Trump flip-flops numerous times per day. I am beginning to think that "The Art of the Deal" was also always fake - he is unable to make a deal. Everyone sees this now.

If you knew anyone that worked on the other ends of those deals, you'd know that it was always a load of trash. He basically relied on people caving to threats. That tactic only works if the other side believes the threat is credible and that they actually have something to lose.

You mean you once believed he was good at making deals or was that sarcasm?

The art of the deal always seemed to be, (1) create a situation unfavourable to your opponent. (2) exploit their temporary weakness to force a coercive one sided deal.

Trump seems to be able to do that well enough in the normal business world. The thing is when it comes to countries its harder to get them to roll over because if a dictator looks too weak its off with their head. If you give a dictator the choice of ruling over an impovrished country or dying in a coup, they are going to choose the former. On top of that its hard to make international coercive deals stick. In the normal business world, you can sue if someone reneges. When it comes to countries, what are you going to do? Whine to the UN? Good luck with that. Countries can stick with deals when it suits them and forget about them when it no longer does. At worse that may not make countries want to make deals in the future, but if it was a coercive deal that doesnt matter much.

It was always the Art of the BS, part of which is always to try to hide the fact that it is BS. But people fall for it and his minions often at least initially benefit from the same BS.

Just because somebody tells us they are not lying does not mean they are not. But some people believe it because it makes them feel great again.

Trumps art of the deal is trying to forcefully create win-lose deals instead of win-win or win-neutral deals, which, not very surprisingly, leads to other sides then going for the lose-lose deal.

Of course it was fake. It was ghostwritten (again, of course it was), and the ghostwriter is wracked with remorse. [1]

The idea that a chump who bankrupted a casino could outmaneuver the country that invented the term "checkmate" was always profoundly stupid... so of course, Trump's supporters lapped it up like antifreeze.

1: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tony-schwartz-trumps-ghostwrite...

> I am beginning to think that "The Art of the Deal" was also always fake

To me, the interesting part is that people used to believe it in the first place. Anything that I heard of the guy and his agenda 2025 or whatever it was called had some really weird points which America (and for what its worth, the world, who didn't have any say in the American election but is dragged into it as the prices of my gas station rise)

Was it the silos of internet in an ever-polarizing nation that created the perfect conditions for a trump-esque person to take political power?

I should read more American history but Reagan seems like a similar guy but the only difference seems to be the short-term vs long-term consequences in the damage of Reagan's trickle-onomics (note that Trump's damage is pretty irreparable as well)