It's now the second day of the partial government shutdown, which will go through Christmas and shows no signs of stopping.
The shutdown comes after the White House rejected stopgap legislation passed by the House and Senate—which would have kept the government fully operational until 2019—because lawmakers didn't cave to President Donald Trump's demands for an additional $5 billion dollar allocation for border wall funding.
As is often the case in government shutdowns, those in Washington are trying to deflect blame from their own party and, in the case of the GOP, from their President.
But if the results of a recent poll from C-SPAN are any indication, keeping the blame from Donald Trump may prove to be difficult.
Who do you blame for the #GovernmentShutdown?— CSPAN (@CSPAN) 1545454855.0
An overwhelming 80% of respondents blamed the President for the government shutting down. In addition to Trump rejecting the continuing resolution put forth to keep the government open, the consensus is likely due to statements made by Trump in a contentious public meeting with likely Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY).
During that meeting, Trump said he'd be "proud" to shut down the government, before stating unequivocally that a shutdown would fall on his shoulders:
“I will take the mantle. I will be the one to shut it down. I’m not going to blame you for it. The last time you shut it down, it didn’t work. I will take the mantle of shutting down. And I’m going to shut it down for border security.”
Days later, his tune had changed:
The Democrats now own the shutdown!— Donald J. Trump (@Donald J. Trump) 1545404843.0
But as Twitter users are pointing out in the replies to C-SPAN's poll, they won't be forgetting Trump's words.
@cspan @MJfromtheCO In this, I agree with the toddler-in-chief: he owns the shutdown.— Robert Northrop (@Robert Northrop) 1545499506.0
@cspan The guy who said this. Trump, is it? https://t.co/gw2GpAOskW— Patrick Lewis (@Patrick Lewis) 1545455038.0
@cspan Hello. I’m going to go with person who said “I will shut down the government” in front of live television cameras.— Kid Pro Quo (@Kid Pro Quo) 1545455183.0
@cspan The person who is quoted as “I am proud to shut down the government. I will take the mantle. I will be the o… https://t.co/WUCGzyZ1Pf— Michelle B (@Michelle B) 1545455722.0
@cspan Trump - he openly said that he would take the USA as a hostage for his plans in the Meeting with Nancy Pelo… https://t.co/2IUxJy4REx— KVWUPP IOFF (@KVWUPP IOFF) 1545558502.0
@cspan @allspinzone Trump literally said he’d be proud to shut the government down if he didn’t get what he wanted.— margaret (@margaret) 1545571751.0
Things only got worse for the President.
Many thought blame for the shutdown extended to the President's party as well.
@cspan Trump, Ryan, and McConnell. Of course, conservative pundits goaded Trump into the shutdown, but they're jus… https://t.co/7GFrG5QhLd— Evariste (@Evariste) 1545538141.0
@cspan @KimHunter22 While Trump said he'd shut down the government, I blame the Republicans in Congress for letting… https://t.co/iH8ddLh3aD— heather mcdaniels (@heather mcdaniels) 1545538799.0
@cspan We already know that Pres Trump is out of his mind. But Congressional Republicans are going along with it. T… https://t.co/X1R3K1905w— pol4734 (@pol4734) 1545480596.0
@cspan Republican House, Republican Senate and Republican Presidency. Republicans own this. All of it.— LauraBreathing (@LauraBreathing) 1545536079.0
With this being the third shutdown in two years, some traced the root of the problem back to the electorate.
@cspan The American Voters !— Timothy Johnson (@Timothy Johnson) 1545483187.0
@cspan Actually, the people who voted for him.— MyLifeAsAFlowerVase (@MyLifeAsAFlowerVase) 1545486621.0
But far and wide, it was Trump who got the blame.
@cspan @realDonaldTrump Here’s your sign!! #TrumpResgin— Pamela Denson💖💚 (@Pamela Denson💖💚) 1545601476.0
@cspan #TrumpShutdown— Michael (@Michael) 1545455217.0
@cspan @marieproia I blame 100% Trump. He said he was going to do it last week, as a “threat to Nancy Pelosi & Chuc… https://t.co/aM3BFkyMeW— Elise (@Elise) 1545519994.0
Still, one person found a silver lining for the President.
@cspan At least Trump will actually win the popular vote here.— Matt Grossman (@Matt Grossman) 1545454966.0
It's growing more and more likely that the shutdown will drag on until the inauguration of the new Congress on January 3rd.