BORDER/CONGRESS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/WALL: “President Donald Trump is doing all he can to blow up border security spending talks. But few people on Capitol Hill are listening. Lawmakers and aides from both parties are plowing ahead with negotiations this weekend, ignoring Trump’s growing public disgust for a closed-door process that is increasingly unlikely to deliver a border wall. The group can reach a deal to stave off another shutdown, several lawmakers and aides said, if only the president would butt out. In the past two days, Trump has repeatedly trashed the bipartisan committee tasked with reaching a border security deal and hinted he’s likely to circumvent Congress and build his border wall, anyway. Trump called the talks a ‘waste of time’ on Friday [2-1-19], repeating his dismissive assessment of the committee he made in an interview with The New York Times on Thursday [1-31-19]. The president has also insisted he may not even bother to read what lawmakers come up with ‘if they don’t have a wall.’”
–Sarah Ferris and Heather Caygle, “Congress tunes out Trump’s border wall threats,” Politico, February 1, 2019 6:22 pm