Art of the Fool

[DesertRat]

Link to tweet

@Peter_Wehner
In the showdown with Nancy Pelosi, Trump's been exposed as pitifully weak, all bluster, a pathetic negotiator. Pelosi rolled him in every way. Egged on by right wingers, the whole thing was buffoonish from start to finish. *This* is how Trump's Art of the Deal works in real life.

Link to tweet

[empedocles]

1. With the shutdown punt, trump voters will notice

No simple slough off on this one.

[2naSalit]

2. I encountered a couple

redhats today, one I used to work with at a federal agency and who is furloughed, were relieved that they were going back to work but had no desire to acknowledge anything positive about Speaker Pelosi. They don't want to talk about it because they didn't win.

[Caliman73]

3. The "Art" of the deal was only ever possible because Trump held most of the cards.

His style of negotiation (if you can call it that) relies on the other side not having any leverage in the negotiation. It worked with independent contractors because they needed the money, Trump while a complete ass, had relatively substantial holdings in real estate in New York, and damage to the contractor's reputation meant loss of business. Trump was able to deal with the government because his crimes while egregious, were not significant outside of the small scope of New York housing law and the government wanted to focus on compensation to victims rather than waste resources prosecuting a small fish.

Trump has gotten away with so much that he though he could do the same with people with actual power. The unfortunate thing is that he probably hasn't learned his lesson yet.