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White House argues Dems shouldn't hurt Trump's feelings

Trump's budget director warned Democrats yesterday that if they don't stop hurting the president's feelings, he may shut down the government.
The sun rises near the White House on Nov. 8, 2016 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Zach Gibson/Getty)
The sun rises near the White House on Nov. 8, 2016 in Washington, DC. 

Mick Mulvaney, the White House budget director, told reporters Tuesday afternoon that the reason Trump floated the possibility of a shutdown was all because of Democrats' happiness at the spending deal. Over and over, he went after Democrats for hurting the president's feelings.

That may sound like a joke. It's not."I think the president is frustrated with the fact that he negotiated in good faith with the Democrats and they went out to try and spike the football to make him look bad," the OMB chief told reporters. "I get that frustration because I think it's a terrible posture for the Democrats to take."Specifically in reference to Trump's tweet about the "need" for a shutdown, Mulvaney added, "I think what you heard this morning was his sense of frustration over how he's being mistreated by the Democrats on a bipartisan piece of legislation.... What I think you heard the president express this morning was frustration over how he's been treated as part of the negotiation. And it may be if things don't get better, we may get to that point [of a shutdown]."Just so we're clear, "how he's been treated" isn't a reference to how the various players acted during negotiations. Mulvaney's point is that Trump feels "mistreated" ***now that the negotiations are over. Democrats are pleased with the bipartisan deal; they've said so; and that's left Trump feeling bad about himself.Which Mulvaney not only considers "terrible," but which may also lead to a shutdown "if things don't get better."In other words, the director of the Office of Management and Budget effectively declared yesterday, "Democrats must stop acting pleased ... or else."