© Reuters/Jim YoungPresident Donald Trump
"The only outstanding question is whether the Democrats want something or nothing," Press Secretary Sarah Sanders tweeted as if to confirm an ambiguous message from Trump an hour earlier in which he said it would be "off to the races" if no deal was forthcoming in the next three weeks.
The president, seemingly hurt by the trending hashtag, pleaded for understanding from his base, reframing his decision to end the longest shutdown in US government history as necessary to put food back on the tables of the "incredible patriots" forced to do their jobs without pay.
Trump signed a bill ending the government shutdown on Friday evening after announcing he would reopen the government for 21 days - enough time, he said, for Congress to work on a more permanent solution to the border security issue. At the end of that period, the government would either shut down again - or he'd finally use those emergency powers he's been talking so much about.
Some of Trump's supporters seemed let down by what they perceived as a capitulation by their hero, though few lost faith entirely - many assuming, as usual, that there was a greater Plan and that Trump had an ace up his sleeve. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told a press conference that she hoped the president had "learned his lesson" while her supporters celebrated the victory on Twitter with #TrumpCaved.
Comment: The returns from the public peanut gallery are just what one might expect: each entrenched side has been validated by comprehension bias - something to which Congress is especially susceptible.