MaddowBlog-As the shutdown reaches the one-week mark, Trump points to 'negotiations' that don't exist

[LetMyPeopleVote]

The president isn’t just boasting about imaginary negotiations, he’s also moving further away from the Democratic position on health care.

The President talks about negotiations that just don’t exist. His deranged and incompetent mental state is getting worse every day.

As the shutdown reaches the one-week mark, Trump points to 'negotiations' that don't exist www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...

— @jimrissmiller.bsky.social 2025-10-07T19:53:56.163Z

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/shutdown-reaches-one-week-mark-trump-points-negotiations-dont-exist-rcna236102

It would be an overstatement to say there have been no bipartisan talks related to the government shutdown. Early last week, with just one day remaining before the shutdown deadline, Donald Trump welcomed congressional leaders from both chambers and both parties to the White House for a conversation. (The president agreed to the meeting after a series of odd public reversals.)....

A week later, the president said something unexpected about the process of resolving the standoff. “We have a negotiation going on right now with the Democrats,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Monday afternoon. “That could lead to very good things.”

Trump: “We have a negotiation going on right now with the Democrats. That could lead to very good things, and I'm talking about good things with regard to health care.”

Q: “Are you speaking with Democratic leaders?”

Trump: “Well, I don't want to say that.”

— The Bulwark (@thebulwark.com) 2025-10-06T22:20:40.770Z

,,,,,,House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told reporters that he hadn’t “heard a word” from the White House since Trump’s failed meeting early last week. Around the same time, fellow New York Democrat Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer released a written statement that read in part, “Trump’s claim isn’t true — but if he’s finally ready to work with Democrats, we’ll be at the table.”

Trust is at the heart of all effective negotiations, which makes it all the more significant that the president keeps lying — about what Democrats are seeking, about undocumented immigrants’ access to health care coverage and, as of Monday afternoon, even about the existence of bipartisan talks.....

First, the ACA is a popular and effective program.

Second, Trump’s latest position is that Democrats should give Republicans what they want, at which point the president might consider working with the minority party — in some undetermined way, at some undermined point — after they no longer have any leverage.

This probably won’t prove effective. Call it a hunch.