Trump bizarrely calls White House official ‘Darth Vader’ | US | News
US President Donald Trump hosted a lunch for Republican Senators in the White House Rose Garden on Tuesday.
Trump invited all 53 Republican senators to the lavish meeting, but during his Rose Garden speech, Trump oddly likened a White House official in attendance to the infamous Star Wars dissident Darth Vader.
“We have Darth Vader. You know Darth Vader, right? Darth Vader is a sitting man – is that Darth? Stand up, please, Darth. Does everybody know – they call him Darth Vader, I call him a good man. But he’s cutting into the Democrats’ priorities, and they’ll never get them back.”
Trump reportedly referred to White House Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought Mirror USA.
Vought is among the minds behind Project 2025, a 900-page conservative policy plan that includes proposals for sweeping cuts to the size of the federal government, increased presidential powers, strict immigration controls, a nationwide abortion ban and additional elements of an ultra-conservative social program, the BBC reported.
Government shutdown continues
The talks focused on Republican solidarity in resolving the ongoing government shutdown and halt in federal spending.
Now in its fourth week, the government shutdown that began Oct. 1 has affected nearly one million federal employees, including military personnel.
Nearly 750,000 federal workers have been furloughed and instructed not to report to work. Other workers, including military personnel, are considered essential and must work without pay until a budget agreement is reached.
Once the shutdown ends, soldiers are expected to receive back pay to make up for their lost earnings.
Since the shutdown began, Democrats and Republicans have engaged in a blame game over who is responsible. The two parties are deadlocked as they struggle to reach agreement on legislation on public spending and health care.
Concerns about Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) funding have now surfaced.
Administered by the USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service (FNS), SNAP provides benefits to approximately 41 million Americans who meet eligibility criteria.
If the shutdown continues, benefits for states across the country will end at the beginning of November. Health care departments in several states, including Texas, Illinois and Minnesota, have posted notices on their websites informing SNAP recipients that they will not be able to receive benefits starting Nov. 1.
Throughout the shutdown, both sides exchanged heated words with each other.
On the sixth day of the shutdown, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt called the situation a “shutdown of the Democratic federal government.”
He warned that Democrats’ refusal to support the “clean” Republican-backed funding bill would lead to ongoing repercussions, including a lack of funding for food aid programs, soldiers going unpaid and federal workers remaining unpaid.
In response, U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer launched a tirade against Republicans regarding the ongoing government shutdown on October 7. He shared a video expressing his strong feelings about X.
Schumer used strong language to express the Democrats’ stance.
“Democrats have three words for this, no way, no way,” he declared.
“It’s literally a matter of life and death, we’re not going to let Republicans blow up our healthcare system,” he said.
