The punisher

Somebody wasn't loved as a child. Or has a brain abnormality. Or both.

The barrier that President Trump wants to build along the Mexico border will be a steel bollard fence, not a concrete wall as he long promised, and the president is fine with that. He has a few other things he would like to change, though.

The bollards, or “slats,” as he prefers to call them, should be painted “flat black,” a dark hue that would absorb heat in the summer, making the metal too hot for climbers to scale, Trump has recently told White House aides, Homeland Security officials and military engineers.

And the tips of the bollards should be pointed, not round, the president insists, describing in graphic terms the potential injuries that border crossers might receive.br />
  WaPo

He wants to inflict pain.

Trump has said the wall’s current blueprints include too many gates — placed at periodic intervals to allow vehicles and people through — and he wants the openings to be smaller.

At a moment when the White House is diverting billions of dollars in military funds to fast-track construction, the president is micromanaging the project down to the smallest design details. But Trump’s frequently shifting instructions and suggestions have left engineers and aides confused.

[...]

Homeland Security officials had settled on the steel bollard design many years earlier, but Lapan said many of the prototypes were built using concrete to suit the president’s tastes — and demonstrated that the material was impractical and vulnerable to breaches.

Who paid for that waste?

The president — who repeatedly promised to force Mexico to pay for his desired border wall — has pledged to build 400 miles of new barriers by next year, a goal he reiterated during an immigration speech at the White House on Thursday afternoon. The plan would probably require him to reprogram additional taxpayer funds from military budgets.

Trump’s changing tastes are potentially driving up the price. He remains adamant that the barrier should be painted black, despite warnings that it would significantly increase construction costs and maintenance budgets.

“Once you paint it, you always have to paint it,” said another administration official.

How much does a pair of gloves cost? I mean, for the person who doesn't want to burn his hands climbing the wall?

Trump also has changed his mind repeatedly about the structure’s height, urging engineers to make it as tall as possible, though his desires have been tempered by cost concerns and engineers’ worries about structural integrity.

[...]

He continued to insist on speeding up construction, blanching at suggestions from aides that it would take many years, according to former administration officials. Trump frequently delved into the minutiae of contracts and suggested that some of his friends in New York would have ideas on how to build it faster, officials said.

[...]

Some of the president’s requests have led to significant alterations in the design. In particular, he insisted on boosting the height of the structure to 30 feet, far taller than the 15- to 18-foot range that CBP officials had previously settled on as optimal.

It's becoming clear why he's failed at so many business ventures. Why go with optimal when you can go with maximum? Did he not even have a rudimentary economics course in college?

The advantages of the 30-foot design were made apparent after the administration paid for the series of prototypes, another former official said.

“We were able to test what happens when you put someone up that high. They freeze up,” the former official said. “There was significant deterrence value to putting people on a 30-foot wall.”

Who was put up that high? Someone desperate to cross the border or a border patrolman? Also, did they build incrementally taller walls to see what the optimal height was for the "freeze" effect? Or did they just figure twice the original figure should do it?

Said another official familiar with the president’s desires: “He always wanted to go higher.”

[...]

One design Trump panned, according to a former official, was topped by a rounded, barrel-like metal cylinder to prevent climbing. Approved barrier designs include a flat-panel anti-climbing surface that has been field-tested, but the president doesn’t like the way it looks either, arguing that sharp spikes would appear more intimidating.

To whom?  Seventh century Mongol hordes?

Trump told one group of aides that the metal points would cut the hands of climbers and function as a more effective deterrent.

How about a high voltage electric wire?

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE: