So this is “the art of the deal.” The author of the book with that title is illustrating the subtleties of dealmaking in negotiations about Ukraine.
[kpolls]
First, flatter the person with whom you are negotiating, calling him a “genius,” “savvy” and “very smart.” Disregard Franklin D. Roosevelt’s 1940 warning that “no man can tame a tiger into a kitten by stroking it.” Donald Trump began his charm offensive at a 2018 meeting with Vladimir Putin in Helsinki. There Trump accepted Putin’s denial of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. Trump thereby repudiated U.S. intelligence agencies, which he has subsequently called “our ‘intelligence’ lowlifes.”
Second, emphasize that your diplomacy is uninfected by normative judgments about the origins of the conflict. Contrast yourself with finicky people who moralize against using violence to redraw European borders. On Feb. 22, 2022, when (Trump has subsequently said) Ukraine “started” a war against Russia, Trump saw on television many Russian tanks (rolling defensively?): “I said, ‘This is genius.’ … Putin declares a big portion of the Ukraine … as independent. Oh, that’s wonderful … I said, ‘How smart is that?’ He’s going to go in and be a peacekeeper … That’s the strongest peace force I’ve ever seen. There were more tanks than I’ve ever seen. They’re going to keep the peace, all right.”
Third, signal eagerness to end the conflict. You can do this, as Trump did, by vowing to end it “before I even take office,” or “on day one,” or “within 24 hours,” whichever comes first. To further underscore your eagerness to settle, and hence your willingness to settle on almost any terms, select as your vice president someone who says: “I don’t really care what happens to Ukraine.” Then have him tell a European security conference that the biggest threat to European security “is not Russia.” (What is? Europe’s internal rot.)
Fourth, appoint as your chief peace negotiator Steve Witkoff. He has a mind so open that amazing thoughts stride in: “I don’t regard Putin as a bad guy” and “It was gracious of him to accept me, to see me.” Having never spent a day in diplomacy, Witkoff can amiably negotiate with that gracious scamp Putin, forgiving his fibs about pausing attacks during Easter, and against Ukraine’s energy infrastructure…… [The full column is at this link.]
