Donald Trump had already overseen one government shutdown at the start of 2018 when agreement on a fresh spending bill was briefly stalled over a dispute with Congress on immigration.
It lasted only three days but nevertheless saw 692,000 federal employees furloughed, a mere appetiser compared with what would follow.
The president bookended the year with a matching battle over the approval of funds to complete his controversial southern border wall, which was fast becoming a white elephant to surpass even the Millennium Dome.
