Conservative pundit Ann Coulter both blasted and defended President Trump during an appearance on HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher” on Friday night -- hours after she ripped into the president on Twitter for cutting a deal with Democrats to temporarily end the partial government shutdown without funding for his border wall.
“I promise you the country would be run much better if I had a veto over what Donald Trump is doing. It’s crazy that I expect a president to keep the promise he made every day for 18 months,” Coulter told Maher, referring to Trump’s signature campaign promise to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.
"It’s crazy that I expect a president to keep the promise he made every day for 18 months.”
But Coulter also defended Trump's promise that Mexico would pay for the wall through taxing remittances as well as the president's blaming of employers for mass immigration on the southern border. She also noted that some powerful conservatives have backed the wall idea as well -- but she raised doubts about Republican lawmakers' commitment to the plan.
"Why hasn’t Trump been able to get it through for the first two years? Because the Republicans don’t want it."
Later on "Real Time," the conversation turned to Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation.
"I'm telling you how to get Trump," Coulter said. "He promised something for 18 months and he lied about it. That's how you get Trump. It's not this Russia nonsense."
She also said "someone has got to read the Constitution to him" when asked if she thought Trump would declare a national emergency on the southern border in order to get work started on the wall.
Before appearing on the show, Coulter spent a good part of Friday blasting Trump on Twitter for accepting a temporary funding bill to reopen the government without money for the border wall.
“Good news for George Herbert Walker Bush: As of today, he is no longer the biggest wimp ever to serve as President of the United States,” she wrote in a series of tweets.
She also criticized Trump's handling of Friday's absences by air traffic controllers at some of the country's major airports, comparing the president's response to how President Ronald Reagan handled an air traffic controllers strike in 1981.
Hours before Coulter's appearance with Maher, President Trump had pushed back against the notion that he had conceded anything to the Democrats by agreeing to end the shutdown for three weeks.
"I wish people would read or listen to my words on the Border Wall," Trump wrote on Twitter. "This was in no way a concession. It was taking care of millions of people who were getting badly hurt by the Shutdown with the understanding that in 21 days, if no deal is done, it’s off to the races!"
And earlier in the week, during an appearance on FOX Radio with Brian Kilmeade, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee criticized Coulter for her verbal attacks on the president.
"She's never had to be in the position of having to sit down and work through something to a solution," Huckabee said of Coulter. "I have, and the president's in that position." Huckabee added that if Coulter has "got the way to get it done," then she should run for elected office herself.
"She's never had to be in the position of having to sit down and work through something to a solution. I have, and the president's in that position."
Some supporters of Coulter may have been listening because on Thursday the Washington Times reported that Americans for Legal Immigration PAC announced its plan to draft Coulter to run for president in 2020.
“It’s an honor to be asked by such a patriotic and important organization," Coulter responded to the Times. "They are obviously correct that I would make a tremendous president. But unfortunately, I’m against women working."
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