The leverage has changed now. Trump has lost it. Americans have overwhelmingly said they do not want to shut the government down for a border wall.
Btw, there was also an immigration compromise bill in the Senate last February that would have provided for wall funding but Trump campaigned against it.
Means nothing.
Americans overwhelmingly did not want Obamacare passed, yet here we are.
Besides, I see Trump's approval rating went up after the shutdown....so you are full of it as usual.
Shut it down. Privatize the critical functions, let the rest go away and find real work.
“A new Pew Research Center survey finds that majority of Americans (58%) continue to oppose substantially expanding the border wall, while 40% favor the proposal. Overall opinion on the wall is little changed from last year, but these views have never been more sharply divided along partisan lines: Republican support for the wall is at record high, while Democratic support has reached a new low.”
http://www.people-press.org/2019/01/...-unacceptable/
Given that it is already unpopular, using a national emergency to try to fund a wall will necessarily be even less popular as the principled Republican supporters of the wall will not be happy about the unconstitutional executive power grab.