Or maybe Trump is taking Pelosi and Schumer at their word when they say No Way to building the wall rather than when they say, "Let's open the government first, and THEN we'll negotiate".
Putting a financial gun to the head of 800,000 federal workers over a wall that he claimed that Mexico would pay for isn't an ethical negotiating tactic, it's fear based terrorism.
Keep in mind that the various bills that the democratic house passed weeks ago were only *temporary* in terms of time and Trump still has plenty of opportunity, and plenty of room to negotiate in good faith.
Trump had two years to get his wall funding from a Republican House and Senate and yet he didn't seem to think it was a big enough emergency to shut down the government over it. He was offered many options over the last two years, including 25 billion toward building a wall which involved a path to citizenship for the DACA folks and he simply rejected that option.
Even building a 40 foot concrete wall from "sea to shining sea" would not and could not resolve even half of the immigration problem because more than 60 percent of illegal immigrants simply overstay their visa, they don't hop a wall or go around the existing walls.
Trump's border wall would stop less than half of illegal immigration in the U.S.
The prototype steel "fence" that Trump is now talking about isn't impenetrable and many tunnels have simply been dug under the existing walls.
Steel prototype for border wall cut through with saw, photo shows
https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...nder-us-mexico-border/?utm_term=.b47093f23202
Five billion won't get a wall built through the rest of the deserts that don't have an existing wall already, and it won't stop the drug problem either since most drugs come through a port of entry. On the other hand, the 1.6 billion increase in border security funding that the House has already approved in the bills they have already passsed would beef up security at the ports of entry and it would have a beneficial effect on the drug smuggling problem.
This is simply a vanity issue and an ego battle at this point and it has almost nothing to do with the Democrats. Trump created the DACA problem so that he would have around 700,000 pawns to play with, and now he's added another 800,000 federal employee pawns to his game. This isn't about compromise, this is about using fear and intimidation to shove a wall down everyone's throat, a wall that he promised that *Mexico* would pay for, not the US taxpayers.
Sure the Democrats could cave in, but what kind of precedent does that set for future Presidents if fear and intimidation tactics are rewarded? What happened to Trumps great negotiating skills?
If Trump Gets a Ransom to End the Shutdown, He’ll Do It Again and Again
Sorry, but from my vantage point the Democrats have already offered the President many opportunities to 'compromise' and he's completely refused to do so every single time. This isn't a fair negotiation tactic and the country doesn't support it. He'll have a less than a 30 percent approval rating in another couple of weeks at the rate he's going.
Could the Shutdown Finally Make Trump’s Base Abandon Him?
Trump and McConnell are going to destroy the entire Republican party soon, and they really don't even care about that issue either. It's just selfishly motivated nonsense.