Trump threatens. Then he backs down.
Donald Trump isn’t a real successful businessman. He’s a reality show facsimile. New Yorkers knew that about him even before Mark Burnett invented him for “The Apprentice.”
What Trump is running out of the Oval Office is the world’s most blatantly obvious and lucative grift. One thing that is true about Trump besides his being a con man: he’s not a real tough guy either.
Jonathan Chait discusses how predictably Trump backs down from his threats when confronted or ignored. His bluster is all for show, as phony as his gilt and his “deals”:
When President Donald Trump launched his trade war on the world, he issued a stern warning: “Do not retaliate and you will be rewarded.” China ignored the warning. It was rewarded anyway. This morning, Trump largely suspended his trade war in return for nothing but promises of ongoing discussions. There is a lesson here for everybody Trump threatens, whether countries or businesses or universities.
The unveiling of the Trump global tariff regime was accompanied by a distinct form of dominance theater. The president and his gang assured his targets that if they submitted to his tariffs, he would repay their compliance. Any country that dared defy him would suffer terribly.
Uh-huh. Those who bought the show found that making deals was problematic with a man who doesn’t understand how trade works.
China, however, defied the threats and retaliated anyway. Guess what?
Trump held out for one month before backing down. Under the new 90-day agreement, tariffs on Chinese goods will come down to 30 percent; China’s tariffs on American goods will likewise decline to 10 percent. “The consensus from both delegations is that neither side wanted a decoupling,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced at a press conference in Geneva, as if the whole thing had been one big misunderstanding. The decades of China allegedly “ripping off” the United States were apparently forgotten, along with China’s insolence in retaliating and the supposed need for the U.S. to reduce its reliance on Chinese imports. The administration isn’t even pretending that it forced China to pay any special price for its defiance. It is memory-holing the entire “do not retaliate” episode and moving on as if the point this whole time was to get along better with Beijing.
As an exercise in trade policy, this makes no sense. But to treat Trump’s behavior as if it were narrowly tailored to the objective of reordering global trade misses the symbolic role it plays. Trump is performing a character, the presidential version of the boss he played in The Apprentice, sitting in a plush leather chair doling out justice to quavering supplicants.
The verdict? Ignore him and Mr. Tough Guy backs down. He’s not a real world leader. The reality-show president is playing one for the cameras.
Trump is a classic bully who craves submission and fears conflict. His fervent supporters want him to be Michael Corleone, but he’s more like Biff Tannen. Standing up to Trump does not mean that you win. But giving in guarantees that you lose.
Is that a Mexican poncho or is that a Sears poncho?
— from “Camarillo Brillo” by Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention
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