So many times in this presidency, the president’s opponents have prayed for his aides to control the impulsive, untutored Trump, while Trump’s own self-styled defenders have demanded that Trump be allowed to be Trump. The shutdown brought about a strange role-reversal: It was moderates and Democrats who wished that aides would let Trump be his volatile self, while his staff desperately tried to get him to stick to the positions he had laid out. A strange picture emerged from the White House of a president who wanted to make a deal, but whose staff will not allow him to do so. Even more strangely, the staff won.

Schumer memorably summed his view of the situation up Friday. The Democrat claims he thought he and the president had more or less reached a deal during their meeting Friday afternoon. Republicans had in fact feared Schumer would roll Trump and get him to agree to a resolution favorable to Democrats. After Schumer left, he and Trump kept in touch, but they grew further apart on a deal.

“What’s even more frustrating than President Trump’s intransigence is the way he seems amenable to these compromises before completely switching positions and backing off,” Schumer said on the Senate floor. “Negotiating with President Trump is like negotiating with Jell-O.”

Schumer and other Democrats blamed immigration hardliners and especially senior aide Stephen Miller for blocking Trump from making the deal he wanted to make. They have their own political motives for this line of argument (and for the “President Miller” jokes), but a similar picture emerged from other accounts. Senator Lindsey Graham, whose hot-and-cold friendship with the president has become riveting, groused, “I’ve talked with the president—his heart is right on this issue. He’s got a good understanding of what will sell, and every time we have a proposal it is only yanked back by staff members.” He added: “As long as Stephen Miller is in charge of negotiating immigration, we are going nowhere.”

Reporting from the White House suggested a slightly more balanced story: It’s not just Miller. Chief of Staff John Kelly, formerly the hardline secretary of homeland security, called Schumer Friday to tell him the deal was off, according to The New York Times. On two occasions before the shutdown, Trump expressed an interest in making a deal, only to have Kelly and Miller tell lawmakers any arrangement needed more immigration enforcement. The Washington Post reported that Kelly, congressional liaison Marc Short, and budget chief Mick Mulvaney all pressured Trump not to reopen negotiations with Schumer over the weekend.

“Whether Trump remains in his behind-the-scenes role is unclear—he is ‘itching’ to be involved and constantly watching TV, according to a senior White House official,” the paper reported. “One adviser who speaks to Trump frequently said he ‘always wants a deal.’”