If the government shuts down, it will be due to President Trump "throwing a tantrum," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Thursday evening.
During a press conference with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Schumer said Trump has backed away from the bipartisan spending bill that passed the Senate on Wednesday night because of pressure from the hard right. The bill did not include any funding for the border wall Trump has long promised. "The Trump temper tantrum will shut down the government but it will not get him his wall," Schumer said. The president, he added, is "plunging the country into chaos."
Pelosi said she was "shaken" by the resignation of Secretary of Defense James Mattis, one day after Trump said the Islamic State is defeated and U.S. troops should leave Syria, and praised his service. "You have leaders who have left the administration in dismay and the rest of them have left in disgrace," she said. "That's what this administration has been about."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Mattis is "one of the few symbols of strength and stability in this administration," Schumer said. "Everything that indicates stability, everything that indicates strength, everything that indicates knowledge is leaving this administration." They don't want to be fear-mongers, Pelosi added, since this "great country can withstand just about anything, but it shouldn't have to."
-
Margaret Atwood’s ‘deliciously naughty’ memoirIn the Spotlight ‘Bean-spilling’ book by The Handmaid’s Tale author is ‘immensely readable’
-
Being a school crossing guard has become a deadly jobUnder the Radar At least 230 crossing guards have been hit by cars over the last decade
-
Crossword: November 4, 2025The Week's daily crossword
-
Senate votes to kill Trump’s Brazil tariffSpeed Read Five Senate Republicans joined the Democrats in rebuking Trump’s import tax
-
Border Patrol gets scrutiny in court, gains power in ICESpeed Read Half of the new ICE directors are reportedly from DHS’s more aggressive Customs and Border Protection branch
-
Shutdown stalemate nears key pain pointsSpeed Read A federal employee union called for the Democrats to to stand down four weeks into the government standoff
-
Trump vows new tariffs on Canada over Reagan adspeed read The ad that offended the president has Ronald Reagan explaining why import taxes hurt the economy
-
NY attorney general asks public for ICE raid footageSpeed Read Rep. Dan Goldman claims ICE wrongly detained four US citizens in the Canal Street raid and held them for a whole day without charges
-
Trump’s huge ballroom to replace razed East WingSpeed Read The White House’s east wing is being torn down amid ballroom construction
-
Trump expands boat strikes to Pacific, killing 5 moreSpeed Read The US military destroyed two more alleged drug smuggling boats in international waters
-
Trump demands millions from his administrationSpeed Read The president has requested $230 million in compensation from the Justice Department for previous federal investigations
