Trump drums up support for border wall with Tweet storms

Carlos Barria | Reuters

President Donald Trump speaks to reporters about border security in the Briefing Room at the White House in Washington, U.S., January 3, 2019.

Since first threatening a government shutdown last month in his battle with Congress over border wall funding, President Donald Trump has leaned heavily on Twitter to rally support among his followers.

So far, the strategy seems to be working. That, however, doesn’t bode well for a quick resolution to the standoff.

With a partial government shutdown now in its third week, the White House signaled on Sunday that talks to reopen the federal government could produce a deal that sees Trump moving away from his demand that a proposed barrier along the U.S. border with Mexico be a concrete wall.

The possible concession, which comes days after Trump had floated a barrier of steel rather than a concrete wall, came even as a White House official warned that the shutdown, could “drag on a lot longer.” The pledge to build a barrier has made the president a captive of a central campaign promise, which on Saturday The New York Times reported began in 2014 as a memory trick to help Trump remember his hard-line on immigration.

tweet

Speaking to reporters outside the White House on Sunday, Trump repeated his threat that if he is unhappy with negotiations in a few days, he could declare a national emergency and use the military to construct a wall, circumventing Congress.

The standoff has left about 800,000 federal employees are furloughed or working without pay. The House, now led by Democrats, passed legislation Thursday night to fund the agencies that have been caught in the border wall crossfire. But could still veto the measure even if the Senate acts to approve it.

Trump said on Sunday that he should not have to lower his demand for $5.6 billion in border security funding.

As the standoff drags on, Trump has tried to take maximum advantage of the political upheaval to rally support from his followers for his signature 2016 campaign issue. Based on a CNBC review of his wall-related tweets, the effort is paying off.