Scarborough: Government shutdown the result of a ‘confused, chaotic White House’

“Morning Joe” host Joe Scarborough slammed President Trump and White House adviser Stephen Miller early Saturday after the federal government shut down, pinning blame for the shutdown on “a confused, chaotic White House.”

“This is not Chuck Schumer’s shutdown. This is not Mitch McConnell’s shutdown,” the MSNBC host tweeted, referring to the Senate Democratic and Republican leaders.

“This is Donald Trump and Stephen Miller’s shutdown. This is the result of a confused, chaotic White House,” Scarborough wrote.

This is not Chuck Schumer’s shutdown. This is not Mitch McConnell’s shutdown. This is Donald Trump and Stephen Miller’s shutdown. This is the result of a confused, chaotic White House.

— Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) January 20, 2018

Late Friday night, the Senate rejected a short-term spending bill passed by the House that would have funded the government until Feb. 16.

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Five Democrats voted for the bill, but four Republicans broke with their party to vote against the bill, depriving it of the 60 votes needed to pass and causing Congress to miss a midnight deadline to prevent a shutdown.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) ripped Democrats after the vote, accusing them of “shov[ing] aside millions of Americans for the sake of irresponsible, political games.”

Later, Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) took to the floor to blame the shutdown squarely on Trump.

“This will be called the Trump shutdown, because there is no one, no one who deserves the blame for the position we find ourselves in more than President Trump,” he said.

Schumer met with Trump earlier Friday at the White House in an attempt to strike a deal to avoid a shutdown. The two sides had been at odds over protections for recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, as well as funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and other immigration issues.

Schumer said the two men were close to a deal but that Trump walked away from the deal later in the day.

McConnell has vowed to offer a new continuing resolution that sets a new deadline for a spending bill on Feb. 8.

Scarborough has been a vocal critic of Trump, recently saying the president was “destroying” the Republican Party “for years to come.”