DOUBLESPEAK: Democrats Tell the Media They Don't Want the Government to Shut down, Then Vote to Shut the Government down and Blame Pres. Trump

Democratic lawmakers who claimed they did not want a government shutdown voted to shut down the government.



"Who wants to shut down the government? I don't want to shut down the government," said former Democratic presidential candidate and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders (I.).



"Let's be very blunt. There is no such thing as a good shutdown," Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D., Conn.) said.



"The government should not be shut down," Sen. Chris Coons (D., Del.) argued.



"I didn't run for the Senate to shut down the government," Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D., Ill.) added.



All four senators, along with all but five Senate Democrats, voted against a continuing resolution last month to fund the government, resulting in a government shutdown for three days.



Sanders, Blumenthal, Coons, and Durbin all defended their votes after the shutdown began.



Democratic Sen. Brian Schatz (Hawaii) said last week on the "Pod Save America" podcast, hosted by former communications aides to President Barack Obama, that Senate Democrats have options other than shutting down the government to use as leverage in negotiations with Republicans. He also said he had mixed feelings about shutting down the government because Democrats believe government does good things.