“The simple reality of the two-week US government shutdown is that neither side is likely to move until Donald Trump gets more involved,” Semafor reports.

“Trump’s unmatched sway over his party in Congress has Democrats and even some Republicans hoping — or perhaps wishing — for the president to intervene more directly in the 15-day impasse over funding the government. Absent that, lawmakers and aides forecast the standoff going into November, potentially breaking the record for longest shutdown in history.”

“But Democrats might be disappointed: White House officials say Trump won’t work with them. The administration is maintaining that Republicans provided the only stopgap funding bill that will get a vote, viewing the reopening of the government as non-negotiable.”

Politico: “The president has done something like five-and-a-half hours of public speaking this week alone, including seven Q&A sessions with members of the press … And it’s only Thursday morning. (And yes, he’ll be inviting press back into the Oval Office for another announcement at 3 p.m. this afternoon.)”

Playbook: “We’re about to hit the nine-month mark of Donald Trump’s second term as president. And while the start was an absolute whirlwind — readers may recall ‘days of thunder,’ ‘flooding the zone’ and all of that — you need to brace yourselves. Because Trump is only accelerating as we head toward the end of his first year.”

“Across every major policy area he cares about, the president and his team are amping up the pace and pushing the boundaries beyond what many thought possible. Trump’s astonishing first 100 days can now be seen not as the policy blitz of a president keen to get his radical work done early — but as laying the ground for something far bigger to come.”

USA Today: “At a dinner to thank donors for contributing to his longtime passion project – a $250 million, 90,000 square-foot ballroom at the White House — President Donald Trump unveiled a new scheme.”

“Standing behind a podium in the East Room on Oct. 15, while guests sat at round tables, he picked up a 3-D model of a giant arch, reminiscent of Paris’s imposing Arc de Triomphe. He pointed to a table with a map showing its proposed location across from the Lincoln Memorial. The arch would serve as a gateway to Washington D.C. while entering through the Arlington Memorial Bridge from the Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.”

“More than three dozen organizations and individuals, including companies with business before the federal government, are expected to attend a dinner with President Trump on Wednesday evening after opening their checkbooks to support the new $250 million ballroom under construction at the White House,” the Wall Street Journal reports.