@mystery-ak He underestimated Pelosi and he caved....
I wouldn't call it "caving" at this point (although I might call it "spelunking" inside Pelosi's base of support). Conceding something that means relatively little in the larger picture is just a way of negotiating to win.
These are not normal negotiations, of course, but a thoroughly nasty struggle for power. I don't think Pelosi is very good at this. (For that matter, I don't think many of us TBR members would be very good at it, either.) In any case, Trump just seems to be putting even more pressure on Pelosi to end the shutdown
from her side of the mess. (A lot of folks do want to hear the SOTU address--including more than a few people who aren't committed Trumpers.)
Maybe POTUS is persuaded that acquiescing to Pelosi's thinly veiled, anti-democratic bullying--using a legal but unseemly
overreach for power--against a duly elected Chief Executive of the Republic will
not quickly end the shutdown.
If that is what Trump is thinking and
if he's correct about that, then he will come out on top in the overall fight, because he will have demonstrated statesmanlike reasonableness--and by that posture convinced all but the most stupid Americans that Pelosi is a political harlot who would dare to try to prevent Trump from communicating effectually with the electorate about the wall controversy. (How's that for
Democracy in action?) Of course, Trump will
still wind up giving the bombshell SOTU speech over her continuing objections--and he will
still build the wall over her continuing objections. And Pelosi's continuing obstruction of the construction will make the use of the military to build the wall look righteous indeed. (That will be important and even decisive in the looming court fight.)
If Pelosi does surprise us and "cave" with respect to the border wall, Trump will
still give the dreaded SOTU address soon enough anyway (and he will have gotten his wall, of course).
So, I don't see how President Trump can lose in the overall fight if he is reasonably careful from here on (and especially careful to avoid getting assassinated before he can accomplish either objective).