This morning, AM Joy discusses the government shutdown, which is about what you'd expect if you put your cognitively-impaired, Fox News-loving grandpa in charge of the world.

"I want to go to David Jolly. I'll go to you first. So Donald Trump, in principle, agreed to sign off on what the Senate passed, which was a clean continuing resolution to fund the government. And then suddenly, he changes his mind, and what happened in between him supposedly agreeing to sign off and changing his mind, throwing everything into chaos is the following. Here are right wing media responding to the fact Donald Trump was going to sign a funding bill for the government without funding for the wall. Take a listen."

She then played clips from noted policy experts Laura Ingraham, Matt Schlapp, Rush Limbaugh, and Ann Coulter, berating him for not getting more money for the wall and "letting the Democrats win."

"David Jolly, can you explain why, the members of the House of Representatives, there's just an election. At worst, they have two years to go if they're still in office, right, before they have to face voters again, and some of them, already leaving. Why don't they just pass the Senate bill that was already agreed to before, ignore the talk radio people?" Joy Reid asked. "They're the ones supposed to be in charge, not talk-radio people. They're supposed to pass the Senate bill and keep the government open. Why don't they do that?"

David Jolly responded, "The bill has funding for a wall or fence or pedestrian barrier, the ignorance of each one of those radio hosts you just played is profound, and so is the ignorance of the president of the United States. First, let's notionally be worried that the president is so influenced by three or four talk show hosts -- that in itself should give us reason to worry. But this whole narrative is one that the president has bumbled from the beginning. We heard him say thatMexico is going to pay for it, then because of a new NAFTA, it will be paid for. Joy, the reality is at the beginning of this year, this administration, Donald Trump, asked for $1.6 billion for new fencing, new wall, 65 miles at the southwest border, the Senate provided it and the House provided it."

Jolly continued, "A good politician would have declared victory and all of those radio show hosts would have said, 'Hey, the president is building the wall.' Instead, because of his eggshell ego, around midsummer, he said, it should be $5 billion, not $1.6 and now he can't get the $5 billion and that's why he's in the position he's in.

"He has been a terrible politician on this issue. as simple as the message was at his campaign rallies, the reality is, in executing on his promise, he could have declared victory."

Well, I think it's clear why Trump listens so closely to right-wing media -- he's trying to harden his Republican support in the Senate against an impeachment vote. Look at it through that filter, and it all makes sense.