President's party marred by shutdown and protests
He was planning to celebrate his one-year inauguration anniversary at Mar-a-Lago, but is instead holed up in the White House.
Sunday 21 January 2018 05:58, UK
It is certainly not how Donald Trump wanted to be celebrating a year in office... holed up in the White House making calls to Congressmen rather than attending a glittering party in Florida and playing golf.
But that is his fate this weekend as his first year in office ends in political chaos, a government shutdown and protests.
The Senate remained open to at least give the appearance of work continuing to solve the problem. But the truth is that the first 24 hours after the shutdown were more about finger pointing than any meaningful negotiation.
It is an unedifying spectacle, as top Democrats blame the Republicans for reneging on a deal and the Republicans blame the Democrats for holding the funding bill hostage to the issue of protection for 700,000 undocumented immigrants who entered the US as children.
Frankly they are both culpable in their own way but they are only exploiting a system that allows political opportunism free reign. It is plain daft that the smooth running of government in one of the world's great powers is dependent on squabbling politicians doing deals on a host of other issues.
The funding bill is too important, it should not be polluted by political sideshows.
But we are where we are and such is the ill-will and mutual suspicion it may be a while before a deal is done. And who will be blamed for the shutdown?
Well quite often it is the party of least popularity that suffers. So, with Trump's approval ratings still in the mid-thirties, that appears to be bad news for the Republicans.
Happy Anniversary, Mr President.