What do you say and mitch mcconnell will say, ugh, ugh, i don t know what he ll say. it doesn t make sense politically. it doesn t make sense substantively. it s really not of this world. it s not grounded in reality. do republicans feel the way that jennifer feels that there is a no win scenario for them? that the president is handing nancy pe losi a premature victory. here is what senator shelby said. it s a question of when do we get off the blame game and get to serious negotiations. at the end of the day all of this will end, we don t know when in negotiations. it s not a question of who wins or loses. nobody will win this kind of game. nobody wins in a shutdown. we all lose. we kind of look silly. garrett, does everybody look sil silly? reporter: i think he fairly well encapsulates what senate
Republicans feel. it is a split between senate and house republicans. senate republicans would like to see a deal. i ve found few, if any, who feel the same desire to fight for wall that the president does. they want border security but the idea of wall, specifically, is not something that animates very many senate republicans. they are still in charge in the senate. they have a responsibility to govern. on the house side in the minority, house republicans have the option of being what they have accused democrats of being which is obstructionists. you can come out every day and say all you want is to see a wall and the president should just keep fightings and the minority in the house, pretty much all you can do is make noise. they will continue to back up the president and carry that message to the base. that split between the senate and the house on this will be telling because senate republicans do have that responsibility to govern. by the way, not to get too far ahead of ourselves
Logic. he s motivated by fear in some sense of the ann coulters and rush limbaughs will jump down his throat. he is motivated by his own sense of grand i don t siocity. between scene republicans and sane democrats there isn t that much difference. they have agreed there must be border security. no democrat says i m in favor of open borders as trump says. there s absolutely a deal to be made. donald trump is president, at least for now. that s why the whole thing becomes dysfunctional. that s why people who live paycheck to paycheck are out of work at the holidays. that s why he will hand nancy pelosi a big giant win when she comes back in couple of days. says i ve opened the government.
Situational awareness. you have to see what s on the other side. a wall stretching from coast to coast, all that gets you is a tunnel underneath or a ladder over top. that is what john kelly was speaking to and that interview he gave the l.a. times. it s not clear what president trump wants. until that s clear, the shutdown drags on. eli, republicans never wanted this wall. when donald trump first introduced it as a campaign issue, there were a lot of eyes that rolled and a lot of folks on both sides saying that will never happen. it s a ridiculous idea. it s unnecessary. it s not the most effective thing. it s impractical. there s already a lot of fencing around the wall and there are other natural barriers and if you look at the john kelly interview with your paper, the l.a. time, he s very blunt about it. in some areas what is needed is more people on the ground. more border security agents and also more cyber security. more drones.
Start the look ahead towards 2020, there are plenty of senate republicans up in difficult places who have to start looking like they can be serious adults and who can legislate separate from their president if they want to keep their jobs past the next election. eli, has donald trump been talking to anybody on the democratic side? has the deal maker been trying to make a deal? the indications i ve gotten from the white house is mike pence has had more conversation with senator schumer than the president himself. the president has been tweeting. he has not really been out there beating the drum and putting the pressure on democrats publicly to come back to the table. he s been throwing whatever he can get to stick at the wall saying his advisers have told me while pelosi doesn t want a deal because she doesn t have the votes secured to be speaker yet. pelosis add vi advisers and sta are moving into the speaker s