By all accounts, Democratic leaders didn’t discourage members from accepting the invitation; the Blue Dogs simply saw through the scheme.

A spokesperson for Rep. Lou Correa (D-Calif.), a co-chair of the coalition, said, “Congressman Correa welcomes the opportunity to talk with the president about border security, as soon as the government is reopened.”

TPM’s report added, “Democrat after Democrat turned [the White House] down, uninterested in giving Trump a chance to berate them, try to embarrass them or try to get them to split with House Democratic leadership and entertain offers to reopen the government while funding a border wall that are anathema to most of the party.”

Trump told reporters yesterday morning, “Many of [the congressional Democrats] are saying, ‘We agree with you.’ Many of them are calling and many of them are breaking.”

That looked wrong yesterday. It looks worse now.

The shutdown has begun to take its toll on President Trump’s poll numbers. The president’s approval rating in Rasmussen’s Daily Tracking Poll fell to its lowest level in nearly a year on Monday.

Nate Silver also noted the shutdown’s adverse effects on Trump’s approval rating. As he tweeted this past weekend:

Trump approval rating continues on a slow but fairly linear decline since the shutdown began. If he's being told this is helping him politically, he's probably not getting good advice. https://t.co/j7XEedEnAf pic.twitter.com/UU3KpR7qjL
— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) January 13, 2019

Yet while Trump’s numbers are falling, Nancy Pelosi’s are rising.