Photo by Vinicius Löw

Several years ago, at a cocktail reception in an upscale Upper East Side New York apartment, a very tan and energetic middle-aged man approached me. “Who are you?” he asked. Glancing at his open shirt with a prominent gold chain, Rolex watch, and the large cigar he was puffing, I replied; “I’m a poor intellectual’ so there’s no point in talking to me.”

I understood that he – whom I refer to as The Cigar – came up to me because he thought I could help him make money. I answered in the negative because I understood that there could be no possible financial deal between us. He quickly walked away; there was no further reason for him to chat with me. I had no hard feelings when he left. Our very short conversation was just hard New York reality.

Donald Trump is The Ultimate Cigar, as the Swiss are discovering. When he proposed imposing a 39% tariff on Swiss goods such as watches, machinery, and precision instruments, the Swiss government tried its best to change his position. The Swiss President called President Trump, only to have a disastrous result – Karin Keller-Sutter apparently lectured him (unnamed sources said she tried to “moralize” him) and didn’t stop talking even after receiving a message during the call from someone close to Trump imploring her to stop.

Trump summarized the call as follows: “The woman was nice, but she didn’t want to listen, and they paid essentially no tariffs.” The President of the United States talking to the President of........

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