Exactly what is Trump trying to prove?

Assuming he's trying to prove anything at all, of course.

I read a long article this morning about Trump's visit to McAllen, Texas, a town where the mayor and most of the residents say no actual physical border wall is needed, the current system is working more or less just fine, although the Border Patrol could use some improved technology (e.g., more cameras) and increased staffing at the ports of entry. And Trump agreed with them. The meeting included a show-and-tell of stuff intercepted at the ports of entry (drugs, weapons, various types of contraband) and the consensus was yep, the checkpoints are working. And then Trump told the folks at the meeting that he doesn't really mean a physical wall after all, he's speaking metaphorically, he just wants enhanced border security.

What the fuck?! The government has been shut down for three weeks now because Trump has stated over and over he wants a Wall, a real Wall, a concrete and steel barrier that would be a major physical barrier to anyone trying to cross the border illegally. He's had multiple hissy fits over the fact that Congress will not dedicate $5 billion to his wet dream of a construction project. And then he goes to Texas, right to the border, and says, oh, I'm just talking metaphorically. I repeat, what the fuck?!

He has said something similar in other meetings over the past couple of weeks, but every time there's an actual face-to-face meeting to negotiate an end to the budget impasse, he reverts to ranting about concrete and steel. It's bizarre.

If he doesn't want an actual wall, why the hell did he shut down the government? Just how senile is he? And if he doesn't want an actual wall, why are hundreds of thousands of people now forced to sit and wait indefinitely to be allowed to go back to work?

Maybe somebody should tell him that Obama wanted to build a wall. There's nothing quite like invoking Obama's name to get Trump to do the exact opposite.

Trump is infamous for constantly contradicting himself. Just about every incoherent speech he gives starts off with him saying one thing and ending with the complete opposite a couple hundred mangled words later, but he's definitely topping himself on this wall mess.

[I am, for what it's worth, feeling relatively proud of myself for making it all the way through six paragraphs in which I mentioned Cheetolini multiple times without once referring to him as a wank nozzle, orange shit gibbon, or some of the other phrases that come to mind when his name comes up. I'll just pretend to be an academic and save the good terms for this footnote.]