Trump launched a frontal attack on the US Congress and party colleagues in the House of Representatives when he refused to agree to a pre-negotiated economic plan to avoid a shutdown of American authorities.
Republicans and Democrats, under the leadership of House Speaker Mike Johnson, had agreed on an economic plan to avoid a shutdown of federal activities at Christmas.
In a sudden move on Wednesday evening, Trump and Vice President-elect J D Vance demanded that the House of Representatives renegotiate the deal, and simultaneously made new demands on party colleagues.
Musk: Kill the Deal
"Republicans must become smart and tough", the two wrote in a statement where some of the words were written in capital letters. The President-elect also demanded that the deal be combined with raising the US debt ceiling – something that Republicans have always previously opposed.
The move had been preceded by several attacks from tech billionaire Elon Musk, who is close to Trump and believed that the economic plan was full of unnecessary expenses.
"Kill the deal!", Musk wrote, among other things, on X, where he also shared several posts from Republicans who promised not to support it.
Congress members must therefore return to negotiations, after the deal collapsed, just days before the Christmas break.
Democrats Condemn
An agreement in Congress is necessary to achieve a temporary budget extension, which in turn is necessary for the federal government to finance its activities.
Democrats condemned the decision to stop the agreement, which included around 100 billion dollars in disaster relief to states affected by hurricanes and other natural disasters.
Republicans in the House of Representatives have been ordered to shut down the government, and to harm working-class Americans who they claim to support, says Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic leader in the House of Representatives.
If you break the agreement, you must take the consequences that follow.
The White House also expressed its displeasure.
"Republicans must stop playing political games with this agreement, otherwise they will harm hardworking Americans and create instability across the country", said White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.
