President Trump at a campaign-style rally in Phoenix promised he would shut down the government if Congress does not fund a wall on the southern border.
In freewheeling remarks, President Trump abandoned a theme of national unity to focus on the news media that he said “are trying to take away our history and our heritage.”
The president’s penchant for defying convention was on vivid display even during the solar eclipse, when he discarded advice about averting his eyes from the sun.
It was a week of turmoil, but it seemed to prove an immutable rule of the Trump presidency: People see what they want to see, even if others see something very different.
What was supposed to be an amicable departure for the president’s chief strategist became a messy exit after public furor over the president’s response to a race-fueled melee.