I like to think of President Trump as a sharp NY business man. If you had been in the New York area back in the 80s you would have seen a young millionaire trying to grow his fortune by selling his name brand. For Donald Trump his name and his reputation was everything. He spent years getting himself noticed on NY media and then delivering on what he said.
Think about the press conference tonight. Donald Trump understands everything through a Real Estate prism. He put together promotional material for the development of North Korea and put it into an I-pad presentation. Just as if he were planning a Trump community here in the US and he was looking to sell units to prospective customers. I will paraphrase this badly but President Trump said tonight about North Korea: "... they have some incredible beaches in this country. How about a few luxury hotels for those beaches. I mean you've got prime real estate right in between China and South Korea what could be better? ...". Donald Trump sees North Korea as a Real Estate market being held back by the dumb policies of the local government.
If he could do the deal the way he's used to, he would have this country developed with investors from South Korea, Japan and China and he would walk away with a few luxury hotels and options on other prime real estate in the country and a concession to supply all the local restaurants with food and supplies for the next 20 years. With maybe putting up a couple of million of his own money. Instead as a great American Patriot he will do it for the peace and prosperity of the country.
Lastly I believe it's this Real Estate angle that so many of us become more impressed with President Trump than when we first supported him. Real Estate is a traditional base industry in this country. The founding fathers understood the concepts of Real Estate as they were mostly land holders and dependent on making that land as productive as possible for their livelihoods. When they ran for and then served in office they knew that the productivity of their land may suffer. They were sacrificing to serve our country. Now some 220 odd years later we are seeing what happens when a businessman citizen is willing to sacrifice everything to serve his country. We are glimpsing the way our founding fathers hoped our country would work. President Reagan was cut from a similar mold but even he didn't step down from a successful company to put his entire family and fortune at risk.
As I said above, I think people miss the point about his RE genius. Negotiating sure, but it's his strategic genius to see geography and see the opportunities. And a geostrategic view is what we have lost over these last couple of decades. To a tactical negotiator, fixing the middle east or fixing the Crimea question or anything else all look the same. To someone who understands maps and connectivity of things they are very problematic - as they have turned out to be.