Jane Sheppard reporting: A scene unfolded in the halls of power that had everyone talking, “Trump 2028,” quipped the lawmakers, seated across from Vice President JD Vance and a collection of untouched Diet Cokes. House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries leaned over to Vance, a potential 2028 contender, and humorously asked, “Hey, bro, you got a problem with this?”
The room chuckled in response. “It was the randomest thing in the world, because we’re sitting there, we’re having a serious conversation, and all of a sudden these two red hats appear,” Jeffries later recalled at the Capitol.
Describing the scene, Jeffries said, “It was all so unserious,” noting a roving cameraman capturing the moment. “We were there for serious reasons that it wasn’t really a big part of, you know, the discussion. It was theatrics.”
This moment was classic Trump –- seizing the spotlight and seeking to throw negotiators off their game — but it also highlighted the president’s regard for Congress, a coequal branch of the government, and particularly his opponents across the political aisle.
From Historic First Meeting to Viral Trolling
What was once considered a momentous occasion –- the president of the United States hosting his first “big four” meeting of congressional leaders from the House and Senate –- ended up as another viral memento of Trump trolling his opponent.
After the more than hour-long session, Trump failed to strike a deal with the leaders to prevent a federal government closure. “We don’t want it to shut down,” Trump said at the White House the next day, mere hours before the midnight deadline.
This wasn’t just a routine meeting of the president and congressional leadership. It was the first time Trump had assembled the leaders of Congress, more than eight months into his presidency — and the first time he and Jeffries had officially met.
What was more surprising was how little came from it.
Health Care Funds Up for Debate as President Listens
During the White House meeting, Jeffries and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer presented their arguments for preserving health care funding as part of the shutdown talks.
Trump said very little, doing more listening than talking, the leaders said.
“He didn’t seem to know about the health care premiums going up so much,” Schumer said. With the Republican leadership, House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, the conversation spanned their views of the health care situation.
“Lively,” as Thune later described it.
- The discussion included the Democrats’ demands to ensure subsidies to help people buy private insurance on the exchanges run by the Affordable Care Act are made permanent. The subsidies were put in place during the COVID-19 pandemic and are set to expire at year’s end, potentially doubling premiums, according to some estimates.
- The conversation also touched on the new rural hospital fund that is important to Republicans, established under Trump’s big bill as a way to compensate for its cuts to Medicaid health care providers.
Johnson said Trump displayed “strong, solid leadership. He listened to the arguments.”
Trying to Catch the President’s Attention
This is the best outcome the Democrats could have hoped for — to have an airing before the president that began to shift the dial toward their demands. And it is what the GOP leaders had tried to avoid as each party tries to pin the blame for the shutdown on the other.
Johnson had suggested Trump back out of an initial meeting with the Democrats — after the president had agreed to one — arguing it would be a “waste of time.”
But Trump relented, and granted them Monday’s closed-door Oval Office session.
The Democrats have been here before. During Trump’s first term, the president repeatedly negotiated deals with the Democrats — “Chuck and Nancy,” as he called Schumer and Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi — to fund the government, raise the debt limit, and achieve other goals.
Those bargains by Trump frustrated his own Republican Party.
Republicans, aware of that history, are trying to steer the conversation in a different direction, leaving the door open to discuss the health care issue with Democrats later — once the government has reopened. They also disputed the characterization of Trump as unaware of the depth or magnitude of the health care situation.
“I’m highly skeptical the president was hearing about it for the first time,” Vance said afterward.
One Republican unauthorized to publicly discuss the private meeting and granted anonymity to do so said Schumer’s suggestion that Trump didn’t know about the subsidy problem was overblown.
Then Came the Sombrero Taunts
Hours after the lawmakers left the meeting, Trump’s team posted a fake video that showed Jeffries adorned in a sombrero with a faux mustache standing beside Schumer outside the White House. It was widely seen as racist.
“When I was practicing law, there was a Latin phrase that was always one of my favorites,” Jeffries said back at his office at the Capitol. “Res ipsa loquitur. It means: The thing speaks for itself.”
“We had a full airing of our positions on Monday, which should have set the baseline for a follow-up conversation from the administration to try to reignite a meaningful bipartisan path toward funding the government,” he said.
“Unfortunately, the president’s behavior subsequent to the White House meeting deteriorated into unhinged and unserious action.”
