The Art Of The Deal Requires Two Parties Who Actually Want A Deal

Now that the halfway point of Donald Trump’s first term in office has officially come and gone, the Washington media crew has been scrambling to find some way to commemorate the occasion, define the results of the first two years and make projections as to the next two. In nearly all cases, this means identifying some catchphrase to cast the administration in the worst light possible. That’s the theme we’re seeing from Philip Rucker at the Washington Post (among others) in what apparently passes for clever commentary these days.

Trump ran for office on the premise that he would be able to get things done because of his extensive history in cutting deals, primarily in the real estate game. Heck, the guy even wrote a book titled The Art of the Deal, so it’s certainly fair game for criticism. But Rucker has decided to take the lack of any sort of dealing on the part of Nancy Pelosi as a sign that the Great Dealmaker isn’t so great at making deals.

Trump’s management of the partial government shutdown — his first foray in divided government — has exposed as never before his shortcomings as a dealmaker. The president has been adamant about securing $5.7 billion in public money to construct his long-promised border wall, but he has not won over congressional Democrats, who call the wall immoral and have refused to negotiate over border security until the government reopens.
The 30-day shutdown — the impacts of which have begun rippling beyond the federal workforce into the everyday lives of millions of Americans — is defining the second half of Trump’s term and has set a foundation for the nascent 2020 presidential campaign.

It’s absolutely true that President Trump has not had the amount of success in coming to agreements across the aisle that he seemed to anticipate. Whether that was a case of naiveté on his part or simply too much optimism we’ll likely never know. But pushing this theme without context is a seriously dishonest way to approach political analysis. Allow me to explain.

The first thing to remember is that there is a vast chasm between how businesses operate in the private sector and how the government works. (Please notify me in advance if I’m awarded the Understatement of the Year Prize for that last sentence so I can get my tux to the dry cleaner in time for the ceremony.) The fact is that Donald Trump comes from a business world where deals are arranged between parties who share a mutual objective. They wouldn’t be at the table unless they thought there was a profit to be had and that their opponent was a likely vehicle to achieve that goal.

Dealing in the private sector generally doesn’t involve people who hate each other or are seeking the destruction of their opponent. The parties involved certainly want to get the “better deal” so they come away as a winner, but there’s no final deal without both of them getting something they want unless one of them is a garden variety moron. Everyone approaches the table hoping that a deal will, in fact, be made and that they maximize their profit from it.

That’s not the case in Washington. Nancy Pelosi has no personal skin in the game as to whether a wall is constructed, the dreamers get a reprieve or anything else currently under discussion. Her “profit” doesn’t come from getting something accomplished. What matters is the political “victory” of denying something to her opponent (in this case, Trump) and revving up her base with her bravado. She can declare every offer from President Trump to be “a non-starter” as she did with this one and head straight for the MSNBC cameras looking like a winner.

The Art of the Deal only works when people are actually interested in a deal and have something to lose or gain from the negotiations. When all your opponent has to offer are poison pills, the outcome will always be sickening.

And that's the crux of the issue. Consequently President Trump has been "negotiating" with himself, which is never a good thing and begging the DEMON RATS to "play nice" and "negotiate" (something they have absolutely zero intention of doing) literally selling the country down the river by offering BLANKET AMNESTY (he can sugar coat it, "spin it", and call it anything he wants but ultimately that's what it boils down to) TO LAW BREAKING, ILLEGAL ALIEN "dreamers" in exchange for crumbs: a measly 5 billion dollar, non hardened, NON CONCRETE steel barier to placate Pelosi and Schumer.

President Trump looks, sounds and acts weak.

There isn't a "humanitarian crisis" on the Southern border, it is a NATIONAL EMERGENCY; a full scale, NEVER ENDING INVASION OF CRIMINAL, LAW BREAKING ILLEGAL ALIENS who have every intention of breaking our laws, stealing our jobs, stealing the welfare benefits that Americans have worked and PAID FOR, stealing the health care, and educational benefits that belong to American CITIZENS and contributing NOTHING OF LASTING BENIFIT TO AMERICA BUT CRIME, CORRUPTION, DRUGS, DISEASE AND DEATH.

The very future of the country is at stake and instead of acting and declaring a national emergency, militerizing, closing the Souther border and BUILDING A REAL/PERMANENT WALL, MADE TO LAST ALONG THE ENTIRE SOUTHERN BORDER, President Trump's solution is to try and appease DEMON RATS by caving to them and their insatiable "demands".

Your premise doesn't hold true, because what the DEMON RATS genuinely want is to destroy the country from within by PERMANENTLY REPLAYING AMERICAN CITIZENS WITH ILLEGAL ALIENS who will become their new, totally dependent, underclass voting block.

In order to accomplish this goal they must have "open borders". That is their ultimate goal and the DEMON RATS have ZERO interest in "negotiating" for a permanent "wall" and will do anything and everything within their power to prevent President Trump from ever building it.

For someone supposedly so astute at "The Art of the Deal", you would think President Trump would have understood this by now and ACTED, under his Constitutional authority to permanently secure our Southern border.

The time for trying to "play nice" with the DEMON RATS ended years ago. They have had their gloves off and have been pummeling him since day one. It is long over due to stop playing political games and ACT.

My take:

A DACA solution last year would have been a win for Democrats because they would have successfully demonstrated standing up for Hispanic people. The thing is, it appears that President Trump has stolen that issue from Democrats when Pelosi and Schumer walked away from the "Dreamer" offer and shut down the government the first time.

If recent polls are correct that show an increase of Hispanic support for Trump, then the credit for solving the DACA problem will go to Trump, not Democrats, because everyone sees Pelosi refusing to even talk about offers that include DACA and TPS solutions. Hispanics rightly see that Trump is trying to solve their problems, and they also see Pelosi trying to stop Trump.

I think the parade has moved on, and Pelosi missed her opportunity to come out in front. Now she's digging in just for spite.

-PJ

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