Trump whisperers: are Stephen Miller and Fox keeping the shutdown alive?

As the president maintains his border wall demand, a handful of White House insiders and pundits may bear responsibility

It was Monday night and the university football champions were coming to dinner at the White House. Catering staff were furloughed due to the partial government shutdown. So naturally Donald Trump served up a banquet of fast food. "Trump bought food from McDonald's, Wendy's, Burger King and Domino's," observed the late-night TV host James Corden. "Or, as he calls them, his four most trusted advisers."

The US president's widely mocked decision to splash out $3,000 of his own money said something about his obstinacy during the shutdown, now the longest in American history and the result of political stalemate over his demand $5.7bn for a wall on the US-Mexico border. As workers are hit in the pocket, airport queues grow and his poll ratings slump . It also raised the question: who are his real "most trusted advisers" and why are they urging him down a path to apparent political suicide?