Being at a "record low" doesn't mean it isn't a problem. He's going to have to bring some some compelling information outside of the mainstream narrative on that subject to justify an emergency. We have all kinds of problems: there's no precedent to calling something an emergency just to wiggle around a stalemate.
One angle he has could be in relations to taxes. Illegal immigrants pay in around 12 billion a year in various ways, but get paid out nearly double that. But the wall doesn't do anything about that (seeing as they're already here), so his only argument is one of deterrence.
Going back to Lisna for a minute...
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^ Given that in the end Trump approved the deal that was already on the table from Day One, the shutdown achieved nothing except misery for Fed workers and a massive economic downturn. I can't see much to praise in that.
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There was no "deal" on the table Day One. Nobody could agree on anything. But again: do you support flying off to Puerto Rico even though you let the government get shutdown just because you suck at negotiating with a former reality TV star? The Democrats are supposed to be the better / smarter adults in the room here, right? I can plainly say that Trump isn't empathetic in most respects. But that just makes his opponents even look more reprehensible when they let things get to the point of a shutdown then do nothing about it for a month.
I could be like some of these people and whine about Trump all day on Twitter. But my response to Democrats is "Okay, great we can agree he's being a dick....so ****ing do something about it instead of flying off for a beach vacation while hundreds of thousands of your constituents can't pay their bills".
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^ I imagine politicians largely choose how rehearsed they want to be before making public statements. TBH I think that Dems sound nicer because they have at their disposal facts, empathy, logic and humane policies. Trump comes up blank on all of those qualities - that's really why he suffers so much in comparison.
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Bit of a correlation without causation thing going on here, but moving on....
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^ That seems to bear out the folly of Trump's demand for wall funding. The Mexicans wouldn't fund his wall. For two years a Republican Senate and Republican House wouldn't fund his wall. He should've realised that the Dems wouldn't either. Why was he even asking them to? He'd have a better chance if he called in a favour from his pals, Derapaska and Putin, and asked them to fund his wall.
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It wasn't out of the question. They were willing to negotiate on wall funds before in exchange for complete amensty for DACA recipients. But Trump knows giving amnesty just means tens of thousands of new people who will vote Democrat in 2020. Hence why he tried a different approach here.
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^ So when he said the shutdown could go on for "months, even years" what was that, some see-through negotiating ploy that failed? I don't understand how his incompetence at judging his opponents and his refusal to heed his advisors has become part of your argument for praising Trump's shutdown. 
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Trump uses hyperbole in a very casual way because it evokes an emotional response in his opposition. He knows what will push their buttons in a rhetorical sense...and it actually works more often that not. In this case, Pelosi and Schumer didn't take the bait. He does the same thing a lot on Twitter, and because his whole approach to rhetoric is what the courts would call "speculative" in nature, he hasn't been sued every time he opens his thumbs.
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^ I thought Trump's comment about Fed workers, "They'll make adjustments. They always do" was one of the most callous, out-of-touch dismissals of other people's suffering that I have ever heard. Your comments in bold run it a close second tbh. 
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See my previous comments about him signing that bill and why I don't think he planned to stretch it for more than a month in the first place. Don't get emotional on me when we are trying to have a discussion about bloodless political schemes.
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^ It's true that I rely on a couple of mainstream channels for my US news, but even senators were asking where McConnell was, and by Mitch's own admission he effectively abandoned all pretence of marshalling the Senate so that it was a third voice in the negotiations. Until Day 33, by his own declaration, his basic position was to wait and rubber-stamp whatever Trump told him to.
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Having spent a decent part of my own life in the media world before I got into business, I can assure you that Mitch was probably doing more than twiddling his thumbs. Trump didn't tell them how long he was going to stretch it out but they jumped all over the backpay bill like ugly on a catfish. Question is, what will they do 3 weeks from now?