I’ve always questioned why Trump was keeping Prince Reibus and Lyin Paul Ryan, but I remember people saying it was Trump doing Ju Jitsu or 5D chess saying he was setting themselves up to fail or cross him and then they’d be FIRED bigly! Well so far that hasn’t happened and at least at this point Ryan has played his cards and needs to go, but for Trump to stand with him loyaly either he is a chess master or he is being played like a fiddle by the RINOs like Ryan.
My argument in response to that is that Ryan and his ilk, despite the fact that we despise them, are still playing Nice in the current game. They may be foot-dragging or arguing, but they are still compromising, and in that compromise, Trump still gets some of his agenda passed. More than if he was blatantly confrontational with them.
We know—and I’m pretty sure Trump knows—that they’re lying weasels, but cooperating with them for now IS consistent with Tough but Fair.
Same with the Freedom Caucus. They were playing Nasty (and again, I’m not making MORAL judgments on them, but rather I’m saying that their tactics fell right into what is typically defined as Nasty according to game theory), and Trump’s response according to TBF is to be Nasty and uncooperative back until they change.
Remember, it’s not a matter of making Ryan and the RINOs get what they deserve; it’s a matter of MAGA. And according to game theory, you usually get the best score and the largest profits if you play some variant on TBF.
My argument is that this is exactly what Trump is doing right now.