Emanuel: Trump grabbed ‘hand grenade’ from Democrats on shutdown

Rahm Emanuel, former U.S. ambassador to Japan and Chicago mayor, said President Trump grabbed a “hand grenade” when it comes to the government shutdown.

“I didn’t think this was a good — the best idea. Based on my experience, whoever pulls the pin on the hand grenade owns it,” Emanuel said on Tuesday’s episode of the “Hacks On Tap” podcast.

“I could not have predicted that Trump would grab the hand grenade,” he added. “And I think that has saved the Democrats on the downside, because of what he’s threatened, ‘blue government agencies,’ ‘I’m going to threaten these programs.’ So, he grabbed the government—”

“And he’s doing it, by the way,” Democratic strategist David Axelrod cut in.

“He grabbed the government shutdown away from the Democrats, and the downside of this was owning it, and he has put his hand not just on the bloody knife, but dominantly on the bloody knife,” Emanuel said.

Republicans and the Trump administration are gearing up for a long government shutdown, making moves to alleviate any political pain that might boomerang on them while attempting to make life challenging for the other side of the aisle.

On Wednesday, Day 15 of the shutdown, senators shot down the “clean” stopgap spending bill from the House for a ninth time, placing the government shutdown closer to lasting into next week.

The Senate voted 51-44 on the bill, which would fund the government through Nov. 21. Sixty votes were needed for it to advance. 

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) suggested Wednesday that the lower chamber would not come back to the Capitol to vote on an $852 billion Defense Department bill the Senate is prepared to consider Thursday — unless Senate Democrats agree first to end the shutdown.

The Hill has reached out to the White House for comment.