In a remarkable, televised 55-minute meeting with about two dozen Democratic and Republican lawmakers earlier this month, President Trump twice proclaimed that any immigration deal would need to be a bill of love setting an optimistic tone for averting a government shutdown with a bipartisan solution.
After the president ordered cameras out of the Cabinet Room that day, the group delved into the details. Kirstjen Nielsen, Trumps homeland security secretary, and her staff passed out a four-page document on the administrations must haves for any immigration bill a hard-line list that included $18 billion for Trumps promised border wall, eliminating the diversity visa lottery program and ending extended family chain migration, according to the document, which was obtained by The Washington Post.
But one person seemed surprised and alarmed by the memo: the president.
With Democrats and Republicans still in the room, Trump said that the document didnt represent all of his positions, that he wasnt familiar with its contents and that he didnt appreciate being caught off-guard. He instructed the group to disregard the summary and move on, according to one of the lawmakers in the room, speaking on the condition of anonymity to describe a private conversation.
Its like the wedding where someone actually stands up and objects to the wedding, the lawmaker said. It was that moment.
That meeting nearly two weeks ago, and the presidents ambivalence, marked the beginning of yet another period of Trump-fueled tumult that helped push the federal government into a shutdown at midnight Friday. Pinging from one upheaval to the next while clearly not understanding the policy nuances of the negotiation Trump clashed at different times with Democrats and members of his own party, who grew increasingly exasperated with the president even as they sought to cast blame upon the other side.
Im looking for something that President Trump supports, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said in public frustration at one point late in the negotiations. And hes not yet indicated what measure hes willing to sign.
Trump is a self-proclaimed dealmaker who has struggled to close critical deals as president an unreliable negotiator who seems to promise one thing only to renege days, or even hours, later. He boasts of being flexible and has few core ideological convictions, yet often seems torn between his desire for a bipartisan win and the pull of the nationalist populism he ran on. In politics, he resembles at times an amateur jazz musician moody and improvisational, but without the technical chops to hold a piece together.
The early weeks of 2018 have felt eerily similar to those of 2017, as upheaval has consumed the presidents agenda and message including the shutdown battle, a tell-all book chronicling a president at sea and news of a payout before the 2016 election to a porn star alleging an affair with Trump.
Negotiating with President Trump is like negotiating with Jell-O, Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) complained on the Senate floor Saturday, some 12 hours into the shutdown. Its next to impossible.
This account of Trumps divisive role in shutdown negotiations is based on interviews with more than a dozen lawmakers, White House advisers, government aides and Trump confidants, most of whom requested anonymity to discuss private negotiations.