Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.) on Tuesday called for conservative commentator Ann Coulter to tell President Trump that “it’s OK” to fully reopen the federal government.
“Dear @AnnCoulter — Please tell the President it’s OK to open up the government,” Speier, who has served in Congress since 2008, wrote on Twitter.
Coulter said last month that Trump’s presidency would be a “joke” if he gave in to Democrats by signing government funding legislation that didn’t include money to construct a wall along the U.S.-Mexican border.
“Trump will just have been a joke presidency who scammed the American people, amused the populists for a while, but he’ll have no legacy whatsoever,” she said in a podcast interview with The Daily Caller on Dec. 19, adding that she would not vote for Trump in 2020 if no progress was made on his campaign promise to build a border wall.
Trump later that week said he would not sign a funding bill that didn’t include $5 billion for a wall along the southern border.
That impasse with Democrats led to a partial government shutdown that has now lasted 25 days, making it the longest in U.S. history.
Coulter commended Trump this month for his willingness to shut down the government over his wall demand.
“Though don’t worry, he’ll fold in the end,” Coulter predicted while speaking on the “Mark Simone Show” on 710 WOR in New York.
House Democrats have passed a series of spending bills to reopen and fund most of the shuttered government agencies through Sept. 30. Those bills also would provide funding for the Department of Homeland Security through Feb. 8 to allow more time for wall negotiations.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has said he would not bring spending bills to the floor for a vote unless they have Trump’s support.