Now May is headed back to Brussels tonight NZT to ask the Europeans to help her get the deal through Parliament by changing what is called the Irish backstop, an insurance policy agreed by both sides, that would keep the border open between Northern Ireland and Ireland.
In the news conference, Tusk said he was trying to forge ahead with the British but also warned that European leaders were preparing for the "possible fiasco" of a no-deal Brexit.
Britain is hurtling towards crashing out of the European Union with no deal - and no trade agreements, no transition period.
As the news conference was winding down, Varadkar was picked up by a hot mic telling Tusk: "They'll give you terrible trouble, the British, for this." It was unclear whether he meant his words or his negotiating position.
No matter, Tusk and Varadkar both laughed.
Reaction, as they say, was swift and furious from the Brexiteers.
The Brexit chief for Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party, Sammy Wilson, branded Tusk a "devilish, trident-wielding, euro maniac".
Nigel Farage, the former leader of the UK Independence Party, whose rise was partly responsible for convincing former prime minister David Cameron to stage the June 2016 Brexit referendum, replied that Tusk was an arrogant bully and his version of hell sounded like heaven to him.
While some were pushing back at Tusk, others believed his remarks - and the impasse they represent - shine a poor light on May, who can't seem to close this deal.
The former No. 2 at 10 Downing, George Osborne, now a newspaper editor, tweeted, "negotiations going well then ..."
The British political press labelled Tusk's remarks incendiary.
But it was not the first time the Europeans have complained about Brexit.
Tusk has dropped provocative lines before. In January, he hinted about the possibility of Britain staying in the EU, tweeting: "If a deal is impossible, and no one wants no deal, then who will finally have the courage to say what the only positive solution is?"
In the months following the Brexit vote, the European Commission chief, Jean-Claude Juncker, blamed Brexit on "40 years of lies" by British politicians.
French President Emmanuel Macron once said Brexit was "a choice pushed by those who predicted easy solutions . . . they are liars, they left the next day so they didn't have to manage it."
For weeks, they have been begging May to tell them - exactly - what she wants amended in the withdrawal agreement, so that it can pass her divided House of Commons. May, publicly, has said she needs "alternative arrangements" to protect an open Irish border that does not involve keeping Britain trapped in an EU customs regime forever.
Talks continue.
