Democrats may be winning a short-term victory on keeping the government open, but President Donald Trump is "probably trying to get past the Christmas season," and he will keep fighting for border security, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said Wednesday.
"I have always thought having been through shutdowns when I was speaker, I don't think shutting government down on Christmas Eve is particularly big win for anybody," Gingrich told Fox News' "Fox and Friends."
"It's a pain in the neck for hundreds of thousands of families directly affected by it. I don't think the president has given up."
Trump has threatened to shut down the government as of Friday if $5 billion for a border wall is not made available, and Gingrich said Wednesday the United States faces several problems with people coming into the United States illegally.
"I think for the Democrats to decide they don't want to protect America is a tough position to take," said Gingrich.
According to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, the Senate plans to take up a short-term measure that would fund the federal government through Feb. 8, after Trump backed away from his demand for wall funds.
Meanwhile, Gingrich said Trump is "hardly caving in" if he accepts the financing extension.
"He will come back again and again," said Gingrich. "The Democratic party is refusing to protect Americans, and presently, every time somebody who is here illegally kills somebody it is going to show up and the president will say, this is because the Democrats refuse to protect Americans.
"I don't know that's a good position for them to look out to 2020, as a party that doesn't want to protect America"
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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