As the government shutdown drama unfolds on Capitol Hill, Republicans and the White House keep pounding Democrats with a two-pronged argument: Democrats are supporting “illegal immigrants" — and they won’t negotiate with the minority party on that issue while the government remains closed, saying it would be tantamount to allowing hostage-taking.

So far, neither line of attack is working. Democrats showed little sign of budging on the first day after federal funding ran dry. But the rhetoric is growing ever more heated, as each side seeks to land on just the message that will allow them to prevail in the battle for public opinion.


The real challenge for Democrats, both sides suggest, will come Monday morning. If the government is still shut down, hundreds of thousands of federal employees will have to stay home from work and the true scale of the crisis will start to hit the American public, raising the noise level of the fight dramatically. For Republicans, the issue is keeping President Donald Trump from a major mistake, making him the focus and not Democrats.

So far, the GOP has hit the "illegal immigration" angle hardest.

“Donald Trump was elected President to build the wall and keep American families safe from evil, illegal immigrants who commit violent crimes against lawful U.S. citizens,” asserts a web ad released by the Trump campaign on Saturday afternoon. It includes pictures of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.), Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). “Yet, one year after President Trump’s Inauguration, Chuck Schumer and the Democrats continue to put the interests of illegal immigrants over those of Americans.”

White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders chimed in as well: “We will not negotiate the status of unlawful immigrants while Democrats hold our lawful citizens hostage over their reckless demands. This is the behavior of obstructionist losers, not legislators.”

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY.) invoked the “Democrats are supporting illegal immigration” line, too, tagging Schumer on the Senate floor Saturday. “But like the president, like the House, and like a bipartisan majority of senators, the American people cannot begin to understand why the Senate Democratic leader thinks the entire government should be shut down until he gets his way on illegal immigration,” McConnell said.

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For the most part, Democrats have shrugged off the GOP attacks, countering them with their own broadsides aimed at Trump, though Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) denounced the Trump ad as “vile.”

Schumer — in by far his biggest moment as Senate minority leader — has largely held his caucus together so far, including several red state Democrats up for reelection in 2018. Five of those vulnerable senators did cross the aisle and vote with McConnell on Friday.

Whether Schumer can keep his troops in line under pressure from Trump, McConnell and the entire GOP political machine is the big question, especially if the shutdown extends into next week or beyond.

“We’re in this political world, in the most toxic place in that world — Washington, D.C.,” said Sen. Joe Manchin (W.Va.), who is running for another term in November. Manchin voted with Republicans on Friday night to fund the government for four more weeks. “With that being said, everyone should be working together to get this government open.”

“He’s misrepresenting us, of course. He does that on a regular basis,” Sen. Bob Casey (Pa.), another Democrat up this year, said of McConnell. Casey opposed the GOP funding proposal. “If he wanted to bring the country together, he’d be fighting for his coal miners like I’m fighting for mine.”

Democrats also criticized Republicans for the controversy over Dreamers in the first place, noting that it was Trump who decided in September to end protections granted to recipients under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program initiated by President Barack Obama.

“Why does he call them illegals? Who made them illegal?” asked Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) of McConnell. “When he stands up and calls DACA kids illegal immigrants — they are [actually] legal. They got protection from the president. He’s trying to make them illegal by ending the program, but they are here legally.”

Emerging from a closed-door meeting on Saturday, rank-and-file Senate Democrats appeared comfortable with their party’s positioning and message. Several of them said there had not been much dissension, and that the caucus remains united behind Schumer and the leadership. Still, lawmakers in both parties acknowledged that the real pressure won’t begin until Monday. Many Republicans are convinced Schumer will fold before then.

Democrats also believe that in Trump, they have a villain they can successfully tag with causing the shutdown. This is the first time that federal employees will be furloughed because of a shutdown that occurred with one party controlling the White House and Congress.

“It’s the president’s and congressional Republican’s responsibility to govern. It’s their responsibility to keep the doors open and the lights on around here. But the Republican leadership can’t get a tumultuous president on board with anything, and they don’t offer us any compromises on their own,” Schumer said on the Senate floor on Saturday.

Schumer relayed details from his 90-minute meeting with Trump on Friday, saying he offered funding for a border wall — anathema to Democrats — in return for full protections for DACA recipients. Schumer thought he had made “good progress” in his talks with the president, only to have Trump later call him to shoot down a potential deal.

Schumer said it's become an ongoing pattern with Trump, which Democrats and Republicans would both agree on, though perhaps not in public.

The Trump campaign web ad, which calls Democrats "complicit" in any murders committed by illegal immigrants, provoked an angry response.

"This is a shameless attempt by the president to distract from the Trump shutdown," said Schumer's spokesman, Matt House.

Republicans, also playing the branding game, have dubbed the government closure: "#SchumerShutdown."

