The art of no deal

| 12:01 pm EDT August 28, 2019
Dear Palmer Report readers, we all understand the difficult era we're heading into. Major media outlets are caving to Trump already. Even the internet itself and publishing platforms may be at risk. But Palmer Report is nonetheless going to lead the fight. We're funding our 2025 operating expenses now, so we can keep publishing no matter what happens. I'm asking you to contribute if you can, because the stakes are just so high. You can donate here.

“Sorry, it’s the way I negotiate,” said Donald Trump in a feeble attempt to apologize for his behavior at G7. It also embodies his life as a bad businessman. Apparently, he’s not good at negotiating, as Politco shares that he and the other world leaders had a rough go of it behind closed doors. The disagreements revolved around Trump’s insistence that Russia be allowed at the table and his open hostility toward Iran. Trump continues to remind us that when it comes to negotiations, he has perfected the Art of No Deal.

Working with Donald Trump must be a nightmare. He changes positions more than a broken shutter waves in a high breeze. One minute, he praised Chinese President Xi Jinping to the heavens. Less than 24 hours later, his aides were doing damage control after Trump publicly announced he was “having second thoughts” about tariffs on China. Likely, “damage control” is a full-time job in this White House. He must have “aides” and “damage control aides” standing ready to act.

After sneaking away for a private lunch with French President Emmanuel Macron, Trump then skipped out on the climate meeting. Afterward, Trump was asked for his views on climate change. His response likely wiped out any progress he made with Macron: “I feel that the United States has tremendous wealth, the wealth is under its feet … I’m not going to lose that wealth on dreams, on windmills, which, frankly, aren’t working too well.” This question is getting old even for me, but what in the HELL is this man talking about?

Each time he steps onto the world stage, Trump manages to further embarrass every citizen of the U.S., except for his followers, of course, who likely can’t be embarrassed by much of anything. Then, Trump put the proverbial alienation cherry on top by fawning over Kim Jong Un and pestering the other leaders about letting Putin into the summit. Seriously, though, what is wrong with this man? Do his wife and children know and acknowledge just how insane he is? His pushing of Putin turned the G7 dinner into a stressful, acrimonious event.

Trump bitterly complained about other G7 leaders not allowing Putin back into the group, according to CNN. Two diplomatic officials and a U.S. official shared that Trump “ardently advocated” the return of Putin to the point of dominating every conversation. As the leaders tried to discuss the fires in the Amazon, Trump butted in with questions about why Putin and Russian weren’t included. As he continued to disrupt the dinner and conversations, President Macron did agree that it is important to maintain ties with Putin; however, he refused to take things as far as Trump who, according to CNN, “grew more combative” as the dinner wore on. Sheesh.

This man has absolutely no class, no couth, no anything other than his big mouth and empty head. Macron, the polar opposite of Trump in the class arena, kept things from totally spiraling out of control. Likely angering Trump even more, Boris Johnson told Macron the following morning that “his handling of the ‘difficult’ dinner was ‘bien joué’ (well played).” Oh, to have a leader with class and true negotiation skills. Perhaps we will experience that again in 2020.