Donald Trump’s pre-presidency remarks on who should really be to blame for a government shutdown are going viral.Amid the current shutdown, Trump and his allies have disingenuously sought to cast Democrats as the sole cause.But footage resurfacing online shows Trump taking a very different position when his first predecessor, Barack Obama, was in the White House.In 2011, Trump told NBC News ahead of what was ultimately an averted shutdown:“I hear the Democrats are going to be blamed and the Republicans are going to be blamed. I actually think the president would be blamed [...]. If there is a shutdown, and it’s not going to be a horrible shutdown because as you know things will sort of ... If there is a shutdown, I think it would be a tremendously negative mark on the president of the United States. He’s the one that has to get people together.”Trump also lamented the “pretty sad” situation because “the whole world is looking at us and laughing at us.”Trump: "If there is a shutdown, I think it would be a tremendously negative mark on the President of the United States. He's the one that has to get people together...The President of the United States has to get this done." (2011) pic.twitter.com/tSriw13x18— Home of the Brave (@OfTheBraveUSA) October 1, 2025The then-reality TV personality struck a similar tone just two years later during a 2013 budget standoff when he declared on Fox News: “Problems start from the top, and they have to get solved from the top, and the president’s the leader, and he’s got to get everybody in a room and he’s got to lead.”Trump is shutting down the government because he doesn't care if you go bankrupt paying for health care. It’s wrong, but he's right about one thing: he'll own the Republican shutdown.“I actually think the president would be blamed if there is a shutdown." pic.twitter.com/LtjyNWvODX— Senator Patty Murray (@PattyMurray) September 30, 2025Close