Trump Live Updates: Government Shutdown Threatens as Democrats Reject GOP Spending Bill

The Minnesota governor and former Democratic vice presidential nominee appeared on Chris Hayes’s MSNBC show yesterday evening, criticizing the president’s management of the economy and business practices, as well as commenting on Linda McMahon and Elon Musk’s respective layoffs, drawing from his own experiences.

Former Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte is set to visit today and may face difficulties, considering the president’s remarks about the North Atlantic military alliance during his previous meeting with Martin.

Reporter Brian Glenn, partner of Georgia Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene, managed to elicit some laughs yesterday when he asked Martin: “Why would you allow Rosie O’Donnell to move to Ireland?!

“I think she’s going to reduce your happiness levels!”

“I like that question!” Trump chuckled.

Here’s more from Justin Baragona.

This assertion might not resonate well in Dublin, to say the least.

During the president’s pre-St. Patrick’s Day meeting with Martin, Trump hinted at the possibility of serving an unconstitutional third term by expressing his hope to celebrate the holiday with him “at least three more times.”

“Taoiseach, I appreciate your presence once again. It’s an honor, and I hope we’ll be able to do this at least three more times, okay? We will be doing this three more times, at the very least,” the president stated during a “Friends of Ireland” lunch at the Capitol.

“When I say ‘at least’ they go completely wild,” Trump added, referencing the press and eliciting laughter in the room.

“So thank you very much for being here.”

Following Trump’s strange personal remarks about him, Schumer announced that Senate Democrats would not back the Republican spending measure approved by the House of Representatives that week, with a government shutdown approaching.

Here are his comments in full:

“Funding the government ought to be a cooperative effort.”

“However, Republicans have taken a partisan route, crafting their continuing resolution (CR) without any consultation from Congressional Democrats.”

“As a result, Republicans lack the necessary votes in the Senate to invoke cloture on the House CR.”

“Our caucus is united on a clean April 11th CR that will keep the government operational and give Congress the time to negotiate bipartisan legislation that can pass.”

“We should have a vote on that.”

“I hope our Republican colleagues will join us to avert a shutdown on Friday.”

Here’s Eric Garcia discussing whether Schumer’s side might have to relent and pass the resolution for the greater good.

Donald Trump launched an outright strange attack on Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer – the most senior Jewish figure in the American government – by bafflingly claiming that the New York Democrat is no longer Jewish during a lengthy media conference with Irish Taoiseach Micheal Martin on Wednesday.

While speaking to reporters in the Oval Office about his tax cut proposals, Trump abruptly turned to insult Schumer, asserting that Democrats hadn’t applauded enough during his recent speech to Congress.

“We are planning to reduce taxes… if the Democrats behave, but the Democrats are clueless – you saw that during the speech the other night,” he stated.

“That night was a disaster for the Democrats, in my view.”

Then, inexplicably, the president turned his fire on Schumer, a fellow New Yorker and a frequent adversary throughout Trump’s political career.

“Schumer is a Palestinian, as far as I’m concerned. You know, he used to be Jewish, but he’s not Jewish anymore. He’s a Palestinian.”

Schumer, a veteran of the Senate who has led the Democratic floor since 2017, is not Palestinian.

He was born and raised in Brooklyn and has lived in New York his entire life.

Here’s Andrew Feinberg with further coverage.

Donald Trump’s Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. made the surprising claim that the president has recently shed 30 pounds, despite acknowledging that his diet is still lacking.

In an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity at a Steak ’n Shake in Florida on Tuesday, Kennedy remarked of Trump: “I saw him yesterday and I think he’s lost 30 pounds.”

“All of my agencies advise against the vaccination of birds, because if you use a leaky vaccine, it does not provide complete immunity against the disease, turning those flocks into mutation factories,” he told Fox News’ Sean Hannity. “They’re teaching the organism how to mutate.”

Nevertheless, vaccines might play a significant role in the administration’s future strategy, at least according to the Department of Agriculture.

The acting head of the Social Security Administration acknowledged his lack of knowledge regarding the activities of the “DOGE kids” with Americans’ sensitive data, according to a shocking audio recording.

An hour-long meeting led by the department’s acting commissioner, Leland Dudek, was captured on audio and shared with ProPublica, where he repeatedly referred to young employees at the Department of Government Efficiency as the “DOGE kids” and confirmed they have “broad access” to Social Security numbers and personal information.

Addressing the activities of the DOGE staffers with Social Security data, Dudek reportedly questioned at one point, “Are we going to break something? I really don’t know.”