President Trump and Democratic leaders traded barbs Tuesday after the president canceled a bipartisan meeting to discuss averting a government shutdown.

Mr. Trump said Democrats’ demands for more than $1 trillion in health care spending are “unserious and ridiculous” and thus a meeting would not be productive.

“There are consequences to losing Elections but, based on their letter to me, the Democrats haven’t figured that out yet,” the president posted on social media with a long list of grievances about Democrats’ asks. 

House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries called the president’s post “unhinged,” and Senate Democratic leader Charles E. Schumer characterized it as a “tantrum.”

The two New Yorkers sent Mr. Trump a letter Saturday demanding he meet with them to discuss a plan to keep the government open and “address the Republican healthcare crisis.”

Mr. Jeffries and Mr. Schumer announced Tuesday morning that the president agreed to an Oval Office sit-down with them. The president’s Truth Social post canceling the Thursday meeting came just a few hours later.

“We must keep the Government open, and legislate like true Patriots rather than hold American Citizens hostage,” Mr. Trump said. 

If Democrats don’t, he warned, “it will just be another long and brutal slog through their radicalized quicksand.”

Democrats want to roll back Medicaid cuts Republicans enacted in the One Big Beautiful Bill, extend pandemic-era expansions of Obamacare premium subsidies and put guardrails on Mr. Trump’s ability to freeze funding Congress appropriates in exchange for voting for a stopgap spending bill to keep the government open into the new fiscal year that begins Oct. 1.

“They are threatening to shut down the Government of the United States unless they can have over $1 Trillion Dollars in new spending to continue free healthcare for Illegal Aliens (A monumental cost!), force Taxpayers to fund Transgender surgery for minors, have dead people on the Medicaid roles, allow Illegal Alien Criminals to steal Billions of Dollars in American Taxpayer Benefits, try to force our Country to again open our Borders to Criminals and to the World, allow men to play in women’s sports, and essentially create Transgender operations for everybody,” Mr. Trump said. 

Democrats are proposing to reverse Medicaid cuts that would prevent unauthorized immigrants from receiving government-funded health care coverage and stop Medicaid dollars from paying for gender transition procedures.

However, they’ve not made demands related to opening borders or allowing transgender athletes to play in women’s sports.

“Our top priority is to make sure that we cancel the cuts, lower the costs and save healthcare for the American people,” Mr. Jeffries said. “That’s eight words, not difficult for Donald Trump to process: Cancel the cuts, lower the cost, save healthcare.”

All but one House Democrat voted on Friday against a Republican stopgap bill to extend most current government funding levels and policies through Nov. 21. It passed the House but was rejected in the Senate, along with a counterproposal from Democrats that included their health care priorities.

Mr. Jeffries said Republicans cannot expect Democratic votes, which are needed to overcome a filibuster in the Senate, if they won’t meet and “try to find common ground.”

“It’s clear at the moment that Republicans are just determined to shut the government down,” he said. 

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, South Dakota Republican, and House Speaker Mike Johnson, Louisiana Republican, reportedly were involved in convincing Mr. Trump not to meet with Democrats. Like Mr. Trump, they’ve slammed Democrats’ demands as unrealistic and suggested there’s nothing to negotiate other than a “clean” extension of current government funding.

“The leader had stated his position on this publicly many, many times. The president certainly knows his position,” a Thune spokesperson told The Washington Times.

The Times also reached out to Mr. Johnson’s office for comment.

Mr. Schumer said the president is “ducking his responsibility” by refusing to meet.

“Donald Trump, you’re not a king,” he said. “The way this country works, you got to sit down with people you may not agree with and come to an agreement.”

Mr. Trump said he would be happy to meet with Democrats if they “get serious” and drop their left-wing demands.

“To the Leaders of the Democrat Party, the ball is in your court,” he said. “I look forward to meeting with you when you become realistic about the things that our Country stands for. DO THE RIGHT THING!”

Congress is on recess this week for Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. The Senate is scheduled to return on Monday and is planning to hold another procedural vote on the GOP stopgap plan.

House GOP leaders canceled votes until Oct. 1 to put pressure on the Senate to take that plan as the only option for keeping the government open.

But Mr. Jeffries is still bringing his caucus back Monday, planning to hold a meeting in the Capitol that evening.

“Shame on the Republicans for skipping town, canceling votes, walking away from meetings and being unwilling to even be present in Washington, D.C., to vote to keep the government open,” he said.

• Lindsey McPherson can be reached at lmcpherson@washingtontimes.com.