SCOOP: White House readies executive order on withdrawing from NAFTA

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

Art of the Bluff:

1) Bluff
2) Admit you're bluffing
3) Deals get made

Sure. That's partially true. But Trump probably did some set up before this like he did with China and North Korea. Why do we insist Donald Trump is completely an idiot in an skillset where he has reasonably excelled in accruing benefits for himself (negotiation and cutting deals)? He's made billions in the private sector. He's become a household name. He is pretty good at stagecraft and cutting deals.

Without a transparent report on his financial status, the claim that Trump is some sort of great businessman has no evidence to support it.

What we do see is a man who has regularly run business into the ground (he had two casinos go bankrupt) , made poor business decisions (like his mortgage company), has lost huge amounts of money on business ventures (his hundred million dollar write-off), has engaged in various shady deals to keep himself from going under (Russian investors, offloading personal debts onto his business ventures), has committed outright fraud (Trump University), and who consistently engages in petty schemes that wouldn't be worth the time of an actual billionaire (Trump steaks, petty graft at government expense).

^This is why I keep insisting that Trump is an idiot.  Except at selling stupid ideas to other idiots, with billions or or without - he's a quite talented con artist and self-promoter. Trump is a man who, born with a silver spoon in his mouth, has spent his life stealing gold-plated spoons to replace the ones he's lost.

[The_Doctor]

^This is why I keep insisting that Trump is an idiot.  Except at selling stupid ideas to other idiots, with billions or or without - he's a quite talented con artist and self-promoter. Trump is a man who, born with a silver spoon in his mouth, has spent his life stealing gold-plated spoons to replace the ones he's lost.

Yup he's a world class salesman and the bolded requires a skillset in negotiation. Doesn't necessarily mean good things happen but I feel again indiscriminately bashing Trump without assessing where he will fail is a poor strategy for us who oppose Trump.

Like all presidents, he will have strengths and weaknesses. We have to evaluate them honestly and realize he will succeed sometimes. Even Herbert Hoover had good days and some successes.

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

^This is why I keep insisting that Trump is an idiot.  Except at selling stupid ideas to other idiots, with billions or or without - he's a quite talented con artist and self-promoter. Trump is a man who, born with a silver spoon in his mouth, has spent his life stealing gold-plated spoons to replace the ones he's lost.

Yup he's a world class salesman and the bolded requires a skillset in negotiation. Doesn't necessarily mean good things happen but I feel again indiscriminately bashing Trump without assessing where he will fail is a poor strategy for us who oppose Trump.

Like all presidents, he will have strengths and weaknesses. We have to evaluate them honestly and realize he will succeed sometimes. Even Herbert Hoover had good days and some successes.

I think there's a difference between actual negotiation that results in some meeting of minds (even if to one side's advantage), and self-promotion and hucksterism where suckers are sold a bill of goods. The latter, not the former, is Trump's forte. The great negotiator is a character he played on a TV show. People and businesses (up to major banks) who do business with Trump do not do business with him again. This is not the mark of a successful negotiator, it's the description of a con man.

It's obvious with his first 100 days (and whole business career), Trump will fail to put up but will never shut up.  He will succeed at getting attention, particularly from the media, or at things that can be accomplished without effort or skill on his part. Which is why I think the claim that he's a good negotiator is complete bunk. A good negotiator would not have floundered, failed, or abandoned everything that requires more than the scrawl of the President's pen. (And he even fails at that sometimes.)

Trump's successes will come: 1) when ther is no opposition and little to no effort or skill are required on his part, 2) when he takes credit for work someone else is doing or aligns with the priorities of some competent person or group,  3) when he claims that mistakes, failures, diversions, and stunts as successes.

If you think I am wrong, please provide some examples from his short Presidential or long business career where Trump has done more than take money (or votes) from suckers.

And Hoover with all his mistakes and flaws was a far, far better man and President that Trump will ever be.

[publicunofficial]

Runeghost is on the money. Trump is not The Great Deal-Maker he's conned you into thinking he is.  He is a 70 year old with holes in his brain. He is a Fox News watching grandpa. He has a shallow knowledge of everything, just enough to hold a conversation about any given topic but only for about 6 minutes (More than long enough to impress the retired dentist crowd at Mar-a-Logo)

[The_Doctor]

One simple question then. How did he become President of the United States? In a nation of 330 million, he dispatched both the longest running political couple of our times along with vastly more experienced political actors in the Republican Party. Moreover Donald Trump has been a national landmark since the 1980s. Neither happened by accident and Trump's skilled in some important respects.

Secondly all his deals end up with him richer, off the hook for liability, etc. The deals may not be good for us but they certainly will be in his interest.

[Technocracy Timmy]

One simple question then. How did he become President of the United States? In a nation of 330 million, he dispatched both the longest running political couple of our times along with vastly more experienced political actors in the Republican Party. Moreover Donald Trump has been a national landmark since the 1980s. Neither happened by accident and Trump's skilled in some important respects.

Secondly all his deals end up with him richer, off the hook for liability, etc. The deals may not be good for us but they certainly will be in his interest.

Yeah given that he smashed through the largest and arguably toughest GOP primary in American history then proceeded to take out a candidate who nearly everybody and their grandmother thought would win, I think this guy shouldn't be underestimated-err misunderestimated. He's never held public office and is currently learning the ins and outs of the job of Presidency. Once he finally gets the hang of it he could become more effective than people realize.

[Blue3]

Looks like it's bs https://mobile.twitter.com/CNBCnow/status/857424046518136837

The report was real. Trump said today he was ready to leave NAFTA and the phone calls changed his mind.

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

One simple question then. How did he become President of the United States? In a nation of 330 million, he dispatched both the longest running political couple of our times along with vastly more experienced political actors in the Republican Party. Moreover Donald Trump has been a national landmark since the 1980s. Neither happened by accident and Trump's skilled in some important respects.

Again, he's a very talented con-artist and self promoter.

Barely defeating a weak and damaged candidate running a poor campaign as a follow up to using free media coverage to exploit the GOP's inherent contradictions and steal their carefully cultivated mob of ignoramuses tells us little about Trump's ability at making deals (or acting as an executive). It demonstrates a cunning opportunism, talent for self-promotion and excellent skills as huckster,  which I've never disputed.

Trump doesn't make deals. He cons people. The problem with being a con artist is that marks catch on sooner or later.

A Calmer Mexico Sees Trump Anew: as a ‘Bluffer’ at the Poker Table
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/27/world/americas/mexico-trump-nafta-trade.html

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Trump's presidency is an act, just like his reality TV show.

Secondly all his deals end up with him richer, off the hook for liability, etc. The deals may not be good for us but they certainly will be in his interest.

That an inherited multimillionaire now owns assets worth about $3 billion and is in debt for a similar amount (that we know of) demonstrates very little about his self-proclaimed skill at making deals.

Trump is good at slithering away from his business failures without landing up in jail or ending up on skid row. (He does have to shed his skin every decade or so and move on to new marks, as his cons catch up with him and his reputation sinks further.)  Avoiding the consequences of his failures plays to his strengths as a conman and huckster. That doesn't change the fact that he's not very good at being an executive (of a business or other organization), and that his skills at making deals are a self-invented fiction.


Trump gives everyone plenty to worry about. But not because he's so good at making deals.