Utterly essentially totally bonkers it is. But keep in mind its also a sideshow. So 33 days into a Government Shutdown we begin instead tonight with a suggestion. If you want to know about the state of the union, the president of the United States is not the one to ask. These people are. You have a 9yearold. So how is this affecting your family . For him to come home and ask are we poor now, i dont need my extra milk at lunch. A 55 cent milk. I was sitting at home literally thinking what child, my kids or my grandkids, whos Life Insurance do i cash in to stay above water. We need to decide are we going to let our mortgage fall behind, or car payments so we can feed our children. When school was ready to start back here in atlanta, and she said mom, i dont have to have a snack. Excuse me. Its very upsetting. Im worried every day about how much food i have in my house. Rather than go to the hospital and risk the bills from that, you just decided to take that gamble . Husband didnt even know i was rationing. I just its sick, but the thought of having more debt was scarier than the thought of maybe dying in my sleep. In her case, she was rationing her insulin. Thats the state of the union tonight. And so is this, an official at the union for air Traffic Controllers, who are on the job actually saying air safety is now being compromised. It is already less safe than it was a month ago when we shut down. We have critical components to safety that are not there. We have processes not there. Training not taking place, distraction in the workplace. We have controllers actually reporting to us that theyre making mistakes when they are giving clearances, clearing planes in places where they shouldnt be clearing them in conflict with other airplanes because theyre so stressed out about how they are going to take care of their family. Their livelihood is threatened at this point. This cannot go on for months and years. Its not sustainable. Not sustainable, yet a prolonged shutdown appears to be exactly what the white house could be planning on. According to late reporting the washington post, white house chief of staff Nick Mulvaney has asked agencies for a list of highest impact programs if the shutdown continues into march and april. Last night we reported that the tsa is asking screeners to relocate to fill in for other screeners who are calling in sick to work paying jobs that is the state of the union. President trump wants money for his border wall, and he is not backing down. Democrats have offered money for border security, but not a wall, and theyre not backing down. The president , as you know, said he was proud to take the mantle, as he called it, for this. And yet more polling tonight suggest they agree, he owns the shutdown. According to a new survey out late today, 60 say he bears a great deal of responsibility for it. Thats far more than either republicans or democrats in congress. And he said he would gladly take the blame. Of course he later said the buck stops with everyone, not with him. And now he says it stops with nancy pelosi. The reality is whatever you think of walls, beaches and all the rest, the bucks have truly stopped, for people who badly need them. Before this began, the president said many have told him theyre happy to make sacrifices for his wall. He hasnt been saying that lately. However, his Campaign Adviser and daughterinlaw still are. So in terms of the workers who are coming to work and not getting paid, what would you say to them . Listen, its not fair to you, and we all get that, but this is so much bigger than any one person. It is a little bit of pain, but its going to be for the future of our country. A little bit of pain, which is a lot easier to say when youre not worried about paying the bills while directing air traffic or screening bags or stopping the next terror attack or just doing the jobs we want done and doing it for free. More now from cnns abbey philip who joins us from the white house. Does the white house think they have the upper hand in all this right now . Anderson, this isnt exactly how the white house thought this would all end. They decided today after a week of sitting on Nancy Pelosis initial letter to call her bluff, force her hand to decide whether she wanted to disinvite President Trump or allow the state of the union to go forward. It turns out she decided to disinvite the president , and now the white house has to figure out what to do here. They are scrambling to figure out whether the president should even another speech, and now President Trump, as you saw in his remarks earlier today is blaming democrats and really ramping up his attacks on pelosi, a sign of the frustration that hes been feeling in the last several weeks as so much of the blame has fallen on him for this shutdown. And yet again nancy pelosi seems to have the upper hand. And just in terms of alternate venues for the speech, do you know what theyre considering . Well, the white house aides have been considering venues either here at the white house, perhaps the oval office or the east room, or outside of the white house, perhaps on the border, a campaignstyle rally. But anderson, one of the problems that theyre encountering is one what kind of venue will give the president the same kind of gravitas that he might get from the halls of congress. They are concerned, for example, that if he does a campaignstyle rally, that people will simply dismiss that as a political speech. So they have pretty limited options. President trump also was not particularly happy with his last oval office address, thinking that he looked stilted and stiff. This time around they need to find a venue that will give him the same kind of oomph that he might get with all the members of coming on both sides, sitting in the audience, perhaps in some cases applauding or standing during his speech. He wants feedback i guess in realtime. I understand there is renewed talk about the president taking executive action to build a wall. Its a sign of frustration, anderson, on the part of the president , as the negotiations have basically stalled. A source close to these discussions have told cnn that the president is once again thinking about some kind of executive action. Now this would be different from a declaring a National Emergency, but it would do essentially the same thing, taking money from one part of the government, applying it to the border wall. But we are also learning that in his meeting this afternoon with conservative leaders that he convened for this purpose, the president was noncommittal about declaring any kind of executive action. He didnt suggest it, though it was brought up by others in the room. What were seeing here is conservatives really pressuring the president as well to do something. The shutdown has gone on for so long, they see the political damage, and they are also concerned that President Trump might be tempted to compromise with democrats, granting, for example, what they call amnesty for dreamers. So a lot of people frustrated on both sides, but the president still not willing, it seems, to take that additional step either declare a National Emergency or use some sort of executive action for now. Anderson . Abby phillip, a lot to cover. Next to the capitol and cnns manu raju. What are you thinking about Speaker Pelosis thinking behind cancelling the state of the union . Democrats are in no mood to have the president come here to the House Chamber and lecture them about the Government Shutdown, especially since they believe this is all the president s fault. The president said himself that he would own this, and pelosi in fact said to her caucus today in a closed door meeting im told, there is no point of even bringing your family here to washington next week. People took that as a sign that the state of the union was never going to happen, even before the back and forth of the letters today. Now you recall the initial letter in which she urged the president to delay the state of the union until after the shutdown. She first cited security concerns, but then the president came back and his own department of Homeland Security said they could secure the state of the union perfectly fine. She then said it was really about furloughed employees and the fact that theyre not getting paid. Its not fair for them to have to be forced to secure such an event with all these high profile public officials. In todays letter, she made mention of none of that. She said very clearly the government needs to be reopened first before we do the state of the union. So its clearly a point of leverage she hopes to use in the talks going forward, given the standoff were in here heading to the fifth week of the shutdown. This may be a dumb question, but could he just show up and give the speech in the rotunda . Could he deliver it there instead of the floor of the house . The short answer is no. He is going to need permission from democrats to do it in the rotunda. He is going the need permission from democrats to do it in the senate as well. He does have floor privileges to walk on to the senate floor, but to actually deliver a speech, you would need some support within the senate, because that institution operates on a concept called unanimous cons t consent, meaning Everyone Needs to agree. And in this environment, its hard to see that happening. So the president is going to have to find another venue off capitol hill. Well, definitely no unanimous consent. Manu raju, thanks very much. For perspective Doug Brinkley and David Axelrod who served as a Senior Adviser to president obama. David, i wonder, could you imagine any kind of scenario under which john boehner would have blocked president obama from giving his state of the Union Address . No. I mean, you know, decorum was beginning to erode. It wasnt the state of the union, but the president made a health care speech, youll remember, and members stood up and shouted at him. But, no, i could not conceive of that, but i also could not have conceived of a 34day or 33day shutdown. And it comes at a time when pelosi is the new sheriff in town. Shes asserting her primacy and the institutions primacy. So its kind of a caustic mix. Doug, how unprecedented is this . Is there anything in American History to compare it to . Well, look, the original state of the union used to always be a handwritten message all the way up to Woodrow Wilson up in 1913. Wilson started this tradition of it. Its really fdr who calls it the state of the union. And then it goes from being an afternoon event to being a tv extravaganza. The big thing that Donald Trumps losing ostensibly is his 50plus Million Viewers mandatory tv watching. But it can be postponed. I mean, Ronald Reagan postponed the state of the Union Address because of the challenger disaster, and waited a week later to do it. And of course you could go and there have been weird moments like gerald ford in 1975 actually went and said the state of the union is not good. Thats what were dealing with right now, not a good situation. David, this afternoon you tweeted after two years of bullying at real donald trump has found himself nose to nose with an opponent willing and able to push back, but the government remains partially shuttered, and to what end. Yes. What about that . To what end does the government remain shut down . Well, you know, heres where the democrats have a bit of a high ground, because theyve offered to reopen the government and continue to negotiate on the wall. And the president wants the leverage of a closed government to get his proposal around the wall. But, you know, i think one i think genuine and legitimate criticism is i dont think that the speaker would suggest that he not come because she was worried about security. I think she suggested he not come because she didnt want him to use the platform of the state of the union to spend an hour repeating the same argument hes made in other national addresses now, trying to make the case for why he has shut the government down and why he is fighting for the wall. As doug mentioned, she said he can come back when this is over, and she is using this as a bit of leverage to try and force the president s hand. Doug, i mean, the president calling pelosis decision on the state of the union a great blotch on the incredible country that we love. This the great blotch, or the fact that 800,000 federal workers not getting paid the greater blotch on the country . Obviously its the 800,000. You know, look, admiral karl schultz of the coast guard having to make a plea that were treating our coast guard servicemen and women so shabbily, so terribly that they have to go to food kitchens and the like this. Is a horrific moment in American History. This is the great trump shutdown. His poll numbers are starting to go in the backwards direction. By all indications, hes being blamed for this, and i think the president needs to now respond by doing a written state of the union. If he wants to go give a campaignlike rally, he can do it. Fox news will cover it. I doubt the big networks and cnn will probably cover Something Like that. As you mentioned, he already had a state of the Union Several weeks ago about the wall and networks carried it. Trump so give the written version and pelosi should invite donald trump later before summer recess to come and respond and talk to a full congress. David, doug is talking about polls. The fact that far more americans blame the president for the shutdown than even republicans or democrats in congress. He said he would take the mantle for shutdown. He later backtracked on that and said its everybodys responsibility. The buck stops with everybody. It looks like hes gotten his wish. He has the mantle of it. There is no doubt about it. He is taking on a lot of water here, and he is steadily his poll numbers are declining. He is clearly being blamed for this. He needs an offramp here that he can walk without being called a quitter by his base. And i think theyre frantically searching for it. But by the same token, i think that there is some there is some toll on the institution of washington itself, of congress itself. Im sure democrats are beginning to get a little bit uneasy as well, because every night the news has led with stories like the one doug spoke of. Everyone knows people in their community. I was in the airport today and saw the poor beleaguered tsa people who havent been paid, and the pressure is mounting. I think democrats are in a better position. Trump is in a terrible position. Both of them probably could use an exit strategy for this drama. What happens if President Trump does show up on tuesday evening . Is that even a possibility . Would Speaker Pelosi literally turn the president away from the capitol . He might try to do an outdoor event by the capitol for all we know. He might force people to try to tell him he cant enter the building. Hes going to do something. Donald trump i doubt is going to try to just do a read texts off a teleprompter from the oval office and beignet works to cover this. But i guess hell try to use it to rally the American People to say, hey, this is the first state of the union delivered in ohio, or, you know, arizona or Something Like that. I think in movement, donald trump has his best chance right now, not just to be sequestered in the white house while the doors of congress have been locked. Doug brinkley, David Axelrod, thanks very much. Good to be with you. A lot more to talk about tonight, including Michael Cohen backing away from testifying to congress and the key questions surrounding that question, did the comments from the president of the United States loudly and clearly scare him out of it . Sam donaldson joins me and tells me what he sees when he looks at the white house today. Anderson cooper 360 brought to you by the 2019 lincoln nautilus. [indistinct conversation] [friend] ive never seen that before. I have. I have. With advil liquigels, what stiff joints . What bad back . Advil is. Relief thats fast. Strength that lasts. Youll ask. What pain . With advil liquigels. ba y crying hold on, im comin hold on, im comin hold on dont you worry, im comin here we come, hold on were about to save you im comin, yeah hold on dont you worry, im comin okay heryeah he deal. Youre unbelievable. Oh, that was a good time. Turn up your swagger game with one a day gummies. One serving. Once a day. With nutrients that support 6 vital functions. And one healthy you. Thats the power of one a day. Were all under one roof now. Congratulations. Thank you. How many kids . My two. His three. Along with two dogs and jake, our new parrot. That is quite the family. Quite a lot of colleges to pay for though. A lot of colleges. You get any Financial Advice . Yeah, but im pretty sure its the same plan they sold me before. Well your situations totally changed now. Right, right. How bout a plan that works for 5 kids, 2 dogs and jake over here . That would be great. That would be great. That okay with you, jake . Get a portfolio that works for you now and as your needs change from Td Ameritrade investment management. Now im gonna tell my momma that im a traveller transitions™ light under control™ transitions™ presents four new colors style colors by transitions™ the man everyones waiting to hear from, Michael Cohen said today he is out. The president s former lawyer and fixer canceled his testimony to congress and cited ongoing threats to his family as the reason. Threats he says from the president of the United States and the president s tv