GOP/GOVERNMENT/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE/WALL: “Some of the most prominent voices in the conservative base were furious at President Trump on Friday [1-25-19] after he agreed to reopen the government without getting money for a border wall — the sort of terms he had spent more than a month rejecting. They derided the deal as a capitulation by a leader who they had trusted to stand firm. Among those leading the charge was the conservative author Ann Coulter, one of Mr. Trump’s earliest and firmest supporters. She told The Times columnist Frank Bruni last year that ‘implementing the principles of ‘The Communist Manifesto’’ would be less of a betrayal by Mr. Trump than retreating on the wall, one of his central campaign promises. Some on the right picked up on that theme of betrayal on Friday. Much of the criticism centered on toughness and steadiness, two qualities that Mr. Trump has long bragged about having. ‘Weak,’ ‘wimp,’ ‘beta’ — these insults were hurled at the president from the right on Friday.”
–Maggie Astor, “Did Trump Cave on the Wall? Some Conservatives Say Yes,” The New York Times online, January 25, 2019