A fresh political clash has erupted in Washington as the White House fired back at Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) for claiming that President Donald Trump was exercising “king-like powers” during the ongoing government shutdown.
Murphy made the remarks on CNN’s State of the Union, where he accused Trump of deliberately keeping the government closed to expand his control over which agencies remain functional. According to Murphy, “The president likes that the government is closed because he can exercise king-like powers. He can decide which parts of the government to open and which employees to pay. That’s what happens in totalitarian states.”
The White House swiftly responded to those accusations. In a statement to The Daily Express U.S., spokesperson Abigail Jackson called the senator a “buffoon who regularly lies to the American people.” She further added, “President Trump wants the government open, and Democrats could vote to reopen it anytime. They’re the ones using struggling families as leverage for their radical agenda.”
The government shutdown now stretching past 26 days has seen both Republicans and Democrats blame each other for the ongoing stalemate. Lawmakers have voted more than a dozen times without reaching an agreement on the spending resolution.
Democrats insist that no bill will pass without provisions to extend healthcare subsidies, while Senate Majority Leader John Thune maintains that “Republicans have been clear from the start subsidy debates can come later.”
President Trump, currently on an official trip to Asia, has been criticized by several Democrats for not engaging more directly in negotiations. Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) told ABC’s This Week that “the president has only spent about an hour with Democratic leadership to discuss the shutdown,” accusing him of being distracted by personal projects like the new $300 million ballroom being built at the White House.
Kelly added, “Almost every American taxpayer will never even see that room.”
As tensions rise, both parties continue to dig in, with no immediate end to the shutdown in sight. The exchange between Murphy and the White House underscores just how politically charged this standoff has become and how each side is trying to win the public narrative.
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