Government shutdown - LIVE: Trump walks out of meeting with Democrats 'in temper tantrum' when Pelosi 'said no to wall funding'

Is there really a border 'crisis'?

By many accounts, the president has helped usher one in by cracking down on legal immigration pathways.

Illegal immigration into the US has actually slowed in recent years, even tough the number of people applying for asylum has jumped.

Here is a bit of good old fashioned Independent analysis to answer those lingering questions:

Trump border 'crisis' comments last night were immediately fact checked by Fox News

The news network is widely seen as an important media ally for the president, but even that familiarity did not keep the network from fact checking the statements Mr Trump made on Tuesday night.

That's thanks to the network's anchor Shep Smith, who spearheaded the fact checking effort to keep the president honest (or try to):

Will this shutdown be a record breaker? Probably.

As things stand, 19 days in, the government shutdown is already 19 days old, making it the second longest government shutdown in modern American history. In two days, it will be tied for the longest shutdown at 21 days.

With Wednesday's news in mind — the president reportedly stormed out of a meeting with congressional leaders after he was once again denied border wall funding — it seems increasingly likely that we could be on the cusp of a record-setting shutdown.

But will it stop there? Again, we have little reason to think that the shutdown will end any time soon. Some, noting the clearly large divide between Democrats, Republicans, and Mr Trump, have suggested the shutdown could last weeks longer.

Mr Trump, for his part, has suggested he is comfortable with a government shutdown that lasts "years", if necessary.

The House has passed a funding bill with some Republican support

From the Associated Press: The House has approved a bill to fund the Treasury Department, the IRS and other agencies for the next year as part of a Democratic strategy to reopen the government on a piecemeal basis.

The Democratic-controlled House voted 240-188 on Wednesday to approve the funding bill, which also would reopen the Federal Communications Commission, the Small Business Administration and the federal judiciary, among other agencies.

Eight Republicans joined 232 Democrats to support the bill.

Before negotiations, the president tried to appeal to his congressional guests' sweet teeth today

After the meeting-cut-short in the White House, Vice President Mike Pence marched out to tell reporters that Mr Trump had been nothing but a gentlemen during his meeting with congressional leaders. He had been calm, Mr Pence said.

As proof of Mr Trump's composure and congeniality, the vice president offered up as proof the fact that Mr Trump had offered his guests candy at the start of the meeting.

Just what were the sweets on the menu as the American leaders sat down to discuss the fates of hundreds of thousands of people? Butterfingers, M&Ms, and Baby Ruth candy bars, apparently.

No word on whether any of the politicians made up for a skipped lunch with chocolate, however.

Could a DACA deal end this whole thing?

Senator Susan Collins of Maine is among a small contingent of moderate Republicans who have urged Mr Trump to strike a deal to reopen the government.

In an interview wit POLITICO, she suggested that the president should consider a bill that was floated last year that would have paired border security measures to Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals protections.

“The president is very dug in on his position. It’s going to be difficult,” Ms Collins said. She “directed the president’s attention” the DACA bill, which would protect young immigrants who  came to the US as children and who now enjoy legal protections through the DACA programme.

Alaska's Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski has also urged the president to strike a deal to end the shutdown.

What is shutdown right now, anyway?

The partial government shutdown is only impacting a certain portion of the US government — much of it is still funded through previous funding agreements. All told, about a quarter of the $124 trillion total US budget for the 2019 fiscal year has yet to be allocated.

Here's a look at what is, and is not funded, with a special thanks to Bloomberg Government.

Funded:

• Defense — $606bn
• Labour-HHS-Education — $178bn
• Military Construction and Veterans Affairs — $97bn
• Energy and Water — $448bn
• The legislative branch — $5bn

Not funded:

• Transportation-HUD — $72bn
• Commerce-Justice-Science — $63bn
• Homeland Security — $51bn
• State-Foreign Operations — $46bn
• Interior/Environment — $35bn
• Financial Services — $23bn
• Agriculture — $23bn