Last shutdown, Trump hunkered down at the White House ‘all alone.’ This time, Mar-a-Lago beckons

By Kevin Liptak, CNN

(CNN) — The last time the federal government ran out of money, President Donald Trump wanted the world to know he was making sacrifices.

“I am all alone (poor me) in the White House,” he tweeted on Christmas Eve 2018, left behind in dreary, shutdown Washington, DC, as his family made merry at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.

“I haven’t actually left the White House in months,” he said a few weeks later, bemoaning the long stretches of cooped-up time. So lonely was Trump that he took to waving forlornly out the window at machine gun-toting guards patrolling the White House grounds (“They don’t, like, wave,” he observed).

Back then, Trump seemed aware that weekly visits to his seaside mansion or lengthy trips overseas might appear insensitive as federal workers went without pay and government services ground to a halt. He called off a trip to Switzerland for the glittering World Economic Forum in Davos, but did make a surprise stop in Iraq to greet troops around Christmas.

It’s a different story this year. Trump has spent two weekends at Mar-a-Lago since the shutdown began on October 1, and played a round of golf at his club in Virginia. On Wednesday — as the shutdown becomes the longest in American history — he will travel to Miami for a speech to a financial conference. He’s expected back at his Palm Beach estate by Friday evening.

He’s also made two separate trips abroad: to Israel and Egypt, to preside over the Gaza ceasefire he helped broker; and a three-nation swing through Asia, where he brokered several trade deals while being met with lavish receptions and golden tributes, including an ancient Korean crown and a brownie.

If Trump is concerned about appearing disconnected from the struggles of furloughed workers, stranded travelers or worried food stamp beneficiaries, there isn’t much evidence.

Before leaving for Florida last week, Trump posted 24 photos of a guest bathroom he renovated in the White House residence, capturing details like a gold hand shower, crystal chandelier and terrycloth bathrobe embroidered with the presidential seal, all encased in “highly polished statuary marble.” From the window, one could glimpse the torn-apart East Wing, whose demolition to make way for Trump’s long-desired 90,000-square-foot ballroom began a few weeks into the shutdown.

A few hours later, he was walking into the ballroom at Mar-a-Lago for a “Great Gatsby”-themed Halloween party, where dancers in beaded fringe performed atop oversized champagne coupes. If F. Scott Fitzgerald’s disillusioned narrative of Jazz Age hedonism struck any of the guests as odd on the day food stamps were set to expire, they didn’t show it. “A little party never killed nobody” was the theme, apparently devised without reaching the end of the novel.

Before leaving Florida last weekend, Trump made a detour at the airport to inspect his private black-and-red Boeing 757, which he used to travel the country during his presidential campaign last year. The jet is upholstered in cream leather; its seatbelt buckles are plated in 24-carat gold.

Back aboard the comparatively un-golden Air Force One, Trump departed Palm Beach on schedule. Around the rest of the country on Sunday, more than 5,000 flights traveling from and to US airports were delayed, in part because of staffing shortages among unpaid air traffic controllers.

The White House didn’t offer an exact explanation for why Trump’s approach to travel had changed since the last government shutdown.

“While Democrats shut down the government to use struggling American families — by their own admission — as ‘leverage’ for their radical political agenda, President Trump is continuing to work night and day on behalf of American people,” said Abigail Jackson, a White House spokesperson. “Whether it be ensuring troops were paid, forging historic peace deals, removing dangerous criminals from the streets, lowering prices, or securing more investments for America, President Trump will never stop delivering.”

It is not only his own past practice Trump is shrugging off by maintaining his regular routine. Other presidents have canceled plans when government funding lapsed, including President Barack Obama’s decision to scrap a trip to South Asia in 2013 and President Bill Clinton’s cancellation of a trip to Japan in 1995.

Trump’s memories of his self-imposed isolation in the last shutdown could be informing his decisions this time around. As that shutdown neared its end, the president’s cabin fever was evident, according to aides. He started several meetings muttering, “Welcome to paradise.”

By the time it was over, it wasn’t clear what if anything Trump had gained from the ordeal, aside from most Americans’ blame. His decision to forgo weekends in Florida didn’t appear to yield much political benefit. He agreed to reopen the government having secured none of the border wall funding he was demanding.

At the time, Trump’s aides were eager to portray the president tapping his toe, waiting around the White House for Democrats to return for talks to end the funding impasse.

Now, it is Democrats who say they are waiting for Trump to engage in negotiations to reopen the federal government. They have insisted health care programs be addressed as part of any funding measure.

“If the president engages, we will find a deal I think within hours,” Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week.”

Quiet discussions this week between Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill have led to some optimism the shutdown may be approaching its end.

Trump, however, has shown little willingness to negotiate. He told “60 Minutes” he won’t be “extorted” by Democrats. And he’s insisted the quickest way to end the shutdown is for Senate Republicans to jettison the filibuster and reopen the government without Democrats’ help.

“If we do terminate the Filibuster, we will get EVERYTHING approved, like no Congress in History,” he wrote Tuesday on social media, brushing off resistance from Republican leaders who worry eliminating the 60-vote threshold for passing legislation might come back to haunt them if Democrats regain the majority.

What, exactly, the president was willing to do to convince Republicans to fall in line wasn’t clear.

“I think you’ll see the president continue to engage very strongly and consistently with his friends on Capitol Hill,” press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday. “I don’t have any meetings to read out for you at this time, but I think you should stay tuned and keep your eyes on Truth Social on this matter.”

Trump appears convinced Democrats will catch the blame for the shutdown, though polls show Americans mostly holding him and the Republican Party responsible.

His strategy has focused, in part, on maximizing the pain in the hopes Democrats will relent, including by attempting to permanently lay off federal employees, threatening to withhold back pay for workers once the shutdown ends and halting funding for certain projects in Democratic-led states.

While Trump and his budget officials have found pots of money to keep military service personnel paid, he initially resisted tapping into contingency funds to sustain food assistance programs, which 42 million low-income Americans benefit from.

After two federal judges found fault in the administration’s refusal to fund the benefits, the administration said it would do so.

As he was flying to Florida Friday, Trump maintained he wouldn’t meet Democrats until they voted with Republicans to fund the government.

“We’ll meet very quickly, but they have to open up the country. It’s their fault. Everything is their fault. It’s so easily solved,” he told reporters.

Before then, however, the Mar-a-Lago ballroom beckoned.

“Tonight, we have a big celebration of Halloween,” he said, “and I’ll see you later.”

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