Digs in on wall....

Shutdown threat grows as Trump digs in on wall

The fight over the border wall is likely to explode in September.

By JOSH DAWSEY

President Donald Trump’s vow Tuesday to close down the government if he doesn’t get money for the border wall mirrors private comments he has made to advisers in recent days — and could cause significant rifts within his own party if he follows through.

The fight over the wall is likely to explode in September as the administration wrangles over a new budget, an increase in the debt ceiling, the beginning of a tax reform package and a possible resuscitation of health care legislation.

Trump has told his advisers he will not accept a deal on other issues without money for the wall “and it has to be real money,” said one senior White House official.

Trump has told senior White House officials and advisers he would be willing to go to whatever lengths are necessary to get money for the wall, a contentious claim even among his advisers.

He hasn’t identified specific amounts of money that he wants, but he seeks “enough to really start building it,” said one person who spoke to him last weekend.

“He is animated about the wall,” the person said. “He cares about that more than many other things. He knows his base cares and chants about it.”

At a campaign rally in Phoenix on Tuesday, the president reiterated to his loyalists that he is committed to his vision for securing the border. “If we have to close down our government," Trump said, "we're building that wall.”

Some said Trump’s preoccupation is in keeping with what he has said since before the election last year. “It should surprise exactly no one,” presidential counselor Kellyanne Conway said. “Why are people surprised when they try to change his mind on something significant and fail?”

Few staff members in the West Wing are as concerned about it, senior administration officials said.

Some in the White House have urged Trump not to focus as much on the wall, try to pass a clean debt-ceiling bill and move to tax reform. “You have barely anyone here saying, ‘Wall, wall, we have to get the wall at all costs,’” one White House official said.

It would be impossible to get Democrats on board for such a plan, Capitol Hill aides say, and Republicans will probably need Democratic support to enact a budget or raise the debt ceiling.

Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), who leads the conservative Freedom Caucus, praised the idea Tuesday — and Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) has promised to try to get money for the wall. The House passed a bill in July that delivers some wall funding, but it has little chance of becoming law.

Trump, on the campaign trail, said that Mexico would pay for the wall — a promise that has been widely mocked for its improbability.

Two people who have spoken to Trump said he sees not building the wall as a personal embarrassment — and that he has shown more interest in building the wall than in other issues, like the upcoming budget negotiations.

“You don’t want a government shutdown,” the White House official said. “He is told that. He says, ‘I want money for the wall.’”