Donald Trump spent the afternoon ahead of his debate against Kamala Harris by demanding Republican lawmakers pursue a government shutdown if they cannot attach a hardline voting bill to the budget.
Trump’s demand, via a fiery post on Truth Social, was met with pushback from some establishment Republicans—but appeared to nudge some Trump allies, like Marjorie Taylor Greene, into backing Trump’s desire.
“If Republicans in the House, and Senate, don’t get absolute assurances on Election Security, THEY SHOULD, IN NO WAY, SHAPE, OR FORM, GO FORWARD WITH A CONTINUING RESOLUTION,” Trump wrote on Tuesday.
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Congress now has less than a month to pass legislation to fund the federal government or else they’ll send the U.S. into a government shutdown on the eve of a presidential election.
Trump has infamously claimed since the 2020 election that it was stolen from him by voter fraud, and he appears to already be sowing doubt in this election’s legitimacy by parroting unsourced claims of fraud in early voting.
Now Trump appears determined to have his party-mates attach an addendum that would require proof of citizenship to register to vote—a step critics say is unnecessary to curb voter fraud, and at least one House Republican fears would ultimately hurt Republicans in November.
“We are not going to shut the government down,” an unnamed Republican lawmaker told Axios. “Trump must want a Democrat majority in the House. We don’t.”
Mitch McConnell, the Senate’s minority leader, signaled that he doesn’t want to hold up the budget at Trump’s request either.
“Shutting down the government is always a bad idea, no matter what time of year it is,” he said.
