On Friday, Democratic Senate leader Chuck Schumer was busy negotiating a deal with Donald Trump that would have kept the government open and protected DREAMers by enshrining the program known as DACA into law. It looked like an agreement was close at hand, but then suddenly, late in the day, it got scotched. So what the hell happened?

As the evening wore on, Mr. Schumer got a call from Mr. Kelly that dashed all hopes for a Trump-Schumer deal before the shutdown deadline of midnight. Mr. Kelly, a hard-liner on immigration, the person familiar with the call said, outlined a long list of White House objections to the deal.

So yep, Trump’s chief of staff, John Kelly, shredded the deal because, as the AP’s confirmatory account put it, it was “too liberal.” That is to say, safeguarding the rights of 800,000 people who were brought into this country as minors was too much for Kelly to stomach.

It’s no surprise, though. Before he went to the White House, Kelly headed up the Department of Homeland Security, where he gave a green light to its notorious customs division, ICE, to round up and expel as many immigrants as possible with abject cruelty. Of course a man who revels in ripping apart families would hate DACA.

But whether Kelly was channeling Trump or freelancing, make no mistake: This is still the #TrumpShutdown. After all, Kelly works for Trump and reports directly to him. If Trump still wants to pursue his deal with Schumer, then all he has to do is tell Kelly to shut up and pick up the phone to Chuck. The fact that he hasn’t affirms that this shutdown rest squarely on Trump’s shoulders.