SimpleDon
Veteran Member
One of the talking points of conservatives is that we should run the government like a business. That a businessman could run the government more efficiently than a politician. It is the main point of qualification for Donald Trump for the presidency, arguably his only qualification for the presidency. And yet it is a specious point, casually approachable, but so wrong in practice.
I find little substance in the conspiracy theories of either the left or the right about RussiaGate. As a result, I don't spend time watching MSNBC or Fox News to sort out their competing conspiracy theories about today's latest outrage. But I did come across an interesting and valid point about Trump and his governance, probably in my reading. Unfortunately, it was such a fleeting point of sanity in the middle of so much b.s. that it took too long to register in my mind that I am unable to provide a link or to properly attribute it. But the point is simple.
It is that Trump views our European allies primarily as competitors in trade, not as allies in a shared cause of liberal democracies against authoritarianism or as allies in international power politics. That as a businessman, he has a very narrow view of other countries as competitors to be played off against each other, with few if any lasting partnerships because we are in competition with them and share no common interests with them.
Thus he threatens to not fulfill the US's treaty obligation to defend any member who is attacked because they didn't contribute enough to their own defense. The most charitable interpretation is that Trump is establishing an extreme negotiating position that he will back away from to gain a more favorable final outcome for the US. This is very dangerous because it erodes the very basis of the alliance for a minor gain to the US. One that he has no intention of exploiting, he won't lower US defense spending because Germany finances an additional tank battalion or builds an additional patrol boat.
This negotiating tactic even has a limited utility in business, because the people who use it quickly earn the reputation of constantly bluffing. It is even less useful in diplomacy, where you are negotiating with the same people more often. It is even less useful for someone who already has the reputation of lying constantly, which Trump has.
In the best of circumstances a successful businessman is not prepared to be president, experience in business doesn't translate into what is required of a president. Trump drove casinos into repeated bankruptcies. He is an unsuccessful businessman who was redeemed by show business, a circumstance that prepared him to run an election campaign but not to be president.
I find little substance in the conspiracy theories of either the left or the right about RussiaGate. As a result, I don't spend time watching MSNBC or Fox News to sort out their competing conspiracy theories about today's latest outrage. But I did come across an interesting and valid point about Trump and his governance, probably in my reading. Unfortunately, it was such a fleeting point of sanity in the middle of so much b.s. that it took too long to register in my mind that I am unable to provide a link or to properly attribute it. But the point is simple.
It is that Trump views our European allies primarily as competitors in trade, not as allies in a shared cause of liberal democracies against authoritarianism or as allies in international power politics. That as a businessman, he has a very narrow view of other countries as competitors to be played off against each other, with few if any lasting partnerships because we are in competition with them and share no common interests with them.
Thus he threatens to not fulfill the US's treaty obligation to defend any member who is attacked because they didn't contribute enough to their own defense. The most charitable interpretation is that Trump is establishing an extreme negotiating position that he will back away from to gain a more favorable final outcome for the US. This is very dangerous because it erodes the very basis of the alliance for a minor gain to the US. One that he has no intention of exploiting, he won't lower US defense spending because Germany finances an additional tank battalion or builds an additional patrol boat.
This negotiating tactic even has a limited utility in business, because the people who use it quickly earn the reputation of constantly bluffing. It is even less useful in diplomacy, where you are negotiating with the same people more often. It is even less useful for someone who already has the reputation of lying constantly, which Trump has.
In the best of circumstances a successful businessman is not prepared to be president, experience in business doesn't translate into what is required of a president. Trump drove casinos into repeated bankruptcies. He is an unsuccessful businessman who was redeemed by show business, a circumstance that prepared him to run an election campaign but not to be president.
