It has always been clear as day that Trump doesn't know his ass from his elbow, but it's still helpful when one of Trump's closest allies in Congress confirms it
Funding for the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP), among other things, is at risk of running out within the new few weeks and Trump apparently believed such programs were automatically funded according to Freedom Caucus leader Mark Meadows.
From the Washington Post:
Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), a top House conservative who had cheered Trump’s approach in the political confrontation, said he was unaware that there would be any impact on SNAP benefits.
He said he was convinced this money was automatically appropriated by Congress: “Food stamps go on regardless,” he said.
This is not the case, however, according to several senior administration officials.
Regardless of what Trump has discovered about government over the past two weeks, he has boxed himself into a corner by more or less staking his entire regime on a vanity project that couldn't be constructed before he's out of office even if it were funded today.
It remains to be seen how long this government shutdown will last, but at the very least I expect it will continue for another week if not longer.
The political calculus may not change in the White House until near the end of the month when hundreds of thousands of federal employees miss their rent or car payments and the shutdown bleeds into the greater economy. The extraordinarily good jobs report that was released last week could be a distant memory by the end of January.