I agree, it's definitely going to take time. It's possible (very likely) that he's a trained mechanic as well as a befuddled golfer. He'll have his fair share of mistakes under the hood and off the tee.
I think most every one thought that if Trump won it would be on the job training. The nuances of negotiating a business deal with another decision-maker CEO are different than in negotiating a deal with another world leader who has their own political and financial backlash that is out of their control. Still, many of the elements are translatable. What he's doing on the border wall thing with Mexico is practically page-for-page out of his book The Art of the Deal.
Lawrence O'Donnell over at MSNBC did a lengthy thought piece on how Trump's very first negotiation (with Mexico and the wall) was a complete failure. He waxed poetic about what good negotiators do. He'd be exactly right, if the negotiations were complete. But they've just started. Clearly, O'Donnell is kind of an idiot on both what a negotiation entails, and what good negotiators do within the negotiations. Trump Tweeting that if the President of Mexico wasn't going to pay for the wall that he might as well cancel the meeting was a genius negotiating tactic. President Nieto's approval rating in Mexico is in the single digits. Nieto stands up to Trump and cancels the meeting, and get a huge boost back home, saving a little face and increasing some pride back home. But that cancellation merely added to Trump's already formidable leverage. Trump will tell Nieto that he did him a favor in letting Nieto cancel the meeting, and he'll get Nieto to believe it (if he hasn't already). Trump will word towards having the details will be worked out so that both Trump and Nieto come off looking good.
One of the reasons Trump has moved so fast with the wall is because of the leverage he has over Mexico. So, he's milking the US’s leverage over Mexico, aiming for the areas where it most hurts. In value, Mexican exports amounted to 37% of the country’s GDP in 2015, the vast majority of it to the US. They would take a big hit if Trump walked away from NAFTA, or implemented border taxes. Remittances from immigrants abroad, which he has threatened to tax or simply confiscate to pay for the wall, far surpass the revenues from Mexico’s oil industry.
Trump sees publicity as a key tool to drive a deal. From the book: "One thing I’ve learned about the press is that they’re always hungry for a good story, and the more sensational the better… if you are a little different, a little outrageous, or if you do things that are bold or controversial, the press is going to write about you."
The border wall and his texts about them hit all of those marks: A little different, check. Outrageous, check. Bold, controversial, check and check.
I think most every one thought that if Trump won it would be on the job training. The nuances of negotiating a business deal with another decision-maker CEO are different than in negotiating a deal with another world leader who has their own political and financial backlash that is out of their control. Still, many of the elements are translatable. What he's doing on the border wall thing with Mexico is practically page-for-page out of his book The Art of the Deal.
Lawrence O'Donnell over at MSNBC did a lengthy thought piece on how Trump's very first negotiation (with Mexico and the wall) was a complete failure. He waxed poetic about what good negotiators do. He'd be exactly right, if the negotiations were complete. But they've just started. Clearly, O'Donnell is kind of an idiot on both what a negotiation entails, and what good negotiators do within the negotiations. Trump Tweeting that if the President of Mexico wasn't going to pay for the wall that he might as well cancel the meeting was a genius negotiating tactic. President Nieto's approval rating in Mexico is in the single digits. Nieto stands up to Trump and cancels the meeting, and get a huge boost back home, saving a little face and increasing some pride back home. But that cancellation merely added to Trump's already formidable leverage. Trump will tell Nieto that he did him a favor in letting Nieto cancel the meeting, and he'll get Nieto to believe it (if he hasn't already). Trump will word towards having the details will be worked out so that both Trump and Nieto come off looking good.
One of the reasons Trump has moved so fast with the wall is because of the leverage he has over Mexico. So, he's milking the US’s leverage over Mexico, aiming for the areas where it most hurts. In value, Mexican exports amounted to 37% of the country’s GDP in 2015, the vast majority of it to the US. They would take a big hit if Trump walked away from NAFTA, or implemented border taxes. Remittances from immigrants abroad, which he has threatened to tax or simply confiscate to pay for the wall, far surpass the revenues from Mexico’s oil industry.
Trump sees publicity as a key tool to drive a deal. From the book: "One thing I’ve learned about the press is that they’re always hungry for a good story, and the more sensational the better… if you are a little different, a little outrageous, or if you do things that are bold or controversial, the press is going to write about you."
The border wall and his texts about them hit all of those marks: A little different, check. Outrageous, check. Bold, controversial, check and check.
