Is Trump perturbed enough to break the shutdown logjam? Maybe.

President Donald Trump is increasingly antsy about the soon-to-be-record-long government shutdown, but until now, he hasn’t furiously worked the phones or waded into the details of a deal to end it.

He has let loose a flurry of social media posts, signaling his frustration, which has simultaneously given Democrats hope that he is finally ready to deal and Republicans heartburn that he is muddling the GOP message.

And on Wednesday morning, Trump could take his most significant action yet as he hosts Republican senators at the White House, buoyed by the belief there is acritical mass of Democrats who are ready to end the likely record-breaking government shutdown.

Trump’s increasing involvement is a milestone many in both parties have waited for, figuring that it may take a perturbed president to break the logjam.

Until now, Republican congressional leaders have kept Trump out of the day-to-day policy negotiations on Capitol Hill, even as the president is eager to “help,” said one House GOP leadership aide granted anonymity to describe private conversations.

A White House official, also granted anonymity, said the president, while not speaking to Senate Majority Leader John Thune or Speaker Mike Johnson daily, is being read in on any movement in negotiations.

“They’ve always kind of kept him apprised of everything, and this is no different,” said the senior White House official, who added that conversations are occurring more frequently at the staff level. ”If there’s … any information they want us to give to POTUS, we do that as well. So he’s involved.”

But Trump, since returning from Asia last week, has gone from blaming Democrats for keeping the government closed to blaming Republicans for not killing the filibuster in order to restore funding.

“I think it’s a detour. That’s the easiest way I can explain it. You need to focus on ‘open the government. Then we need to focus on how cruel [Minority Leader Chuck] Schumer is being,” said former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, adding that Trump, out of frustration, is “looking for leverage to get this thing done.”

Republicans in both chambers over the last 10 months have largely deferred to Trump, waiting to act until there’s a strong signal from the White House on what the president wants or plans to support. But aside from berating Democrats to approve a funding bill, Trump hasn’t offered a ton of clarity on what other sort of deal, if anything, he might support to bring the shutdown to an end.

Now, some senators view Trump’s increasing interest as a sign that he is eager to step up his role in shutdown talks — involvement they hope will crack open negotiations and ultimately resolve the record-breaking impasse.

Trump’s repeated calls for the GOP to end the filibuster in order to fund the government is “a sign that Donald Trump’s actually paying attention finally and recognizes that something needs to be done,” said Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.). “The fact that he is apparently very worked up right now, and to the point that he is talking about going after Republican senators who refuse to get rid of the filibuster is certainly an indication that after all his trips around the world, he’s finally focused on what’s happening here at home.”

Trump escalated the push on Tuesday, as he warned that if Republicans didn’t terminate the 60-vote Senate rule, his party would lose the midterms and next presidential election — another sign of his growing frustration with the impasse.

The White House attempted to blunt the shutdown’s effects in October, but is no longer able to contain the damage. Federal workers have missed paychecks, and funding for some childhood early education programs was halted over the weekend. Americans have seen their Obamacare premiums for next year skyrocket. Food aid lapsed over the weekend for millions of Americans. U.S. airports are seeing delays, with Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warning of “mass chaos” next week.

Until now, the White House hasn’t felt a need to huddle with Republicans to figure out a solution, content to hammer Democrats and demand that they simply support a clean funding bill before any additional negotiations take place around health care subsidies. If things are starting to move behind the scenes, the public script hasn’t changed.

“The Democrats are intentionally hurting American families, workers, and businesses with this shutdown to fight for free health care for illegal aliens and appease their radical left-wing base. It’s a total disgrace,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said during Tuesday’s press briefing. “This past weekend, Americans traveling to weddings, funerals, vacations, and meetings faced significant flight disruptions at airports across the country because of staffing shortages.”

Senate Republicans are hoping to be able to pass a funding patch by the end of the week. Doing so would require a deal that could flip at least five Democrats as both parties grow increasingly worried about the intensifying impacts on everyday Americans.

“We’re now in November, and with various things like the Obamacare exchanges and subsidies on that and SNAP and so forth. The impacts are different than they were just four days ago,” said Republican strategist Doug Heye. “My sense is that we get out of this sooner rather than later.”