Trump desperate for anything as Democrats ignore his border wall demands: MSNBC

MSNBC Washington correspondent Garrett Haake said that Democrats are under 'no pressure' to give President Donald Trump a dime of funding for his border wall, and have come to the conclusion that the less they say, the more the White House backs down in its demands.

"It speaks to the lack of pressure that Democrats feel at the moment because they see a president essentially negotiating with himself at this point," said Haake, after host Hallie Jackson related that Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi had publicly mocked Trump's funding demands as "a beaded curtain... rather than a cement wall."

"Remember, it wasn't that long ago we were talking about $25 billion for a wall," Haake added. "Now the president is talking about $5 billion for a wall, a couple of days ago he started talking about steel slats. then there these were comments yesterday, 'a wall or a fence or whatever'. Democrats essentially feel like the less they say, the president is already starting to come down on his demand."

"So Democrats, as you could see in a largely empty building here behind me, feel that the president needs to come to them with an offer that will get the government back open, and they do not feel pressure to bend here," he continued. "The pressure the Democrats have been seeing, if any, has come from the left, from progressives, from liberals saying, 'we don't want this wall, we don't want a win for this president, hold firm.'"

"It is clear the president wants to get something," chimed in reporter Hans Nichols, adding that the president's shifting language showed his growing desperation. "Now, what he actually wants, whether it is a fence with slats or an actual wall, the president when you listen to what he said in those remarks a couple of days ago, it is clear he is willing to keep the government shut down for some time."