It's not like they aren't getting tax breaks without the child tax credit. An end to the Alternate Minimum Tax alone is a considerable tax break.
And leave aside for a moment whether or not the very wealthy need this particular credit? The visuals alone argue against it. The Democrats will claim, as they always do, that this is a tax cut for the rich and not the middle class. And extending the child tax credit is only one way that the Republicans in the Senate are making their point for them.
Optics? Your mindset seems to be similar to that of those prognosticators who said Trump had no chance. The optics are fine with me for the tax break.