President Donald Trump is planning to roll out an unprecedented structure for his 2020 re-election, a streamlined organization that incorporates the Republican National Committee and the president’s campaign into a single entity.

It’s a stark expression of Trump’s stranglehold over the Republican Party: Traditionally, a presidential re-election committee has worked in tandem with the national party committee, not subsumed it.

Under the plan, which has been in the works for several weeks, the Trump re-election campaign and the RNC will merge their field and fundraising programs into a joint outfit dubbed Trump Victory. The two teams will also share office space rather than operate out of separate buildings, as has been custom. Read Full Story at Politico

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Without President Donald Trump to worry about, a bipartisan deal would likely sail through Congress to fund the government ahead of the holidays. But with Trump fueling the border wall brinkmanship, everyone in the Capitol has basically stopped talking.

The House and Senate left town Thursday with no strategy to avert a partial government shutdown next week, putting Congress on the brink of an intractable conflict that could drag out through New Year’s Day — furloughing hundreds of thousands of workers and costing taxpayers millions.

Frustrated lawmakers in both parties are complaining that congressional leaders have made zero progress since Tuesday, when Trump stunned even his fellow Republicans by boasting that he would take the blame for the closure of a dozen federal agencies if he doesn’t get money for his border wall.

Lawmakers say there is no public plan to prevent a partial government shuttering. And no secret plan either.  Read Full Story at Politico

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President Donald Trump on Tuesday engaged in an extraordinary argument with Democratic congressional leaders over government funding, threatening a partial shutdown if his demands for border wall money are not met.

“I am proud to shut down the government for border security,” Trump told House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., during a contentious, 17-minute exchange inside the Oval Office.

“I will take the mantle,” the president added. “I will be the one to shut it down, I’m not going to blame you for it.”

Trump’s vehemence left Pelosi and Schumer exasperated, with both leaders pleading with the president not to debate the funding request in front of the news media. Read Full Story at The Hill

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