'No way out': MSNBC reporter explains how the GOP is at the mercy of President Trump

MSNBC's Kasie Hunt said on Thursday that the Republicans didn't really have a way out of a government shutdown unless they could talk the president off the ledge.

"There's zero appetite for a shutdown on Capitol Hill, just none," Hunt said, adding that Trump's shutdown would be fundamentally different from previous battles. "The reality is Republicans don't seem to have a way out of it, nobody does. There's no game plan, there's no end game."

"I keep asking, 'think we'll have a shutdown or will we be here for Christmas?' They all say 'I really hope not, but I don't know,'" she added. "That's because it comes down to the president."

"I've been talking to some of the president's allies," replied anchor Kristen Welker. "You raise the issue of leverage and they don't think he has a whole lot."

"They have a lot of tricks up their sleeves they can negotiate behind closed doors," Hunt hedged. "I think it will take GOP leaders stepping up to the president and saying we really don't want to do this."

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