"I agree with a stop": In the chaos of the last days of the House GOP

House Freedom Caucus Chair Mark Meadows picked up the phone early Thursday morning and composed a frustrated Donald for another boost

The president was agitated after hinting that the campaign promise of the border wall had made him believe that he was not keeping the promise he had made. He had just switched to Twitter to minimize the importance of securis er a new wall before Christmas and suggested he fight for the next congressional wall The preferred strategy of GOP leaders to avoid a stop.

Continued History Below

But Meadows, close to the president and recently vying to become his next chief of staff, urged Trump to take a stand now before the Democrats. took the House in January – as he had done the night before and several times earlier in the week. Stick to your weapons, said the North Carolina Republican to the president, according to a source close to the conversation. We, the Conservatives, will support you. And now, it's the last chance to fight.

It does not matter that half of the Senate vacated the city for the holidays after voting the vote of a draft finance bill without money, while the Democrats sang Christmas carols. And it does not matter if the House GOP leaders are already wringing their caucus arms to support a proposal they thought the White House wanted.

Four hours later, the president took President Paul Ryan, Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, and other GOP party leaders to the West Wing and took them to the House of Commons. ordered to change course. And they did it.

"I agree for a stop," Trump told the group, according to two sources in the room.

The intransigent once again defeated their leaders and Washington entered a new crisis. of his own endless making of play in sight.

This is the ultimate end of the GOP's eight-year divide, which has been dominated by knife fighting between GOP leaders and conservatives. Since the Republicans took power in 2010, the intransigent have been trying to force their more pragmatic leaders to take the lead, toppling a speaker, John Boehner, and threatening to do the same with his replacement, Ryan.

When Trump arrives in Washington, these Conservatives find a partner more willing to hold a powerful position. And over the past two years, they've come up with a strategy of getting around the GOP leadership by using Trump and his instinct to please the grassroots.

They crushed Ryan's original repeal bill, Obamacare, because he was not conservative enough. They stomped on the speaker's attempt to craft a moderate GOP immigration proposal with a fix for the dreamers. And now, they are ending two years of Republican hegemony over Washington by encouraging Trump to close a quarter of the federal government a few days before Christmas if he does not reach his wall.

"There is a serious case of Potomac fever here in Washington DC. They forget what they promised the American people, "Meadows said Wednesday evening in the House. "Mr. Speaker, we will support you if you veto this bill … But more importantly, the American people will be there to support you."

Meadows would not comment on his Thursday morning exchange with the But his success – and that of the Conservatives aligned with him – speaks for itself: At the time Trump summoned the Republican legislators to the White House, GOP leaders said little to get back on their flank They had won this trick

As Washington scrutinizes the abyss of its third closure in two years, some Republicans are seeing signs of a broken institution. to be transferred or forced to work without pay, and House Republicans from Thursday evening embraced chaos.

The outgoing representative, Carlos Curbelo, said that his colleagues should know more. "Until a centrist coalition appears that breaks the car and turns it around, it's only going to get worse."

"Unfortunately, some people here are putting their career and their power on top . the interests of the institution and the country, "said the Florida moderator, who lost his reelection. "And until that changes, until we have men of state and women, it will continue like this."

He also launched at Meadows: "Our colleagues in the Freedom Caucus, they probably know that their relevance will be completely reduced in the future. Congress is a bit like a last breath, but we know how it ends.

Perhaps the oldest Republicans should have seen this happen. When Trump signed his previous $ 1 trillion bill last spring, he blamed Congress for sending him a document that did not include much money and warned that he would never sign such a document again. bill.

That is why the GOP leaders have developed a strategy. this summer, he will be taking several mini credits, hoping that lower doses would be easier for Trump to swallow. The strategy would also minimize the effects of a shutdown, should Trump go that far, as several agencies would already be funded.

When the end of the exercise nears the end of September, just days away from the mid-term elections, GOP leaders urged Trump not to veto a draft law. short-term spending extending funding for seven agencies until December 7. A shutdown before the election, they said, would negate their already gloomy prospects.

They realized their wish. Trump stepped back. But as part of the deal, GOP leaders have promised once again that they will fight for Trump's border wall after the elections – even to the point of closing their doors.

He was not the only one to have made this wish. Conservative representative Andy Biggs had approached a Republican leader to ask him to put a bill on the financing of walls in the House just before the election, convinced that the base would be transformed. The leader – he would not say who – told the Republicans to fight after the elections.

"They said," We will have this fight, this debate, after the elections, "said the Republican of Arizona." Where is the fight? "

Yet, something has clearly changed in the calculation of leadership.The most seasoned Republicans, wary of interruptions, thought that they might perhaps ask the president to resume his fight.They found the perfect excuse when President George HW Bush died in early December and they postponed the new deadline – December 21 – just days before Christmas

As the new deadline approached, both parties were eager to escape During a phone call on Tuesday night, Mitch McConnell and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell discussed a plan to extend government funding until the end of the day. beginning of February, further delaying the struggle frontali re. The Kentucky Republican told his associates that he thought he received Trump's blessing for the plan, said sources close to the negotiations. But White House officials were not sure whether to know later. After Vice President Mike Pence assured Republicans that Trump would sign the no-money finance bill, the upper house voted by Wednesday night.

But even before the vote in the Senate, GOP leaders knew that they had a problem. . A majority of Republicans opposed any bill without money. A preliminary audit on Wednesday night revealed widespread GOP opposition – not only from the freedom caucus guy, but more traditional Republicans who generally align with the leaders.

At Capitol Hill Club, that evening, the chairman of the Republican Study Committee, Mark Walker, insisted on a new White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney asked if Trump could support a project of law that would not receive the support of "the majority of the GOP". Mulvaney, formerly a House GOP activist, said that he did not think Trump could do it. He then began to break the hair to his former colleagues to gauge the severity of their closure, trying to determine if they were going to support Trump when he had to close the government.

The next morning, at a closed meeting of the Republican Conference. objections have reached a crescendo. House Budget Committee Chair Steve Womack, a strong ally of leadership who has not spoken at a conference over the last eight years in Congress, has encouraged leaders to fight for the wall .

"War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things," he read in a passage by John Stuart Mills: "The neglected and degraded state of moral and patriotic sentiments, that nothing beats the war is much worse. "

Texas Republican Roger Williams quoted the legendary Texas Christian University coach, Dutch Meyer, as saying that his late father had been a parrot in the past. until the hell freezes, so fight them on the ice! "

At one point, McCarthy tried to argue that he wanted to vote on the financing of the wall. last week. "Someone in the room shouted" bullshit! "

" The conference is in full revolt, "said one legislator." I've never seen a meeting like this, "he said. declared another.

It is in the middle of this aeration session of the GOP that the meadow They called Ryan and the president had just spoken with Meadows again. And after watching critics from Fox News and other conservative commentators about the strategy late in the evening, he had doubts about delaying the border fight.

He then publicly rebuked his anger at the GOP leaders. [19659008] "When I signed the omnibus bill reluctantly, the leaders promised me the Wall and Border Security," Trump wrote on Twitter, just after the conversation with Ryan. "This would be done by the end of the year (NOW). It did not happen! We fight foolishly for border security for other countries – but not for our beloved American, it's not good!

It was then that a dozen GOP lawmakers were summoned to the White House to try to develop a plan. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), co-founder of the Freedom Caucus, said the House needed $ 5 billion in funding because they told voters they would do it. Representative Ann Wagner (R-Missouri) warned of the potential consequences of a blockage caused by a wall in suburban districts like hers, where the party reportedly suffered a serious bloodbath on election night.

Walker encouraged the president to describe what had happened as a sincere attempt to protect the American people (Trump asked Sarah Huckabee Sanders to take note of this suggestion.) The North Carolina Republican also noted that the Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi could try to put her face in the House if the House could not get the votes. take a break with money from the wall.

Shahira Knight, a senior aide to Trump, intervenes on several occasions to come up with a more pragmatic approach. The White House's legislative affairs chief suggested that House Republicans may have to opt for a lower number, which would give them a greater chance to pass the Senate.

Meadows was not of that opinion, claiming that $ 5 billion was possible, according to two sources in the same room. [19659008] At one point, someone warned that a stop would be advantageous for Democrats. But Trump said that he agreed with that. He blessed the change of strategy, noting that his fans want the wall – and he too.

"He kissed her. He was at peace with that, "said a source in Trump's mood room." I think he was trying to follow McConnell-Ryan's strategy … and it was not natural for him. He is more than an actor of the populace …. We asked him today: Mr. Speaker, are you sure you are 100% committed to this matter? It was a kid in a candy store.

That was all. Ryan left the room, headed to a group of reporters and delivered a very different message than he, McConnell and McCarthy had originally decided.

"The president said that he will not sign this bill," Ryan said. "We will therefore go back and work to strengthen border security."

The House passed a bill providing for wall funding on Thursday night, but the bill did not reach the Senate quickly. The Congress has until Friday at midnight to prevent a stop, the third to the presidency of Trump and all under the control of the Peoples Congress.

Eliana Johnson and John Bresnahan contributed to this report.