[Hoot Gibson]

You're right, Trump has offered a lot of concessions by way of overture. And at the same time many in his own party have proceeded to cut the legs out from under him while those concessions yet hung in the air. If you ask me it isn't likely that Dems of and on their own, would've had the stict-to-it-iveness to hold their ground the way they have. I'd say it is far more likely that RINO turncoats put a collaborative bug in Dem ears.

Where we will never agree is what Trump's role is in Trump's political defeats. Few if any Republican presidents would prevail in a budget fight when their party held a thin majority in the Senate, with Democrats controlling the House.

Most members of Congress have getting re-elected every two or six years as their number one priority. The Rockefeller wing of the Republican Party, or RINOs as we call them, have controlled some Senate seats for decades. If Trump's job approval poll numbers are high and supporting his legislative initiatives would enhance their prospects of holding on to their seats, then they would be supporting him.

President Trump chose not to spend his political capital on securing funding for a border wall when he could have gotten the most bang for his buck. He has placed himself in a no-win situation by poorly timing his stand for border wall funding.

By waiting until after Republicans lost the House to face off with Democrats over a partial government shutdown, he has made the effort look like an act of desperation, IMO.

Even if Democrats end up agreeing to fund a few miles of a border fence (they will not likely agree to calling it a wall), promising again to build a border wall will not be a winning campaign issue in 2020. That ship has sailed and Trump has lost credibility on the issue.

I supported the government shutdown over border security during Ted Cruz's filibuster and I have supported the current shutdown as well. The cause is just but the timing sucks.