A "friendly pool" by officials in the Trump administration shows just how much they "miscalculated" how long Democrats would be able to dig in on their demands on shutting down the government, according to a new report.
Politico reported Friday evening that several officials in the administration entered a friendly wager on the length of the shutdown.
"The White House, at the time, was confident Democrats would quickly fold. No one guessed more than 10 days," the report said.
The shutdown, which began Oct. 1, has since carried through Halloween — 31 days — making it the second-longest in U.S. history. The shutdown is quickly approaching the longest, which lasted 35 days from December 2018 to January 2019 during President Donald Trump's first term.
The report noted the wager highlights just how badly the administration "miscalculated" Democrats’ resolve to keep the government closed. And Trump has become "increasingly frustrated," urging his party to consider the "nuclear option" — ditching the Senate filibuster to reopen the government.
“Trump, he’s had it with these people, because he knows they’re playing politics,” a person close to the White House told Politico. “Nobody thought it was going to last this long.”
The report comes as a new poll this week found that Americans increasingly blame Republicans and Trump, whose low approval rating has taken a hit‚ for the crisis.
