Mitch makes the first move

From Market Watch:

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. set up the two showdown votes for Thursday, a day before some 800,000 federal workers are due to miss a second paycheck. One vote will be on his own measure, which reflects Trump’s offer to trade border wall funding for temporary protections for some immigrants. It was quickly rejected by Democrats. 

The second vote is set for a bill approved by the Democratic-controlled House reopening government through Feb. 8, with no wall money, to give bargainers time to talk.

Both measures are expected fall short of the 60 votes need to pass, leaving little hope they represent the clear path out of the mess. But the plan represents the first test of Senate Republicans’ resolve behind Trump’s insistence that agencies remain closed until Congress approves $5.7 billion to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. 

For Democrats, the votes will show whether there are any cracks in the so-far unified rejection of Trump’s demand...

Rob's comment:

No, the real story is that McConnell is allowing a vote on the Democrats' measure to reopen the government. Why would he allow a vote on something that the Senate passed on a voice vote last month to keep the government open? Because Republican senators are getting restive about the damage the shutdown is doing. It's about a lack of "resolve" on the Republican side, not among Democrats.

McConnell is ready to confront Trump if/when enough Republicans defect and vote to end the shutdown, even if the vote to reopen the government falls a few votes short. Then he would tell Trump: "If I allow another vote, the Senate will join the House and vote to end the shutdown. You can tell your base that you tried, but it was just impossible to do in this political situation. The votes aren't there for the wall. Let's blame it on the Democrats and move on."

Does anyone think Trump has the backbone---all bullies are weaklings---to defy McConnell?

Later: Looks like something like the above happened to end the shutdown.