“You know why you can enjoy a day at the zoo? Because walls work.”

— Donald Trump Jr., on Instagram, comparing a border wall with Mexico to a fence containing zoo animals.

NPR: “It’s unclear what happens next, with President Trump and Democrats living in different universes when it comes to immigration and border security. The president opted not to threaten or declare a national emergency Tuesday night, but could it — with all of its risks – be the only play the left?”

“That would entail him signing legislation to fund the Cabinet departments agencies that are closed and it would give him the chance to tell his base that at least he fought as hard as he could to get Congress to act. Of course, such a declaration would end up being challenged in the courts, and may be why the president chose not to go there Tuesday.”

CBS News: “Eight congressional representatives serve the districts that line the 2,000-mile southern border. They are men, women, freshman politicians and Washington veterans. The Democrats among them span liberal ideologies, while one of them is a Republican.”

“But they all have one thing in common: each is against President Trump’s border wall.”

A new Reuters/Ipsos poll finds that only 35% of American adults support a congressional spending bill that includes funding for President Trump’s proposed border wall and only 25% support Trump’s decision to keep the government closed until Congress approves funding for the wall.

“While Democrats have been bracing themselves for him to make that declaration on Tuesday night, administration officials who had seen a draft copy of his speech said the president was not preparing to do so.” the New York Times reports.

Playbook: “If they go the national emergency route, it will become quite clear the White House is not looking for a way out of the 18-day government shutdown. Going the national emergency route isn’t going to put Democrats into dealmaking mode.”

James Hohmann: “As he prepares to make the case for a wall during a televised speech from the Oval Office tonight and with a trip to Texas on Thursday, President Trump has already made more false or misleading claims about immigration than any other subject.”

“Through the end of 2018, The Washington Post Fact Checker team documented 7,645 false or misleading claims made by Trump since taking office. Of those, 1,130 were about immigration. Claims about foreign policy and trade tied for second, with 822 claims, followed by claims about the economy (768).”

“The last week has brought a stream of additional falsehoods on the topic that’s defined his term as much as any other — and prompted a partial government shutdown now in its 18th day.”

First Read: “Being president may give you the right to ask networks for time for an Oval Office address. But on immigration — perhaps more than on any other issue — Trump is far from having earned the benefit of the doubt from the American people.”

President Trump “is eager to invoke a national emergency to bypass an unwilling Congress and build a border wall, according to two people familiar with his thinking, a dramatic move that would test the limits of presidential power,” Bloomberg reports.

“Whether he exercises emergency powers depends on whether his lawyers conclude it’s a legally defensible move. And that may hinge on the interpretation of an obscure legal provision allowing the Defense Department to shift military construction funds during a crisis.”

“Some White House insiders believe Trump may act even if the move is sure to face a legal challenge — raising the stakes in a partial federal government shutdown that is stretching into its 18th day.”

Lawfare looks at the legal justification for invoking emergency powers.

Playbook: “The White House is increasingly positioning the situation at the southern border as a global humanitarian crisis of epic proportions, for which the same old solutions will not be sufficient. Sure, they’re still talking about the wall — on which they are demanding Congress spend $5.7 billion — but this new line of thinking is taking increased prominence. Expect to hear it tonight from President Trump during his address to the nation.”

“The administration is trying to shove off the politics of the wall, and turn the focus to what they consider the humanitarian impact. Basically, the administration is trying to move the narrative away from politics and to national security, even though this issue has been — and continues to be — part and parcel to Trump’s political rallying cry.”

“Fighting a virtual one-man messaging battle for his border wall, President Trump is growing frustrated that he doesn’t have more public defenders in his shutdown fight with Congressional Democrats,” Politico reports.

“The result is a manic, one-man public-relations effort to sell the shutdown that has left some White House officials scrambling to catch up. Trump has griped to associates that hasn’t seen enough administration officials on the airwaves defending him during the shutdown fight, according to three people close to the president. He is also angry that he didn’t get more backup for his mid-December decision to pull U.S. troops out of Syria.”

“Trump administration officials made an urgent case Monday that the situation at the U.S.-Mexico border has reached a crisis level, laying the groundwork for President Trump to possibly declare a national emergency that would empower him to construct a border wall without congressional approval,” the Washington Post reports.

“With the federal government partially shut down amid his stalemate with Congress, Trump will attempt to bolster the administration’s position Tuesday by delivering a prime-time televised address to the nation from the Oval Office — the first of his presidency. He will then travel Thursday to visit the nation’s southern border.”

“The President’s decision to deliver a prime-time address and visit the southern border came after some of his allies warned him his arguments about immigration aren’t resonating,” CNN reports.

“In conversations over the past two weeks, some of the President’s advisers have told him that simply tweeting and speaking off-the-cuff wouldn’t alone suffice in convincing Americans a border wall is necessary.”

U.S. Customs and Border Protection encountered only six immigrants on the U.S-Mexico border in the first half of fiscal year 2018 whose names were on a federal government list of known or suspected terrorists, according to CBP data obtained by NBC News.

The low number contradicts statements by Trump administration officials who said Friday that CBP stopped nearly 4,000 known or suspected terrorists from crossing the southern border in fiscal year 2018.

Former President Carter became the latest former president to deny telling President Trump that he regrets not building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, The Hill reports.

Trump last week claimed former presidents have discussed the subject with him.

Said Carter: “I have not discussed the border wall with President Trump, and do not support him on the issue.”

President Trump will travel to the U.S. border with Mexico on Thursday, the Washington Post reports.

“The visit comes amid the continuing partial government shutdown and the president’s insistence that any funding bill to reopen federal agencies include $5.7 billion for his border wall.”

New York Times: “The White House did not immediately respond to questions about a request to television networks to carve out time for an Oval Office address. A person familiar with the request said the White House had asked to interrupt prime time programming on Tuesday.”