Name:   copperline - Subject:   On understanding Trump's messaging Date:   8/28/2016 11:01:56 PM

Trump's over-the-top style of bragging and exaggeration isn't going to translate into 'negotiating from a position of strength', it's going to create unintended consequences because he doesn't think before he speaks when he gets excited.   He riffs off the top of his head, and frequently exaggerates to get louder applause regardless of the implications of what comes out of his mouth.   

The best case scenario would be that foreign leaders will think he is foolish, the worse case is that foreign adversaries will take him at his word and strike before he strikes them.   Neither is a position of strength.

Think about it this way:  do you want a guy who has a bad temper and an impulsive mouth to be leading the military?   You think he will negotiate from position of strength.  I think he could get a lot of people needlessly killed & create catastrophe.     

Compromising the US military by putting them into untenable positions isn't something you get to say "whoops!.... can I get a do-over on that?"   (I'm referencing things like "I know more than the generals", "bomb the sh...t out of them", and saying he would order both torture and the killing of relatives even though this is against US & international law).