From shutdown, the outcome is hanging on the wall. President trump trying to get his wall by calling it something else. Heres the tweet. A design of our steel slat barrier, which is totally effective while at the same time beautiful. Obviously look at that, trumps image zooming in on the razor sharp spikes, effective because they impale . Beautiful because well. It could be lethal. But its not a wall. Its a steel slat barrier, capital s, capital s, capital b and the president serious thinks democrats are dumb enough or desperate enough to vote for a steel slat barrier when they wont for a wall. Theres a debate over funding Border Security and the wall, also called so that i give them a little bit of an out, steel slats. We dont use the word wall necessarily. But it has to be Something Special to do the job. Steel slats. Ive made my position very clear. Any measure that funds the government must include Border Security. Has to. Worth reminding you yet again, because this is not a skit in a latenight comedy show, tonight the president after giving democrats a steel slat barrier wall to vote on, says its all their fault if the government shuts down over there. Its up to the democrats. Its the democrat shutdown. Amazing how he has no problem saying the complete opposite of something he said just a couple days ago. Here he is one week ago about a shutdown over the wall. 20 times you have called for, i will shut down the government if i dont get my wall. None of us have said youve said. Youve said. It ill take it. You know what ill say . Yes. If we dont get what we want one way or the other, whether through you, through a military, through anything you want to call, i will shut down the government. Fair enough, we disagree. We disagree. And i am proud to shut down the government for Border Security, chuck. I will take the mantle. I will be the one to shut it down. I wont blame you for it. Is. Obviously didnt keep his word on that particular point. Lets make no mistake, the president is pushing for a wall that neither democrats or enough republicans want to give him. This isnt a democrat versus republican thing. Its the president s wall, this set of steel slat barriers and his shutdown. Kaitlan collins is in front of the white house. The president says this could be a long shut down in his words. That seems to have changed. That attitude we saw from the president not that long ago because he since set his Vice President , his incoming chief of staff and his soninlaw and Senior AdviserJared Kushner up to capitol hill where they are shuffling between House Speaker paul ryans office, minority leader Chuck Schumers office, going all over the hill knew a possibility of a compromise is back on the table since we saw bob corker vote yes and jeff flake change his vote and mike pence break that tie to where they did vote for that motion to proceed. Now, the question is how long is it going to take them to find a compromise like that and the people ive spoken to in the white house and that our hill colleagues have spoken to as well down the street say they dont believe one is coming before midnight. That means we are getting a partial Government Shutdown. Its increasingly like they is going to happen. Now what they want to do moving forward is try to blunt how long that shutdown is going to be going on. They want to come to a decision quickly. They hoped these negotiations are going to move quickly but as you heard from mcconnell and senator flake, they dont want to bring a vote to the floor until they know its going to pass. Obviously it wont be that 5 billion in the border that the house passed so expect to see something different. Now while theyre still up on capitol hill, mike pence, Jared Kushner, Mick Mulvaney, President Trump is back here at the white house tweeting out just a short while ago saying that hes canceled his flight to palm beach which he was expected to go to and instead hes sitting there in the oval office saying he canceled his trip waiting to see if democrats will help us protect americas southern border. So erin, while the president s aides are on capitol hill trying to work not only with republicans but also democrats to keep the government funded, the president is still trying to put this messaging back on democrats. One thing to point out, we could have avoided this if this happened a afy days ago. Nothing changed that couldnt have prevented this from happening a few days ago. Now well see how long the shutdown will last. Kaitlan, thank you. Out front tonight, democratic senator mark warner, a member of the finance committee. Bob corker just telling cnn some people are, quote, optimistic. John cornyn says they wont be a vote tonight, you can take it to the bank. What do you think . I dont have the foggiest idea. The last 12 hours have been one of the reasons why so Many Americans think washington has gotten crazy. The idea that people were flipping their votes so they could say that now theres a deal to get a deal, why that couldnt have happened 12 hours ago is beyond me. But lets remember how we got here. We got here with donald trump a week ago claiming that he would be proud to own a Government Shutdown which frankly is insulting to the thousands of federal employees in my state, and im sure the thousands of americans who maybe thought that over the holidays theyd visit a national park, where he was proud to claim that. Then i think some of the more reasonable people in the white house convinced him that there were note vo votes for his wall what happens this week, i even feel some empathy for the Vice President because the Vice President had to come up and tell the Republican Caucus that, yes, the short term continuing resolution, vote for it, the president will sign it, everything is kosher. And then that passed unanimously until then trump as usual reneged and the Vice President had to come back and say the deal that had been made the night before was no longer valid. So you dont even know whether were closing the government down in a few hours . You know, as someone who is on finance committee, vice chair of the intel Commence Committee i would think my intel contacts dont have the foggiest idea of whats going to happen. I just think this president is unwilling to accept any reality that doesnt match his reality. My understanding that the meeting with the republicans at the white house today was so chaotic because he kept trying to convince the republicans to change the senate rules, something they had made clear they werent prepared to do so this governing by chaos theory, his lack of sophisticated approach on National Security that led to the resignation of jim mattis is a constantly moving target and i think that just like most americans who are pretty frustrated, most senators frankly in both parties because for the most part this hasnt been a partisan split. Again, i remind the viewers that was that it was this continuing resolution that passed unanimously because the republicans realized that this fight would be better held in january than during the holidays. I want to be clear, the republicans on the border dont want a wall. I want to read again to you, though, senator warner, the president s tweet there moments ago. He writes, quote, a design of our steel slat barrier which is totally effective while at the same time beautiful, tweeting out a picture of what i guess he would put up, has a zoom in there of those three spikes. Whats your reaction . Well, i saw the picture and if this wasnt the president of the United States p if the stakes werent so high, if this man had any kind of willingness to stick to his word, you know, it would almost be comical. It will fact is you could find the vast majority of democrats who were willing to increase Border Security but lets use 21st century technology, drones, electronic surveillance, addition a. Al border guards. Not 14th century technology, a wall, whether he plated or not which ive not heard a single expert say would increase Border Security and weve heard earlier today that these were the views that the president s current acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney had as well a few years back say it can wall was an absurd idea. When you talk about 14th century technology, the president has been seizing on that. Not just pointing out those impalinglike spikes but this i think there was impalinglike spikes used in castles during the crusades as well so im not sures a 21st century development. It certainly isnt and steel slat barrier, perhaps, may be his own term. He is saying this gives you an out. Here he is again. Theres a debate over funding Border Security and the wall, also called, so that i give them a little bit of an out, steel slats. We dont use the word wall necessarily. But it has to be Something Special to do the job, steel slat slats. So he says its not a wall, its a steel slat. Thats an out. Thats your out . I would say this is a guy whose willingness to stick to the facts nab question since his first day in office and i think, again, all of the republican colleagues and friends at least privately are as frustrated as i am and probably the folks who are following this story because this is a crisis that was totally created by donald trump. People shouldnt go through this trepidation in terms of federal employees. The Senate Leadership and Republican House leadership told him a week ago that there were not the votes for this proposal. Senator warner, appreciate your time. Thank you very much. Next, trump angry over the mattis resignation letter. We saw that coming but now more ang angry. People calling mattis the adult in the room. A and is trumps newly named acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney in trouble before he starts his job . You heard senator warner refer to this . This audio unearthed by cnns k file. But to just say build the darn fence and have that be theened of an immigration discussion is absurd and almost childish for someone running for president to take that simplistic a view. Im ray and i quit smoking with chantix. Smoking. It dictates your day. I didnt like something having control over me. I wanted to stop. The thing is i didnt know how. Chantix, along with support, helps you quit smoking. Chantix reduced my urge to smoke to the point that i could quit. When you try to quit smoking, with or without chantix, you may have nicotine withdrawal symptoms. Some people had changes in behavior or thinking, aggression, hostility, agitation, depressed mood, or suicidal thoughts or actions with chantix. Serious side effects may include seizures, new or worse heart or blood vessel problems, sleepwalking, or allergic and skin reactions which can be lifethreatening. Stop chantix and get help right away if you have any of these. 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Barbara starr joins me from the pentagon. What are you learning . Good evening, erin. The reaction of jim mattis resigning, saying he could no longer work for President Trump, has been met with a good deal of dismay and uncertainty across the ranks. I think its very fair to say. That uncertain city something that has commanders not very happy at the moment because the military doesnt like uncertainty. It likes to know exactly what is happening. So the hunt is on for a new secretary of defense that the president has promised. And people will be looking to that person to bring some stability to the situation. But theres another narrative underneath all of this that is beginning to emerge, at least in some quarters and that is could mattis have timed his decision differently . Would it have been better for everyone, including him, if he left earlier. He knew his relationship with the president was headed downhill. He knew the president wanted to bring troops out of syria and the big issue, the red line for mattis has been bringing the troops out of syria leaves the kurds abandoned and exposed to a socalled bloodbath. If mattis left earlier trump could have brought in another secretary of defense someone who may have had more influence other him and maybe just maybe could have convinced him to keep troops a while longer. Well never know the real answer to this question but its the kind of thing you hear people talk about and people are expressing still and awful lot of regret that mattis is lying but the military is a resilient organization. This will stick in their minds for quite a while. Erin. Barbara, thank you very much. And perhaps Wishful Thinking by the time someone leaves and you get them through. With us now, james spider marks, kimberly dozer and tim nefta neftali. You have people upset, hes leaving all together because he was the adult in the room. We are a superpower without a strategy. Whats clear from the reporting is that mattis left because the president was impulsive about dealing with syria and afghanistan which means we have a commanderinchief who doesnt have a strategy. Yes, america first. It means defending our. Mattis letter made it clear there is no Security Strategy of the United States and with mattis gone, i asked whats mike pompeo up to . Who is making Foreign Policy for this government . General marks . I agree with tim that when you lose someone like jim mattis, you lose an incredibly mature very seasoned leader who not only understands the nature of warfare but also understands the nature of management and leadership at the largest level. I think were putting too much weight that the syria situation might have been the trigger event that caused him to depart and it might have been a the aggregate weight of two years of engaging with the president with a lot of body blows and being the individual in the room that was pushing back and providing some counsel, not necessarily getting in the formation which ostensibly the president would have preferred and so jim raised his hand and said mr. President , thank you for this opportunity but i cant be the guy to implement what youre trying to implement. Kim, you know, allies of this country and the middle east and elsewhere would tell all of us, you know what . Weve known jim mattis for a long time, we trust him, we have meetings with him, as long as hes there its okay and they would contrast that with Rex Tillerson who they liked but viewed as impotent relatively when it came to policy. Jim mattis had the goods. You have been talking to so many of these people and they are shaken and concerned about chaos, right . Absolutely. From nato allies to middle east allies to neighbors of syria caught flat footed by this and compounding that is when they reached out to the people they could normally trust in the pentagon, the state department and intelligence agencies and said what is happening, what next . And they were told, well, we dont know, thats when the alarm really spread. So ive spoken to multiple diplomats who are concerned and watching closely to see who replaces mattis. One of the other things that im hearing confirming some reporting out there by the Associated Press is that this phone call that the president had with the turk ish president , that that was the Pivotal Moment that no one could anticipate. Yes there had been friction with mattis but that mattis was prepared to stay until the end of the administration but it didnt feel like that this was worse right now than it had been at other contentious points in the past. Tim, the thing is, when you take this, jim mattis leaving, the chaos that that the perception of chaos and the reality that th