As shutdown talks continue, Trump claims the 'only reason' Democrats don't 'want to build a Wall is that Walls Work!'

President Trump discusses the government shutdown at a press conference.

(Image credit: Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Negotiations to end the partial government shutdown, now entering its third week, reached no conclusion Saturday and will resume Sunday.

President Trump's demand of about $5 billion in funding for border wall construction remains crucial to the stall, as congressional Democrats have labeled the request "untenable." House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said her coalition will pass bills to fund individual federal departments affected by the shutdown, while Trump is reportedly more seriously considering his idea to use military funding for the wall by declaring a national emergency.

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Pinned at the top of his feed is a meme post about the wall referencing Game of Thrones. The wall in that fantasy series is some 700 feet tall, 300 feet thick, made of ice, and fortified by deep magic. Its primary purpose is to defend people dwelling south of it against inhuman creatures from the north. It is eventually breached.

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Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.