As the US President renews his threat to declare a state of emergency  to secure funding for a border wall, an embarrassing video has emerged of Donald Trump passionately telling students to never let a wall stand in their way.

“If there’s a concrete wall in front of you, go through it, go over it, go around it, but get to the other side of that wall,” Mr Trump passionately tells a room filled with college graduates.

Despite speaking metaphorically, the irony of his speech cannot be missed as Mr Trump heads to the US-Mexico border Friday (Australian time) to again argue his case for a wall.

The footage, unearthed by Comedy Central’s The Daily Show, shows Mr Trump back in 2004 encouraging students to do whatever is in their power to overcome an obstacle.

Is this instance, Mr Trump used the example of a concrete wall as part of his inspirational speech given at Wagner College in New York.

Watch the wall speech below:

Mr Trump was there to give a commencement address after formally accepting an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters.

The President was accused of throwing a temper tantrum Thursday (Australian time) when he abruptly stormed out of a meeting with congressional leaders after the House Speaker declined to finance his demand for more than $5 billion to build a border wall.

The partial government shutdown has left hundreds of thousands of government workers in limbo, waiting to receive their pay checks.

After ending talks with Democrats with a “bye-bye” on Thursday (Australian time), Mr Trump warned he may declare a national emergency on the southern border if Democrats continue to deny him border wall funding.

Since his election victory, many Wagner College academic staff and members of the school’s alumni have demanded that Mr Trump’s honorary degree be revoked.

“While he holds this undeserved honor, our own degrees — and the academic and personal work we accomplished — are demeaned,” a letter written to the college’s board in 2017 and signed by more than 700 Wagner alumni read.