Trump set up a government shutdown all along. He said he would do it, and now he is. Here’s how it happened:

Step 1: Trump took responsibility and said he would shut down the government.

Trump: “I will be the one to shut it down.”

Trump said he would be “proud to shut down the government.”

Step 2: Trump blew up a bipartisan deal to keep the government open.

Politico: “The president hauled Speaker Paul Ryan, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy and other GOP leaders to the West Wing and instructed them to change course. And they did. ‘I’m OK with a shutdown,’ Trump told the group, according to two sources in the room.”

Step 3: Trump doubled down and threatened that his shutdown would “last for a very long time.”

New York Times: “President Trump warned early Friday that a partial government shutdown ‘will last for a very long time,’ seeking to blame Democrats for a potential government funding lapse that he said last week he would proudly own.”