More and more Americans blame Trump for shutting down the government

The government shutdown is wreaking havoc on the lives of everyday Americans, and a new poll from Reuters shows a growing number of people know exactly who is to blame: Trump.

The poll found 51 percent of adults say Trump “deserves most of the blame” for the current shutdown. That’s an increase of 4 percent from a late December Reuters poll — which shows that Trump’s feeble attempts to shift blame to Democrats are failing, and even backfiring.

The Trump shutdown started in late December after Trump threw a tantrum demanding Congress fork over $5 billion for a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. Even before the shutdown started, a USA Today poll showed Americans would blame Trump for it.

In a nationally televised White House meeting with Democratic leaders, Trump said he would be “proud” to shut down the government if he didn’t get his way. He went so far as to promise Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), “I’m not going to blame you for it.”

After Democrats in Congress refused to pay Trump’s ransom, Trump moved forward with his plan to shut down the government, with help from feckless GOP leaders like Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY).

After House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) shepherded through bills to reopen the government, McConnell refused to even hold a vote on them in the Senate — a cowardly lack of leadership that was criticized even by McConnell’s hometown newspaper.

The pain Americans are feeling from the Trump shutdown is only growing. An estimated 800,000 federal workers are not receiving paychecks. Airline pilots say the shutdown puts travelers at risk. Thousands of tenants are at risk of eviction due to a lack of funding for housing programs. And pristine national parks, lacking enough staff to keep things in order, are being destroyed.

The longer Trump insists on continuing the shutdown, the worse the situation will get. Food assistance for millions of low-income families is at risk if there is no funding solution in the coming weeks. As Americans begin filing their taxes, the government might not be able to process billions of dollars in tax refunds until the shutdown ends.

Trump appears to realize he is facing the brunt of the blame for the shutdown. In a desperate attempt to make his case to the public, Trump decided to give a prime-time address from the Oval Office and demand that TV networks air it. But he squandered this opportunity by giving a short, boring anti-immigrant tirade that rehashed the same unconvincing lies he’s been telling about the wall for months.

While Democrats continue to work to reopen the government, Trump and his congressional lackeys like Mitch McConnell are continuing to stand in the way. And the longer the shutdown goes on, the more the public points a finger at the main culprit: Trump.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.