a shutdown battle that got him no closer to getting money in the face of sagging approval numbers. polls show that most americans blame president trump for the standoff. he's no closer to fulfilling that campaign promise. and after all of that, he accepted a deal that looked a lot like the one he rejected in december right before the shutdown that would fund the government three weeks through february 15th, after which he says he will allow funding for the government to lapse again. or he'll declare a national emergency to try to tap into federal funds that way. now, the president caved after republicans, democrats, were starting to put pressure on the white house increasingly. white house aides were worried about images of federal workers lining up at food banks and particularly about the chaos that had started to develop at airports, as tsa agents who can be doing their jobs without weeks without paychecks were starting to call in sick as they remained without a salary.