bill that does not include his demand for more than $5 billion for the border barrier.

In Friday’s meeting with congressional leaders, Trump threatened that he is willing to keep the government closed for “years” if he doesn’t get his demand, according to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. Trump confirmed those comments during a news conference in the Rose Garden after the meeting.

The Washington Post also reported that Trump swore often, using the word “fuck,” several times throughout the meeting. He later apologized to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for the cursing.

Trump also told the room he was too popular to impeach.

During the course of this meeting, the Democrats in the room were visibly shaking their heads in exasperation. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was one of the Republicans in the room. An aide to McConnell did not provide a readout of the meeting—citing office policy—but noted that the Senator rarely talks in such sessions.

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