Long-serving senator says Trump's 'cockamamie' shutdown threat is so absurd it's almost unbelievable

A Senator who's held the same seat since 1975 admitted that he's never seen anything quite like President Donald Trump's apparent desire to shut down the government.

Fox News' Chad Pergram noted on Twitter that Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) told an Appropriations Committee Democrat that in the 44 years and eight presidents he's seen in the Senate, "this is the only time I've seen a president say they want a government shutdown."

"If you saw it on a comedy show," the Vermont Democrat added, "you'd say this goes over the top."

During a speech on the Senate floor on Monday, Leahy also called Trump's potential government shutdown a "cockamamie idea" and said he was looking for a "reality TV moment," the Vermont Digger news blog reported.

"For months now he’s repeatedly called for a government shutdown unless we provide $5 billion for his boondoggle border wall,” the senator said in a Monday evening speech. “He wants to score a made-for-reality-TV moment and he doesn’t care how many thousands of hardworking American men and women are going to suffer for it.”