Subtlety and the long game appear to be lost on you. Trump did not get the reputation of master negotiator by making obvious moves such as you suggest. Be of good cheer nobody is playing Trump.
Did you not read his quote? Trump himself so much as admitted that he got duped.
Make no mistake, the other side is reveling in Trump’s blunder of pardoning the thieves Cuellar and his wife. This was a self-inflicted political wound.