It's all about him

And he thinks that he's the charm and the glue that holds things together.

In numerous calls with Republican senators in recent days, the president spoke of the battle [to declare a national emergency] almost exclusively in personal terms — telling them they would be voting against him while brushing aside constitutional concerns over his attempt to reroute billions of federal dollars for a border wall.

[...]

Trump tweeted the day before [the vote] that Republican senators were “overthinking” it, stressing that it was only about supporting border security. And White House aides made it clear to undecided Republicans that Trump was noticing those who chose to oppose him — particularly if they were up for reelection in 2020.

  WaPo

The threat. His favorite approach.

But it wasn’t enough, as a dozen Republicans joined Democrats in dealing Trump a humiliating blow by voting Thursday to nullify the national emergency.

[...]

Trump’s personal pleas and pressure were among a number of missed opportunities and missteps by the White House that contributed to a defeat notably worse than the administration had hoped for in trying to limit defections, according to officials and lawmakers familiar with the efforts, many of whom requested anonymity to discuss private deliberations.

The administration, for example, failed to give opposing GOP senators legal opinions, project details and other information that they had requested about the national emergency, according to lawmakers and Capitol Hill aides.

What more did they need to know than that he wanted them to vote his way?

Vice President Pence was also unable or unwilling to make commitments on behalf of the president even while serving as Trump’s main emissary to negotiate with Republicans, people familiar with the debate said.

I have a feeling Pence won't be on the 2020 ticket. Who do we think will replace him?

During a private GOP lunch in late February that Pence attended, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) asked to see any memorandum produced by the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel that would lay out the administration’s rationale for why the emergency declaration was lawful, according to an official with knowledge of the closed-door discussion.

[...]

The White House never provided that memo, according to an official familiar with the discussions.

[...]

A similar scenario unfolded a week later, when Republican senators pressed Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen for a list of military construction projects that could lose funding this year as a result of Trump’s emergency declaration. Nielsen told them the issue was largely the purview of the Pentagon — while Defense Department officials at the same time were deferring to Nielsen’s agency for information they needed to make a list of targeted projects.

Senators never got that list of projects either, and some Republicans doubted whether one exists.

[...]

Trump called Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) almost daily to press him on who was opposing his declaration.

[...]

Trump kept saying in private to White House officials and senators that he would be willing to entertain any proposal that would unite most Republicans and keep the vote count on the disapproval resolution at just 50 in the Senate, which would have defeated the measure.

To that end, the administration and a handful of influential GOP senators began quietly discussing whether they could reach a compromise.

[...]

“None of the proposals got anywhere close,” a senior administration official said. “We were all wasting our time.”

[...]

[T]he administration averted an even bigger defeat by working with some Republicans in private. Acting defense secretary Patrick Shanahan had privately assured Sen. Martha McSally (R-Ariz.) — a pledge he made public during a hearing Thursday morning — that four military projects in Arizona would not be touched by the president’s emergency declaration.

Meanwhile, Assistant Attorney General Steven A. Engel sat down one-on-one with various Senate Republicans to detail the legal arguments to them directly, according to a GOP senator familiar with the meetings. And the administration assured [Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.)] that it would not start drawing from $3.6 billion slated for military construction projects for at least six months.

A six month hiding period. Is the honesty in government of no concern to anyway?

“I think [the president] respects people with principle,” said Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), who told Trump during a private Oval Office meeting last week on China policy that he would be voting to reject his declaration.

Oh, sweetie. Trump respects only authoritarians. And that's really more jealousy than respect.

The administration’s efforts with Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) turned out to be the most fruitful.

Shortly after The Washington Post published a defiant opinion piece by Tillis, announcing his opposition to Trump’s emergency order [before flipping at the last minute and supporting it].

[...]

Three Republicans — Cruz and Sens. Lindsey O. Graham (S.C.) and Ben Sasse (Neb.) — showed up with little notice at the White House late Wednesday and interrupted a private dinner with Trump and first lady Melania Trump, trying to sell the president on a final pitch that would give senators an off-ramp from Thursday’s vote.

[...]

Growing frustrated, Trump told Cruz he was not rescinding the national emergency and that the senator could vote however he wanted to vote. Trump berated the group for showing up at the White House late at night and told them they were wasting his time.

“Hell, if I’d been him,” Graham remarked Thursday morning, “I’d have told us to go to hell.”

Then why were you there, you idiot?

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.