Trump, Dems both think they have ‘upper hand’ in shutdown: Mollie Hemingway

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Which party has more to lose as partial government shutdown drags on?

With no ending to the partial government shutdown in sight, it doesn’t seem there is much effort to resolve the differences between President Trump and congressional Democrats since both sides see it as a winning issue, senior editor Mollie Hemingway of the Federalist argued Thursday on the "Special Report" All-Star panel.

Now roughly a week into the shutdown, President Trump took to Twitter to pressure Democrats into funding border security, saying "we desperately need" it and claiming without evidence that “most” government workers who are not getting paid because of the shutdown are Democrats.

Hemingway, along with Wall Street Journal columnist Jason Riley and Cook Political Report national editor Amy Walter, weighed in on who has more to gain from the shutdown.

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The Federalist senior editor told the panel that “both sides seem to think they have the upper hand,” insisting that Democrats believe it’s “key” to prevent Trump from having a win in border wall funding while Trump thinks he has the edge over Democrats since 75 percent of the government is open and that border security is a “long-standing concern” for the majority of Americans.

Meanwhile, Riley argued that Trump has the “stronger hand” since proposed budgets from Democrats in January likely will include far less than the $5 billion he has asked for the wall and he suggested to Democrats to “offer some funding” in exchange for something like amnesty for DACA recipients (those who participate in the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program).

However, Walter pointed out that polling of the favorability for the wall is roughly the same as during the 2016 election and instead of broadening coalitions, support among Republicans and Democrats is “hardening and deepening.”

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Walter later predicted that a deal won’t be reached until the new Congress is in place and added that there are “no winners” in this government shutdown fight. Hemingway disagreed, insisting that Democrats would walk away as winners if they negotiate DACA with border wall funding instead of allowing DACA to be settled in the courts.