Conservatives divided on Trump’s shutdown end announcement

“Good news for George Herbert Walker Bush: As of today, he is no longer the biggest wimp ever to serve as President of the United States,” conservative commentator and author Ann Coulter wrote on Twitter minutes after the president’s press conference.

Conservative commentator and author Ann Coulter, a vocal proponent of a border wall, had said she would not vote for Trump in 2020 if a wall was not being built. Last Saturday, Trump offered Democrats a deal that included extensions of protections for recipients of the Temporary Protected Status and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals programs in return for $5.7 billion for an additional barrier at the southern border, a proposal Coulter had panned.

Coulter noted Friday the shutdown hasn’t gone far enough.

“Obviously the gov’t shutdown hasn’t gone far enough if the corrupt & incompetent FBI still has funds for a Keystone Cops stunt like the pre-dawn raid on Roger Stone,” she wrote. “Sure feel safer today, with the feds taking Roger Stone off the streets. No need for a border wall now. Nothing to fear from MS-13.#OurTaxDollarsatWork.”

Stone, a Trump ally, was arrested in a dawn raid Friday and indicted on seven counts, including witness tampering and obstruction of justice, related to special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.

Coulter wasn’t the only conservative to see the announcement as a disappointment.

“This is even worse than appointing a commission to study the problem and issue recommendations that will never be implemented. It’s….nothing,” Amanda Carpenter, former top aide to Sens. Jim DeMint of South Carolina and Ted Cruz of Texas, wrote on Twitter. “I mean…did something happen this morning to discombobulate the WH and make Trump swerve right off the road in his game of chicken with Nancy Pelosi?”

The move could harm Trump’s standing with his party, some said.

“Trump in essence is saying “Accordingly, I shall not seek, and I will not accept, the nomination of my party for another term as your president.”#LBDJT,” comedian and outspoken conservative Dennis Miller said.

Bill Kristol, founder of the now-closed Weekly Standard, asked if the White House had a white flag pitched on top of it.

While some saw the move as a capitulation, Fox News contributor Guy Benson noted there is still a way forward for Trump.

“Bottom line: Dems win staredown, forcing temp reopening, w/ negotiations over next 3 weeks. If Trump doesn’t get some significant barrier $ (lots of Dems now/again on record in favor), he’ll either shut it down again, invoke controversial ‘emergency’ powers, or fully concede,” wrote Benson, political editor of Townhall.com.

Meanwhile, former Fox News host Bill O’Reilly said Trump’s decision was a smart move.

“Political chess game continues. President Trump reopens government – a good thing. Gives Dems three weeks to make a border security deal. Reasonable. Advantage Trump today,” O’Reilly wrote.

One person blamed it on Democrats being unwilling to negotiate with the White House.

“@SpeakerPelosi seems to have a reflexive hate for @POTUS that keeps her from even negotiating with him,” wrote Jenny Beth Martin, co-founder of Tea Party Patriots, a nonprofit political advocacy organization.

Trump said in mid-December he would not sign a funding bill that did not provide $5.7 billion for border security projects, including additional and replacement barrier between the U.S. and Mexico.

But on Friday, Trump endorsed a temporary end to the five-week shutdown despite failing to secure billions of dollars of funding for a border wall. More than 400,000 federal workers had been required to work without pay since Dec. 22. Another 380,000 were furloughed, meaning they were sent home and were not working, also without pay. At the Department of Homeland Security, 240,000 personnel received their final paychecks Dec. 29-30 for time worked prior to the shutdown.