'Negotiating with Jell-O': How Trump's shifting positions fueled the rush to a shutdown

[DonViejo]

By Ashley Parker, Josh Dawsey and Ed O'Keefe January 20 at 2:53 PM

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, Trump’s homeland security secretary, and her staff passed out a four-page document on the administration’s “must haves” for any immigration bill — a hard-line list that included $18 billion for Trump’s 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 didn’t represent all of his positions, that he wasn’t familiar with its contents and that he didn’t 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.

“It’s 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 president’s 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 on the other side.

more
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/negotiating-with-jell-o-how-trumps-shifting-positions-fueled-the-rush-to-a-shutdown/2018/01/20/81215b90-fd71-11e7-a46b-a3614530bd87_story.html?utm_term=.30776231a3a6

[Kirk Lover]

1. It's his fault....and he is the one who is making DACA a crisis. Dealbreaker Dotard Donnie.

[tanyev]

2. The Shart of the Deal.

[customerserviceguy]

3. I've never negotiated with Jell-o

But I have haggled with some instant pudding.

[Straw Man]

4. The $18 billion wall.

Am I the only one who remembers Trump saying, in the Tuesday Lovefest meeting, that he could build it for a lot less? Because he's, like, y'know ... a builder?