Democrats Refuse White House Shutdown Meeting, Giving Up Any Claim the Shutdown Is Trump's

By Brandon Morse | 1:30 PM on January 15, 2019

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President Donald Trump speaks to members of the media as he meets with members of Congress in the Cabinet Room of the White House, Tuesday, July 17, 2018, in Washington. Trump says he meant the opposite when he said in Helsinki that he doesn't see why Russia would have interfered in the 2016 U.S. elections.(AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

That the shutdown belonged to the Democrats from the very beginning has never been a question of those paying attention, but now it’s pretty difficult for the left to refute the claim that it’s continuing because of Democrat obstinance.

According to The Hill, Democrats have refused to meet with President Donald Trump at the White House for a bipartisan attempt at trying to end the shutdown:

Trump had invited several moderate House Democrats to the White House in an effort to undermine Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who has refused to grant Trump his demand for $5.7 billion in wall funding. But the group turned down the invitation.

“Today, the president offered both Democrats and Republicans the chance to meet for lunch at the White House. Unfortunately, no Democrats will attend,” White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement.

A group of nine House Republicans will go ahead and meet with the president, but Sanders said “it’s time for the Democrats to come to the table and make a deal.”

Democrats are standing off against Trump over $5 billion asked for a border wall, an amount they’d consider pocket change on any other day. However, as I’ve written previously, giving Trump the money to complete his biggest campaign promise would be too much of a win for Trump and would hurt the Democrats greatly going into 2020. This loss would be felt even more keenly due to the fact that Democrats already lost the Kavanaugh fight.

(Read: Rest Assured, This Resistance From Democrats Against The Wall Is All About 2020)

At this time it doesn’t look like either side is going to budge, and that Democrats currently have the upper hand in terms of polling. However, it’s very unlikely that Democrats will win the fight. Republicans are vastly supportive of Trump’s shutdown battle, and support for a border wall is on the rise, especially among swing voters.

At this point, it’s about who can outlast who, but it would seem that Trump is more situated for a war of attrition than Democrats. The only thing holding the shutdown in place is the Democrat’s unwillingness to bend, and their desire to look good going into 2020.