Unless the goal is something completely different

[Bluetus]

Trump has been all over the map on this. He dared the Dems to hold the line, saying he would use the shutdown to do even more devastation to the government and to punish blue states. But then a few days ago he was demanding that Senate Repulicans kill the filibuster to end the shutdown.

Let's assume that Trump really isn't calling the shots. There are many behind the scenes who are probably enjoying seeing government flailing. This surely includes people like Theil, Bannon, Miller and most of the cabinet Secretaries.

So it is entirely possible they they fully intended for this conflict to either result in total capitulation by the Dems very quickly, or a long (like many months) shutdown that essentially kills all the programs the billionaires hate. And they may not be telling Thune,

"OK, we thought the Dems would capitulate quickly as they always have before. We underestimated them. But that's OK. Let's keep this shutdown going at least through the end of the year. It is going to hurt the Dem base more than it hurts us billionaires. And by the way, if this causes a severe recession, that's OK too because that means that billionaires can swoop in any take control of companies at a big discount.. So just keep stalling."