Trump Tweets Love for Nashville - Ahead of Trip to New Orleans

(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump took to Twitter Monday to greet followers in Nashville, Tennessee, and let them know he was excited to see them later in the day.

Only problem? He’s scheduled to go to New Orleans instead to address the American Farm Bureau’s 100th Annual Convention.

“Getting ready to address the Farm Convention today in Nashville, Tennessee. Love our farmers, love Tennessee - a great combination! See you in a little while,” Trump said on Twitter. He later deleted the tweet.

The president’s missive came amid a series of Twitter messages accusing Democrats of not negotiating to end the shutdown and secure the southern U.S. border. As snow descended on Washington Sunday, he also wrote: “I’m in the White House, waiting. The Democrats are everywhere but Washington as people await their pay. They are having fun and not even talking!”

As Trump readied for the trip Monday, he also tweeted a link to Fox News, which repeatedly showed photos of Democratic Senator Bob Menendez of New Jersey on a Puerto Rico beach and criticized the party’s lawmakers for attending a retreat there as a partial federal government shutdown -- the longest in history -- entered its 24th day.

Trump’s demand for $5.7 billion in congressional funding for his proposed wall at the U.S.-Mexico border has caused the shutdown. The wall was one of Trump’s key promises during the 2016 presidential election, when he said he’d force Mexico to pay for it. He’s since walked back that promise.

Democrats offered $1.3 billion for border security but have balked at funding a wall, which, according to public opinion polls, isn’t supported by the majority of Americans.

Over the weekend, Trump also said he hadn’t left the White House for a month amid the shutdown, omitting recent trips to Texas to survey border conditions and to Iraq.

To contact the reporter on this story: Terrence Dopp in Washington at tdopp@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Derek Wallbank at dwallbank@bloomberg.net, Elizabeth Wasserman, Kathleen Hunter

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