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It finally did this week.

From the beginning, Ducey has, admirably, worked to re-establish warm relations with Mexico, especially in the areas of cross-border commerce. In July 2015, he wrote in an ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ op-ed:

"In looking for ways to expand jobs and opportunity for ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ns, we cannot underestimate our relationship with Mexico. And key to our relationship with Mexico is Southern ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥."

At the same time, Ducey continued the tradition of painting the Southern ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ borderlands as an out-of-control place requiring tens of millions of state dollars and a jacked up paramilitary presence on the part of the Department of Public Safety.

He didn't, as his predecessor Jan Brewer did, claim there were beheaded bodies littering the ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ desert. But he did say, "There is no limit to the violence and lawlessness committed by criminals who use our southern borders to smuggle people, illicit drugs, and money derived from criminal activities."

He played into the alarmism about conditions on the border that bears little resemblance to the day-to-day experiences of most people living in Southern ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥'s borderlands.

So, this week, the test finally came. President Trump, a president who is very popular among Ducey's Republican Party, threatened to close down the ports of entry at the Mexican border to confront the crisis of asylum seekers from Central America pouring into the United States. Initially, Ducey did the right thing: He said he opposed any shutdown.

"I've said a thousand times or more, Mexico is our No. 1 trading partner, times four," he said. "So, I want to see us continue to be able to trade."

Then Ducey went to Washington D.C. on a previously unannounced trip. He met with Trump in the Oval Office, and, when asked by reporters, he emerged grudgingly supportive of a border shutdown.

"If that were the situation, we would be supportive of it and want it to be as short as possible," he said of Trump's proposed closure.

What happened to the governor who spoke of trade with Mexico as the key for jobs in Southern ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥? The requirement of supporting the president's — and the GOP's — border alarmism got in the way.

This isn't to say there is not a crisis on the border. The question, as with the national emergency the president declared to build a border wall, is what to do about it. In both the case of the emergency declaration and the proposed shutdown, Ducey chose to support the president and bash Congress.

After the 35-day partial government shutdown, Congress worked out a compromise spending bill and passed it Feb. 15. It included $1.4 billion for additional border fencing, and other increases in spending on border security, such as $415 million for humanitarian activities including medical care, transportation and food for migrants. When Trump signed the bill but declared a national emergency in order to try to find billions more dollars for fence-buildling, Ducey supported him.

"ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ has watched for decades as Washington has failed to prioritize border security," Ducey said in a statement. "It’s unfortunate it has come to this rather than Congress doing its job. But action is needed. I support President Trump’s plan to secure our border."

This was a puzzling reaction because, in fact, Congress had just finished doing its job. The fact that President Trump wanted more money for border fencing does not negate that Congress had considered the situation and raised spending on border security dramatically. This week, in light of the border-closure threat, Ducey reprised the "blame-Congress" theme.

In a statement on Ducey's time at the White House, his office said, "The governor reiterated the need for Congress to stop playing political games and act."

But Ducey wasn't clear about what more he wants Congress to do, and neither was his spokesman, Patrick Ptak, when I asked him what specifically Ducey wants from Congress.

And then Thursday came, and the inevitable happened. The day after Ducey capitulated to Trump, the president changed his mind. Trump said Thursday that he'd consider closing the border in a year — if Mexico didn't stop drugs from flowing into the United States.

The whole reason for threatening to close the border changed from Central Americans to drugs.

That should leave the Ducey wondering about putting his own credibility on the line for Trump on these crucial ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ issues.

And it should make ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ns wonder just who is playing political games.