President Trump seemed poised to avoid a government shutdown and to carry his fight for a border wall into 2019, when the House will be controlled by Democrats. Then he shot down the spending deal. So what happened?

Also, to cap off a chaotic day of breaking news, Jim Mattis resigned as secretary of defense. Guest: Jonathan Weisman, the deputy Washington editor of The New York Times. For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily.

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.