President Donald Trump tweeted Saturday that he is not going to be spending the Christmas holiday at his Mar-a-Lago golf resort after all — because of the government shutdown mess. His wife Melania, who had already jetted to Palm Beach with their son, Barron, on Friday, will be heading back to Washington so the family can spend Christmas together.
“Due to the shutdown, President Trump will remain in Washington and the first lady will return from Florida so they can spend Christmas together,” White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement.
Earlier, Trump had telegraphed to the public that he was in the White House and “working hard.”
The president had planned to spend 16 days with his family at Mar-a-Lago, where they traditionally spend the holiday.
Any solution to the partial government shutdown that went into effect Friday at midnight seemed to be twisting in the wind. The Senate adjourned Saturday afternoon with no solution and no plans to reconvene until Thursday. The shutdown was triggered after Trump switched positions and decided not to sign any temporary government funding bills unless they contained some $5 billion for his border wall.
Twitter wags were less than sympathetic about Trump forgoing one of his multiple golf trips to address a mess of his making. Nor were they concerned about a hardship holiday at the White House.
