This week has tested President Donald Trump’s self-styled reputation as the consummate dealmaker both at home and abroad.

It began with a measure of pomp and ceremony at the White House with the arrival of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday. The two leaders cemented a 20-point agreement that would end the war in Gaza and return the remaining hostages held by Hamas. While the whole package was presented to the world as a fait accompli, there was a small hang-up: Hamas had yet to agree to the terms of the agreement, one that denies them a role in whatever state emerges from the rubble. Trump gave the militant group “three or four days” to respond to the plan. As of Thursday, Hamas had still not formally responded. 

On Monday, Trump also hosted Republican and Democratic congressional leaders at the White House in what was billed as an effort to avert a partial U.S. government shutdown. But Trump and his Republican allies had been clear going into the meeting that Democrats had a stark choice – either agree to a temporary resolution passed by Republicans to keep the government funded or be blamed for forcing a shutdown.  

After the meeting, Trump posted a clip on his Truth Social account that showed Hakeem Jeffries, the top Democrat in the U.S. House of Representatives, speaking outside the White House with a superimposed handlebar mustache and a sombrero, while Mariachi music plays in the background. (Jeffries is Black. Vice President JD Vance said the images were posted in “fun” and were not racist.)  

The next day, rather than continue to push for a deal, the president delivered a highly partisan speech before a crowd of nearly 800 senior military officers, trashing his Democratic predecessor Joe Biden and ripping large U.S. cities run by Democrats.  

To Jeffries and his colleagues, Trump wasn’t exactly incentivizing them to give ground to strike a deal. “Clearly, they wanted to shut the government down,” Jeffries said on Wednesday, a day after funding to keep operations going expired. 

Vance and other Republicans, on the other hand, have accused Democratic lawmakers of being the ones who want the shutdown, arguing that they are caving to the demands of the party’s left flank by trying to stand up to Trump. 

Democrats have said they view the impasse as their only opportunity to push Trump to roll back cuts to healthcare subsidies and to agree to expend federal monies that have already been appropriated. Republicans want a clean extension measure that contains no policy riders.  

Notably, with regard to both the war in Gaza and the government shutdown, Trump’s approach has been to present a take-it-or-leave-it offer rather than engage in talks. Administration officials have even used similar language in both instances, referring to Democrats as taking the government “hostage.” (And don’t forget how Trump has referred to Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer as a “Palestinian.”) 

Demonizing his opponents is straight from the Trump negotiation handbook. So is making threats. "Hamas is either going to be doing it or not, and if it's not, it's going to be a very sad end," he said on Tuesday.  

The next day, the administration froze $26 billion in federal funds for Democratic-leaning states to pressure Democrats to agree to a deal. The White House has said it’s preparing a large-scale layoff of federal workers if the shutdown last more than a few days, which would only add to the government “brain drain.”  

In keeping with the White House’s no-negotiation position, the Senate will hold a vote on Friday on the same funding extension Democrats have already rejected. Republicans hope that a failed vote results in Democrats, not Trump, taking the blame for the shutdown. 

The next few days could serve as a test of whether Trump’s approach will work or whether the president will have to go back to the bargaining table. In both situations, he’s counting on pressure, not persuasion, to get the job done. 

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Trump’s Gaza proposal, which analysts say puts all the pressure on Hamas and asks little of Israel, could boost Netanyahu’s shaky political standing if it is ultimately accepted. Polls show a large majority of Israelis believe it’s time to end the war, but the plan has been criticized by far-right members of the country’s governing coalition.