



And that’s not sitting well with the president, who on Monday



It’s an extension of a familiar problem: because the president knows effectively nothing about policy, he doesn’t understand in advance whether developments have worked in his favor or not. Trump relies on media coverage to tell him, after the fact, whether he’s done well or poorly, and he then reacts accordingly.



Close video Trump administration makes mess spinning spending bill Rachel Maddow shows the Trump administration attempting to spin the new spending bill news into a positive light for themselves but falling short with the means of communicating that spin, including a disastrous conference call with reporters. Rachel Maddow shows the Trump administration attempting to spin the new spending bill news into a positive light for themselves but falling short with the means of communicating that spin, including a disastrous conference call with reporters. share tweet email Embed



It also sent Trump himself to Twitter, where Congress recently agreed to a spending bill that will prevent a government shutdown, but the end result represented the latest in a series of defeats for Donald Trump. The White House made all kinds of demands for the legislation, each of which was largely ignored . By the time the agreement was announced, it was Democrats who were smiling.And that’s not sitting well with the president, who on Monday praised the measure . Politico reported that Trump “was furious Tuesday morning with news coverage about the spending deal,” because the reports he saw made him look like “the loser” in the deal.It’s an extension of a familiar problem: because the president knows effectively nothing about policy, he doesn’t understand in advance whether developments have worked in his favor or not. Trump relies on media coverage to tell him, after the fact, whether he’s done well or poorly, and he then reacts accordingly.As Rachel noted on the show last night, this sent the White House scrambling, hoping to give the appearance that the bill was actually a win for Trump, all evidence to the contrary notwithstanding. It led to a media conference call with Budget Director Mick Mulvaney, which went horribly – and hilariously – awry.It also sent Trump himself to Twitter, where he warned Democrats that he believes the nation may “need” a government shutdown for reasons he didn’t fully explain. But the Huffington Post also highlighted an important detail about Mulvaney’s attempted spin.

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.