'Dealmaker in chief' largely absent

[struggle4progress]

1. Dealmaking president remains on sidelines

Gregory Korte, USA TODAY
Published 5:47 p.m. ET Jan. 21, 2018
Updated 10:09 p.m. ET Jan. 21, 2018

... Trump is learning, like Obama did, that he can't sign a bill that's not on his desk, and there's no executive order that can keep the government open without congressional approval.

Instead, two days into what may be the biggest domestic crisis of his presidency, Trump remained largely on the sidelines watching a legislative process on Capitol Hill from 16 blocks away. Instead of a weekend victory lap to celebrate the one-year anniversary of his inauguration with friends and supporters, he hasn't been seen publicly since the shutdown started Saturday morning just after midnight.

He canceled a planned weekend trip to his Mar-a-Lago resort, where a $100,000-per-couple fundraiser went on without him, and hasn't left the White House since Thursday. Trump's last public remarks — other than on Twitter — were in a speech to anti-abortion protesters Friday that made no mention of the shutdown ...

"You have to get everybody in a room. You have to be a leader. The president has to lead," Trump told Fox News during the 2013 shutdown. President Obama, he said, "has never been a dealmaker" ...

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/01/21/analysis-shutdown-impasse-dealmaking-president-remains-mostly-sidelines/1052190001/