One of the most persistent myths in contemporary politics is that Trump is a world-class negotiator and dealmaker. The evidence suggests otherwise.
https://bsky.app/profile/stevebenen.com/post/3lejxurhl7s2p
In the SCOTUS filing in the TikTok case, Trump's lawyer said he alone "possesses the consummate deal-making expertise ... to negotiate a resolution."
The idea that Trump is a world-class negotiator is a ridiculous myth, which has lingered for far too long.
https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/tiktok-case-trumps-lawyers-cling-unfortunate-gop-myth-rcna185743
The move sparked litigation, and the case is currently pending at the U.S. Supreme Court. As NBC News reported, it was against this backdrop that the president-elect’s lawyers filed a curious brief.
President-elect Donald Trump on Friday asked the Supreme Court to pause implementation of a law that would ban TikTok in the U.S. starting Jan. 19 if the app is not sold by its Chinese parent company. The court is due to hear arguments in the case on Jan. 10.
Ordinarily in a court filing such as this one, we’d expect to see an argument urging the justices to rule one way or another based on legal merits. But in the filing from D. John Sauer — the president-elect’s lawyer who’s slated to be nominated for U.S. solicitor general — Team Trump instead asked the high court to simply delay the current law’s deadline in order to allow the incoming administration to pursue a new and different policy.
This is, to be sure, a strange approach to jurisprudence. But I was also intrigued by the specific pitch included in the court filing.
“President Trump alone possesses the consummate deal-making expertise, the electoral mandate and the political will to negotiate a resolution to save the platform while addressing the national security concerns expressed by the government — concerns which President Trump himself has acknowledged,” the brief said......
But the evidence of Trump actually succeeding on this front does not exist. There were literally zero instances in which he successfully brought Democratic and Republican leaders together and negotiated a major legislative breakthrough. Indeed, toward the end of his first term, Trump largely gave up on even trying to make deals with Congress.
The Washington Post reported in August 2020, “
The president who pitched himself to voters as the consummate negotiator and ultimate dealmaker has repeatedly found his strategies flummoxed by the complexities and pressures of Washington lawmaking.” This came on the heels of the Post’s Jackson Diehl explaining, in reference to Trump:
“He’s not up to serious negotiation. He can’t be expected to seriously weigh costs and benefits, or make complex trade-offs. He’s good at bluster, hype and showy gestures, but little else. In short, he may be the worst presidential deal maker in modern history.”
With this in mind, as Trump’s lawyers tell the Supreme Court that the president-elect
“alone possesses the consummate deal-making expertise ... to negotiate a resolution to save” TikTok, I have a follow-up question: Why in the world would anyone believe this, given his record of failed negotiations?trump is not a negotiator in the real world.
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