Trump’s ‘art of the deal’ is nowhere to be seen with Iran |
For weeks, Donald Trump has tried to find a way to end the war he started with Iran – a deal that would allow him to declare victory and move past the conflict before it causes severe damage to the global economy and sinks Republican chances in the US midterm elections. But the self-proclaimed master dealmaker can’t seem to stop sabotaging his own negotiations or to acknowledge that Iran is now in a better position to demand concessions than it was before the war.
Over the Memorial Day holiday, Trump skipped his eldest son’s wedding in the Bahamas and canceled plans to spend the weekend at his New Jersey golf club. The last-minute changes heightened speculation that Trump was ready to unveil a deal to end the war. Trump then announced that he would hold a cabinet meeting on Wednesday at Camp David, the presidential compound in Maryland that has been the site of historic diplomatic summits and pronouncements. But that meeting was moved back to the White House, as it became clear that Trump had not been able to close a deal he could announce with great fanfare at Camp David.
Why has an agreement eluded the business titan who wrote (with a ghostwriter) the bestselling 1987 book The Art of the Deal?
Trump admires strongman leaders and is loth to project any sign of weakness – and he’s afraid of reaching a deal with Iran that makes him look weak. The president is also sensitive to criticism that any agreement he negotiates will be worse for the US than the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers, which was brokered by Barack Obama’s administration. In 2018, during his first term, Trump unilaterally withdrew Washington from that agreement, setting in motion events that led to the current conflict.
By starting a war aimed at regime change in Iran, Trump cornered himself into mostly bad options. Even by the principles set out in his famous........