The Note: Trump rides alone as shutdown smashes records

The TAKE with Rick Klein

There can’t be chaos in the White House, President Donald Trump suggested on Twitter over the weekend, because “there’s almost nobody in the W.H. but me.”

Just how alone the president is was made clear in a new ABC News/Washington Post poll.

A month ago, Trump said he would own a government shutdown. He’s gotten that wish: 53 percent of Americans -- and an identical 53 percent of independents -- put primary blame for the shutdown on Trump and Republicans in Congress.

Two-thirds of the country -- 66 percent -- think the president should not declare a national emergency, despite his prime-time address to the nation and visit to the southern border to argue its necessity. That remains Trump’s most appealing way out of his political jam, but congressional Republicans are among the highly skeptical.

The shutdown is already in the record books, though only 18 percent of people say they’ve been personally impacted.

It may take some real emergencies to force action from Trump, in the form of either a declaration or a capitulation. For now, the pressure is being felt unequally, with the president’s party far more anxious about changing the conversation.

The RUNDOWN with MaryAlice Parks

With Sen. Elizabeth Warren barnstorming early voting states and former U.S. Rep. John Delaney already opening up campaign offices in Iowa, it may be tempting for those eyeing a presidential run to get in even sooner than expected.

But there are risks to that.

Longer primaries are more expensive, a fact that should feel a tad uncomfortable for self-proclaimed progressives who rail about the negative influences of money in politics.

While they might decide to shun corporate donors or super-PACs, by adding months to the campaign season they will inevitably be soliciting and spending more.

Also, as U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard’s announcement demonstrated this weekend, longer campaigns leave more time for primary candidates to bloody each other before a general election. Several Democratic leaders have openly mocked Gabbard’s decision to run.

On the other hand, a year talking to voters before Iowa caucuses, might be enough time for Gabbard to make her meeting with Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad look like a thing of the past.

The TIP with Esther Castillejo

Two days after Julian Castro launched his campaign for president, the highest-profile Latino and first Mexican-American to seek the White House is headed to Puerto Rico Monday.

Castro’s taking his “One Nation. One Destiny.” message to the island is a first for a presidential candidate. He’ll speak at the Latino Victory Fund, go on a tour with San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz to see recovery efforts since Hurricane Maria ravaged Puerto Rico in 2017 and meet with “American citizens the federal government has abandoned.”

The former San Antonio mayor announced his candidacy Saturday with a mariachi band and an array of taco trucks in Plaza Guadalupe, a stone’s throw away from where he grew up in Texas. Castro, also the housing chief under former President Barack Obama, returns to a more well-worn campaign trail Wednesday, when he heads to New Hampshire to participate in the “Politics and Eggs” breakfast at St. Anselm’s College.

THE PLAYLIST

ABC News' "Start Here" Podcast. Monday morning’s episode features ABC News’ Tara Palmeri, who tells us about the White House outlook as the partial government shutdown drags on. Then, ABC News’ David Kerley explains the mounting strain the shutdown is putting on the Transportation Security Agency. http://apple.co/2HPocUL

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