Good Thursday morning, I'm Anna Palmer, and welcome to your Politico Playbook audio briefing, sponsored by BP.

We're on day 34 of the government shutdown.

Two important dynamics have burst into public view at the same time.

First, Washington is getting more serious about ending the shutdown.

Look around.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her Democratic leadership

is cobbling together a $5 billion-plus border security offer, a big step for a party that said

they wouldn't negotiate with the government closed. Freshman Democrats seem itchy to find a way to

end this as the days go on. The White House has put immigration policy on the table,

and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is off the sidelines. He met privately yesterday afternoon

with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy in McCarthy's Capitol Office. Representative Mark

Meadows was in a private chat yesterday afternoon with House Appropriations Chair,

Nita Lowy, on the House floor. But Pelosi and Trump have been in an epic staredown,

and thus a shutdown deal seems far off. The Speaker and the President of the United States

spent all day Wednesday, toe-to-to-tow, trying to see who would blink first. The President

first said he would show up to the Capitol to deliver his state of the Union. Pelosi said no thanks, and that everyone was waiting

to see what the president would do. Republicans were betting Trump had Pelosi cornered, and there

was no way she would rescind the invitation. They thought this was a win-win for Trump. Either the president

would deliver the state of the union or Pelosi would block him.

But then, Trump blinked and bowed to Pelosi, saying he'd give his state of the union after the shutdown.

Make no mistake, this is a big win for Pelosi.

It reestablishes that she is indeed in charge of the legislative branch, and there is little Trump can do

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