Trump Likens Government Shutdown by Democrats to ‘Kamikaze Attack’

President Donald Trump said the Democrats’ shutdown of the federal government is “like a kamikaze attack.”

“They’re the ones that started it. They’re the ones that have it, and it’s almost like a kamikaze attack by them,” Trump told reporters Tuesday. “You want to know the truth, this is like a kamikaze attack.”

“They have nothing to lose,” Trump added. “They’ve lost the elections. They’ve lost the presidential election in a landslide.”

The government has been shut down for six days as Senate Democrats have refused to vote to pass Republicans’ clean continuing resolution to fund the federal government.

The shutdown went into effect Oct. 1 after 43 Senate Democrats voted against the Republicans’ continuing resolution to keep the government funded for several more weeks while Congress hammers out a more permanent spending consensus. 

Democrats are demanding an extension of Affordable Care Act subsidies that expire at the end of 2025. Republicans say Senate Democrats are trying to put controversial “extraneous issues” in the stopgap funding bill, such as public benefits for illegal immigrants.

Trump said Democrat are a “mess,” adding that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., “is incapable of making a deal.”

“Schumer is petrified of a [party primary challenger] because he’s not going to win, probably against anybody in a primary,” Trump said.

“They’re a party that has no leadership,” he said.