President Donald Trump is blaming Democrats for the government shutdown — tweeting that they wanted to give him “a nice present” to mark the one-year anniversary of his inauguration.

He said Democrats “could have easily made a deal but decided to play Shutdown politics instead”.

And as part of a series of tweets hours after the shutdown began, the president is trying to make the case for Americans to elect more Republicans in the November elections “in order to power through this mess”.

Mr Trump accused Democrats of being more concerned with “Illegal Immigrants than they are with our great Military or Safety at our dangerous” border with Mexico.

He also noted there are 51 Republicans in the Senate, and it takes 60 votes to move ahead on legislation to keep the government running — so some Democratic support is needed now.

In President Trump’s view, “that is why we need to win more Republicans” in the mid-term elections.