No retreat, no surrender is how President Donald Trump frames his decision to temporarily reopen the government while still pursuing a border wall deal.
Some of his conservative backers have a different take: “pathetic” and “wimp.”
Other Trump supporters seem willing to give Trump the benefit of the doubt, yet they insist that any ultimate government funding deal the president signs must include money for a wall.
Trump defended himself Saturday from the conservative backlash to his decision to end the 35-day-old partial government shutdown the longest in US history without money for his promised border wall.
He said if he didn’t get a fair deal from Congress, the government would shut down again on February 15 or he would use his executive authority to address what he has termed “the humanitarian and security crisis” on the southern US border. After he announced his decision, a New York newspaper headline dubbed him “CAVE MAN.”