Government barrels toward shutdown as the blame game heats up

The federal government is barreling toward a shutdown tonight, with President Donald Trump and Democratic leaders engaged in a blame game and trading insults.

WASHINGTON — The federal government is barreling toward a shutdown tonight, with President Donald Trump and Democratic leaders engaged in a fierce blame game and trading insults about each other online.

After his meeting on Monday with the Democrats, Trump shared a crude post on Truth Social that showed Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., with fake AI-generated audio, saying Democrats “have no voters anymore, because of our woke, trans bulls---” and that if they give undocumented immigrants health care, they would vote for his party.

The post depicted Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, also of New York, wearing a sombrero and a mustache as he stood silently by Schumer's side. Mariachi music played in the background.

The video referenced a Trump talking point that Democrats are demanding health care for undocumented immigrants in exchange for their votes to keep the government open. Democrats have called that a lie. They have pushed to extend expiring Obamacare subsidies and to undo Trump's Medicaid cuts, not to pay for health care for people who are in the country illegally.

Schumer responded to the video on X, writing: “If you think your shutdown is a joke, it just proves what we all know: You can’t negotiate. You can only throw tantrums.”