They are not failures on Trump's part.
He's dealing with a political reality that is entirely out of his control. He must walk a fine line between fulfilling his promises and alienating a Republican Party leadership whose backing he needs to run again in 2020.
That's why he went out of his way to invite Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer to those stupid meetings in the White House in December -- when neither one of them was in a majority leadership position in Congress. Trump knew damn well that he was never going to get the wall funded because Republicans didn't want to fund it. At that point, the only thing for him to do was stage this silly charade and make it look like it's the fault of the Democrats.
Trump knew damn well that he was never going to get the wall funded because Republicans didn’t want to fund it.
Exactly. If it becomes clear the GOP doesn’t want a wall GOP voter enthusiasm will crater for 2020 and POTUS will lose. Trump is herding cats now, basically.
He's dealing with a political reality that is entirely out of his control. He must walk a fine line between fulfilling his promises and alienating a Republican Party leadership whose backing he needs to run again in 2020.
Eh, yes. But it's also a reality that President Trump was well aware of the political situation/climate when he was running for office and essentially doubled down on making building a border wall and immigration an essential part of his campaign.
President Trump will be measured by many people on how many miles of border wall were built. It's a pledge (promise?) he made during the campaign and also once he was in office. For these people, immigration is the singular defining issue of the Trump presidency.