On Friday morning, President Trump, upset that the spending bill winding its way through Congress did not have money for his border wall or amnesty for children of illegal aliens, threatened to veto the bill.

But by the afternoon, Trump had signed it, even though there was no money for the border wall or Trump's precious "DREAMers."  This was undoubtedly the shortest veto threat in the history of the Republic.

We are constantly told that Trump is a masterful bargainer.  In reality, he is a terrible one.  Here is a limited list of things that have been funded by a stroke of Trump's pen:

1) Obamacare,

2) $500 million for Planned Parenthood,

3) Hundreds of millions for Schumer's favorite tunnel project in New York,

4) Expanded funding for the EPA, HUD, and even the National Endowment for the Arts.

Here is what has not been funded:

1) More border agents;

2) The border wall, beyond 33 miles of "fencing," which statutorily is not permitted to be a wall.  This for a 2,000-mile border;

3) The "catch and release" of illegal aliens has actually been expanded by this bill, which reduces detention facilities for illegal aliens;

No wonder Pelosi and Schumer are declaring victory.  Schumer even boasted, "We are able to accomplish more in the minority."

Trump has stated that this budget will permit him to "start work on the wall."  That's not the truth.  The legislation he signed forbids it.  Trump also bizarrely said, "I can tell you this and I say this to DACA recipients that the Republicans are with you.  They want to get your situation taken care of." 

What?  Is this the platform he ran for president on?  Amnesty for "DREAMers"?

For the past year, Trump-supporters have had to defend the mass turnover in the White House of appointees who never should have been hired in the first place.  For the past year, Trump-supporters have had to defend puerile tweets from the president with grammatical and spelling errors.  And now Trump-supporters also have to defend the president from the spectacle of women giving interviews about his alleged affairs.

All this was overlooked because we were told that Trump is brilliant.  Trump has a plan.  We can't understand it, being mere mortals, but he has one.

Well, a year into his administration, there is no start to a border wall, nor will there be for at least another year.  Obamacare, which Trump promised to replace with "something wonderful," is still there, minus the individual mandate.

Trump said he "had" to sign the spending bill because the military needs the money.  That's an orange herring.  If the government shut down, the military, being an essential service, would still have been fully funded, and when a budget was finally agreed upon, the military would have eventually gotten its raises.

As Mark Levin noted last night, Ronald Reagan never had a Republican House of Representatives, but he managed to pass much of his agenda because he was willing to veto bills, he was willing to shut the government down, he was willing to take his case to the American people.

Trump, while eager to engage in verbal spats, seems paradoxically to be afraid of political conflict.  Every time Democrats have called his hand, the president (and the Republicans in Congress) has folded.  Trump folded when he signed a budget for last year with no money for the wall; Trump folded when he signed a two-year spending cap with no money for the wall, and he folded again yesterday when he signed a budget fulfilling Democratic budget priorities with no money for the wall.  Trump is theatrically aggressive but politically timid.  He has this strong desire to be liked and admired which prevents him for fighting for his principles, whatever they are.  Trump has promised never to sign a bill like this "ever again," after having done so three times already in his presidency.

Unfortunately, Democrats now know that this president, like the GOP Congress, is a paper tiger and they can roll him with just the mere hint of a government shutdown.  I wish we had a president with more spine.

Ed Straker is the senior writer at Newsmachete.com.