President Donald Trump cannot keep digging. He insisted on a wall the country didn't want in a way the country objected to (by shutdown) when he could not control Congress. It didn't take a political genius to predict Trump was going to lose. For the first time in his presidency, however, moving the goalposts doesn't alleviate the problem. He has switched from concrete to steel slats (doesn't "The Art of the Deal" say anything about negotiating against yourself?), but the answer is still no. He's trapped, waiting for a political miracle or for Congress to bail him out.
Trump cannot admit error, but he imagines himself a master persuader.