Name:   copperline - Subject:   On understanding Trump's messaging Date:   8/28/2016 8:56:52 PM

I recently read an opinion piece that said that in order to understand Donald Trump’s style and demeanor, you had to understand the common practices of the high stakes real estate business.   The writer was describing that in this part of the real estate world, exaggeration and “over selling” is so common as to be accepted as the norm.   So, describing a piece of property as having attributes well beyond reason….. so wonderful, so marvelous that you just can’t believe how great this deal is!…. is pretty much how people in that world talk to potential clients.   And no one expects anything different. Gross exaggerations are crafted to be just shy of fraudulent, but if they do cross the line there is only a wink and a nod rather than criticism for being intentionally misleading.   In any other profession, such exaggerations would be cause for loss of credibility or even revoking professional licenses… but in this corner of the business world, it may be simply the way they do business.  

This explains a lot about Trump’s style of loud, over stated and dramatic speaking.  It comes straight from the sales techniques used in his world of wealthy clients who are attracted to flashy details and glossy displays of conspicuous consumption.   Each item for sale has to be The Biggest & the Best, nothing else will do.   Appealing to vanity and the desire to display wealth is a good sales tactic.   And what he says doesn’t have to be true…. Just plausible enough to be accepted for the time being.

So Trump has spent years mastering the art of the reframe, he knows how add specious details that are highly suggestive but not verifiable, he routinely mixes facts with opinions from unnamed sources, deflecting direct inquires and responding with confusing & foggy verbiage.   It’s a verbal skill that he has perfected for years to confound business associates and conceal his intentions, or allow for enough lack of specifics that he can always say “You misunderstood me, so it’s not my fault”.     Clearly, there are times when you listen to him and think “he says so much, I don’t know what he actually meant”.    

Michael Bloomberg put it differently when he said “I know a con man when I see one”.

Ironically, Trump supporters are attracted to him because he is “not like a politician and always says what is on his mind”.   They are confusing brash & outrageous verbiage with directness and honesty.  Trump is simply using a cruder version of what his supporters despise in mealy-mouthed politicians.   He makes pronouncements that sound strong, unequivocal and direct… but often so poorly considered that no reasonable person would expect it to hold up to close scrutiny.   Later on, he can partially retract or claim to have been misunderstood….never acknowledging that what he said was untrue or misleading.

The obvious question is whether this style of over-the-top salesmanship will be an advantage or an outright danger if he were to become President.   In my opinion (and this POV is shared by a huge number of respected government officials from the State Department to the Pentagon and Department of Defense, Senior GOP party members, Congressmen, previous Presidents of both parties,  Diplomats….even the leaders of allied nations),…… the people & leaders of other countries will not respond to his style with the same tolerance & understanding that his supporters are showing.  They will likely take his bragging & hints as threats.   And if they do interpret his exaggerations in this way, they could respond with preemptive strategic moves to counter his aggressive sounding talk.  This kind of talk on the global diplomatic stage is likely to provoke other countries to take actions that they otherwise would not have felt necessary.  Donald is apparently used to his pronouncements provoking other people to cower and give in to him.    He is also used to denying that what you heard is what he meant.    He will not find his style works very well when those opponents have large armies, nuclear weapons, and paranoid tendencies.

Trump is still very much the slick real estate salesman who wants to sell a property, but intends to walk away when the deal is done… leaving you to take find the flaws that he distracted you from seeing beforehand.   Or he may be like the used car salesman who never looked under the hood but confidently reassures you that he just knows cars and promises the one he is selling will run for a million miles.     

In Trump world, there are only two kinds of people:  winners and suckers.

Caveat Emptor.   Let the buyer beware.