Apparently Trump was the only one within 100 miles of the White House who knew that the political optics of a "government shutdown" at Christmas time would have been awful for him.
I think that would be the best time. Nobody would be paying attention and hardly anyone would care.
“In retrospect, that meeting with Pelosi and Schumer last week comes across as a silly stunt at best and a political disaster at worst.”
Perhaps. There was one statement by Trump that gave Schumer a nice opening — “well if the Mexicans are going to pay for the wall then we don’t need to fund it”. While we all know the nuanced truth — Schumer used the meeting to make a nice soundbite.