Trump vs. John Bolton

[Worldtraveller]

On what planet has Trump shown he is a deal-maker with foreign policy?

He enjoys a REPUTATION as a deal-maker. Just read his book.
His efforts on the budget, or anything else to do with getting Congress to cooperate (as opposed to getting them to cover his ass) show this to be feet of clay, but he's very careful to cultivate his reputation.

Or at least, he's very voluble in the cultivation of this reputation.

Saying it over and over again doesn't make it true. I know Trump's life long image is based on the Self-Echo Fallacy, but it is still just based on his own claims.

You simply can't say you are the deal maker when all you do is break other people's deals and sometimes come up with a deal that is almost unchanged from the previous one.

Yes, anyone with more than 2 functioning brain cells knows this. Unfortunately, we're talking about a large part of the right wing echo chamber (see, e.g. Tucker Carlson).

It's much like the GOP's incessant claim to be the party of personal responsibility. They never really have been (at least not since they used the phrase to describe themselves so frequently), but the words are more important than their actions (to their supporters). The orange shithead knows this (he doesn't know much else) and uses it to good effect all the time.