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Democratic Sen. Chris Coons explained how Donald Trump is largely responsible for the government shutdown and that to avoid similar impasses going forward, Congress should just ignore the president and govern on its own.

In an interview with Chris Matthews, Coons said there are different versions of Trump – all of them unrealiable – depending on which day you talk to him. The best way for Congress to govern, he said, is to pretend the president doesn’t exist.

Video:

Sen. Chris Coons Says The Best Way For Congress To Govern Is To Pretend Trump Doesn’t Exist #Hardball pic.twitter.com/2OlAWVTWFd — Sean Colarossi (@SeanColarossi) January 23, 2018

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Sen. Coons said:

That’s why I say part of what caused this whole crisis was the difference between Tuesday Trump and Thursday Trump. The one who invites a bipartisan group into the Oval Office one week on Tuesday and then says great, positive things, and then Thursday in a famously expletive-laced conversation in exchange with Sens. Durbin and Graham threw the whole deal out. I think that we made progress in focusing on the Senate and not relying on the president and in having a bipartisan group build confidence that we can get to that vote before February 8th.

Negotiating with the president on any issue is a waste of time. Not only does he lack a firm grasp of the issues, but he often just agrees with the last person he spoke to. He doesn’t have any core principles.

As Sen. Chuck Schumer said, “Negotiating with this White House is like negotiating with Jell-O.”

The best way forward for Congress is to remove this inept president from the equation and negotiate amongst each other, like adults. The two sides won’t – and shouldn’t – always agree with each other, but at least they’ll know where they stand.

The less Trump is involved in pretending to care about governing the country, the better.